Yesterday SustainableBusiness.com reported on International Truck and Engine Corporation’s entry into the commercial production of medium and heavy diesel hybrid trucks. International believes that as it builds scale, the cost of producing the trucks will decrease dramatically, thus lowering the sale price.
However, reaching that level of scale for International or any other company in the hybrid-truck market could be difficult, as truck fleet owners will weigh the total cost of ownership when considering new purchases – costs including maintenance and hauling capacity. The additional battery powertrain adds weight to hybrid trucks, which can reduce their hauling capacity, and buyers will likely be concerned about the reliability of the new technology. Combined with higher costs, these concerns may weigh more heavily than potential fuel savings.
Undoubtedly, there is potential for hybrid powertrains to save fuel for buses, delivery vans, refuse collection and construction vehicles in stop-and-go, urban driving. Manufacturers believe the vehicles, which run off battery power at low speeds and while stopped, could save as much as 20-35% of fuel costs.
But according to Stefano Chmielewski, president of Renault Trucks, the French division of Volvo, economies of scale for truck manufacturers begin at around 150,000 units. In Europe, where several companies are already producing hybrid trucks, he says each of the seven manufacturers in the delivery truck industry has a yearly demand of only 15,000 total units (diesel and diesel-hybrids).
Chmieleski says without some sort of government incentive, transport companies will not buy hybrid vehicles, unless they do so for marketing reasons.
John Formisano, vice president for global vehicles for FedEx recently purchased 10 diesel-electric hybrid delivery vans from Iveco, the truck division of Fiat. He says, “We have the largest fleet of hybrids in the world with 95 vehicles at present. Right now it’s a developmental technology. If we can get hybrid trucks at the same premium that hybrid cars are at … the manufacturers will be able to sell as many as they can make.”
Currently, hybrid cars sell for about 25% more than their non-hybrid equivalents.
Manufactureres seem optimistic that the technology will win out in the long run. Iveco sales boss Stefano Sterpone points to recent sales to both FedEx and Dutch mail and parcel group TNT. “Now we have six customers with a potential of 100 each … but this is the beginning,” Sterpone said in a Reuters interview.
Likewise, Lars Stenqvist, head of vehicle definition and quality with Sweden’s Scania, thinks hybrids will account for a substantial percentage of the industry if it can demonstrate the technology is fiscally sound.
Stenqvist even believes the technology has a future in heavy, long haulage trucks. “If we want a global CO2 reduction with hybrids, it must be in haulage,” he said.
However, this opinion is opposed by the general belief that emission cuts would be negligible from introducing hybrid technology into long-haul trucks, which operate at consistently high speeds.
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