Peterbilt will display a production-representative, hybrid-electric medium duty truck – outfitted with a fully integrated bucket lift body – at the Hybrid Truck Users Forum National Meeting in San Diego.
The Class 7 Model 335 is ideal for municipal and utility applications and features advanced technologies that provide improved fuel economy while reducing noise and emissions. The hybrid Model 335 will be in limited production in 2007.
According to Peterbilt Chief Engineer Landon Sproull, the truck uses a parallel hybrid system that was developed with Eaton Corporation. A parallel hybrid system has an electric motor that assists the mechanical diesel engine with supplemental torque for improved fuel economy. The system stores energy during stopping through a process called regenerative braking, and then reuses it for acceleration. The system also stores energy during idling and uses it to power the vehicle’s PTO.
The hybrid Model 335 on display at the HTUF meeting November 14 through 16 will be equipped with a Terex body and 55-foot aerial. Peterbilt and Terex have jointly developed the fully integrated chassis and body combination. The body was specially designed to allow for installation of the hybrid components on the chassis during manufacturing, allowing the vehicle to drive off the assembly using hybrid power. The design also allows for easy access to hybrid components for improved serviceability.
The truck and body communicate through a new J1939 digital controller. This interface senses hydraulic demand from the body and automatically engages the hybrid system. Under a full charge, the PTO can operate for approximately 25 minutes at which time the vehicle will automatically start the diesel engine and recharge the hybrid’s batteries. “It takes about three minutes to fully recharge,” Sproull says. “So, during eight hours of operation, the diesel engine will run for less than an hour.”
Volvo Cars is launching FlexiFuel models powered by renewable bioethanol on several European markets this autumn. The green model range is also being extended and even Volvo’s new C30 will be offered with eco-optimised FlexiFuel power.
Three of Volvo’s nine models – the C30, S40 and V50 – are now available in an environmentally optimised FlexiFuel alternative. They are powered by a four-cylinder naturally aspirated engine producing 125 hp. Bioethanol and petrol are both filled in the same 55 litre tank. The fuel hoses, valves and gaskets have all been modified to withstand the more corrosive properties of ethanol. The injection valves have been reinforced and are also larger, since more fuel is injected into the engine because of the lower energy content of E85 compared with petrol. Moreover, the software calibration is updated for ethanol power. The engine management system precisely monitors the fuel mixture in the fuel tank and automatically adjusts both injection and ignition to suit.
Research by a Sandia National Laboratories engineer and a University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center neurologist shows that brain injury may occur within one millisecond after a human head is thrust into a windshield as a result of a car accident.
This happens prior to any overall motion of the head following impact with the windshield and is a new concept to consider for doctors interested in traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Volkswagen inaugurated the new cold and climate test center at its Wolfsburg plant on Monday.
The new center, which cost about 30 million euros, is designed for comprehensive testing under a wide variety of climatic conditions at temperatures ranging from -40 to +150 degrees Celsius. Even direct solar radiation, humidities up to 95 percent, elevations up to 3000 meters and wind blast can all be simulated.
Volkswagen Research has developed a type of high temperature fuel cell (HTFC) that is one of a kind in the world. The high temperature fuel cell eliminates numerous disadvantages of low temperature fuel cells (LTFC) previously known and used in virtually every type of vehicle with this propulsion system.
The high temperature membrane developed by Volkswagen can in combination with newly designed electrodes be "driven" at temperatures of up to 120 degrees Celsius with no loss in performance. In the HTFC protons are exchanged via phosphoric acid. This acid has good electrolytic properties similar to water, yet demonstrates a higher boiling point. This is why a significantly simpler cooling system and water management is sufficient for the HTFC. And this significantly reduces the weight and costs. The space required for the fuel cell system is also lowered by more than 30 percent.
Volvo Car Corporation and AB Volvo (Trucks and Buses), are now setting up a joint Traffic Accident Research Centre in China. With its active traffic accident research, Volvo is continuing to acquire information and expertise in the drive to develop safer vehicles, while at the same time hoping to contribute to safer road traffic in the world’s most populous country.