With everybody going hybrid-mad - Mercedes-Benz is showing a hybrid Axor at Hannover, for instance - it's worth taking a look at a real-world hybrid truck. Here are Volvo's diesel-electric hybrid refuse trucks in action in Sweden:
The film does a good job of explaining the advantages of hybrid power for stop-start applications, including a potential fuel saving of 20 to 30%. We are not so sure that Volvo's conventional drivetrain engineers will be happy with the description of conventional refuse trucks as "noisy, rumbling trucks that guzzle up diesel when idling, right outside our bedroom windows" ...
Click through for another Volvo hybrid.Here's Volvo's hybrid 6x2 distribution truck:
Again, it looks like it works well, although to my ears the high-pitched whine of the electric motor while manoeuvring is worse than a diesel rattle.
Thanks to Neil Temple for putting us on to these.
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