Subject : RE: Chevy Hybrid Truck Posted : 2005-10-24 7:41 PM Post #32259 - In reply to #32240

Hey neighbor!

I saw something on the Today show maybe a year ago.  But I don't remember much.  Just the part where it has (110) power sockets in the bed for tailgaters!  And the gianormous battery under the back bench seat.

Subject : RE: Chevy Hybrid Truck Posted : 2005-11-10 12:11 PM Post #32889 - In reply to #32719

quote:

I've decided not to buy another truck until there is a 3500 dually hybrid that gets 40mpg while towing. I'm convinced it could be done, the buying public just needs to insist on it.

-Betty

end quote (where is the quote button anyway??)

Betty, I'm sorry to say I think you may be waiting quite a while before this becomes a reality. I am an engineer who works for a company who makes Fuel Cells, and I keep track of what technologies are out there and what effeciencies they can achieve. Diesel engines like those used in most 3500 duallies today are actually much more effecient than gasoline engines and for an applications like towing horses, it is very hard to use "hybrids" to your advantage. A big truck especially one towing horses just simply requires a whole lot more energy to move than a small car. Electric motors can indeed generate plenty of torque to push a large truck, but those big electric motors need lots of electricity and that has to come from somewhere. My guess is after you husband drives all the way home on battery, he eventually ends up running the gas engine for a long enough time to recharge those batteries. Even in a hybrid ALL of the energy is coming from gasoline. You may get 100mpg on the way home, but then you get 30mpg on the way to work.

Hybrids get most of their energy savings from being aerodynamic and from regenerative braking. By nature, horse trailers can't be too aerodynamic and for most towing applications you are pulling down the freeway without a whole lots of stops. Granted, improvements can and will be made to trucks, but don't expect real-world 40mpg while towing horses in the next 10-15 years. ~30 mpg may be possible with a diesel-hybrid and improved aerodynamics and low rolling resistance tires etc... but not 40mpg.

Fuel Cells are extremely effecient compared to gas and diesel engines, but getting the fuel to run them is not. A Fuel Cell truck would be something like this:

It gets 60 miles per gallon of Hydrogen! but............Hydrogen costs $18/ gallon

Here are a couple of articles that illistrate what I am saying about diesels already being pretty effecient in the "real world". In both cases, the diesel vehicle BEATS the hybrid in real world gas mileage. Note that the Lexus SUV, which uses the same technology as the Prius but is larger, only gets 33mpg without pulling a tailer!

http://www.autoblog.com/entry/1234000417056376/

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2004-06-10-diesel-vs-hybrid_x.htm

-Flush

Subject : RE: Chevy Hybrid Truck Posted : 2005-11-11 6:26 AM Post #32901 - In reply to #32889

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I'm always interested when I find an engineer in the auto biz..

From your aforementioned article-

Have you ever read this article? http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/fuel_economy/the-diesel-dilemma.html

If I apply the UCS article to 10.8% difference between the test vehicles, I find the hybrid to be 10.33% more "oil friendly" than the diesel.

What's your take on this?

-Stuck.