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While our attention is usually focused on the personal-use vehicle market and the proliferation
of hybrid and plug-in vehicles driving the green movement there, the work truck industry
has been quietly staging a green revolution of its own and can now boast a wide-ranging
portfolio of practical clean energy solutions that rivals and even exceeds that of light-duty
cars and trucks.
It should be no surprise since local, commercial, and bus fleets, and long-haul trucking have
been a driving force in developing the national infrastructure for clean, alternative fuels.
Building stations to serve captive fleet customers makes the investment feasible and expands
the availability of these fuels for light-duty cars and trucks as part of the bargain. In
addition to that, electric hybrids, hydraulic hybrids, and idle-reduction systems have enjoyed
great success in continuing development in the trucking industry.
Packing the halls of the Indiana Convention Center from floor to ceiling are 500,000 square
feet of work trucks and equipment. Every major truck maker and equipment supplier is represented
here, and everyone has a clean-power story to tell. Patrick Davis, director of the Vehicle
Technologies Office at the U.S. Department of Energy, was one of those listening.
Well, what impressed me today was just the tremendous growth in the breadth of new technologies
that are out there that you wouldn't have seen two years ago. There's just many more
different types of technologies—everything from natural gas, compressed natural gas,
LNG, propane vehicles, electrification. You're really seeing it all, and you're seeing it
in a lot more numbers than what you would have seen just two years ago.
One key application on display at this show is retrofittable hybrid power systems, allowing
conversion of existing light- and medium-duty platforms to rechargeable hybrid battery power
to assist in launching or driving the vehicle. Along with that, hybrid battery systems are
being used to run truck accessories like boom lifts without idling the engine, increasing
fuel efficiency, reducing emissions, and promoting a safer, quieter job site.
In the commercial world, dollars and cents drive every purchase decision. So clean fuels
and technologies that can deliver increased efficiency while reducing operating or maintenance
costs will find a very receptive audience here. And this spirit of innovation has drawn
new players into the field.
It's really interesting because a lot of the people who came in with alternate fuels and
the technologies around those things weren't core to the work truck industry. They might
have been from the bus industry or some other area. And so what we've seen is, as they've
gotten to kind of know one another, see the opportunities, the technology guys are explaining
the technology to the work truck core people. They're bringing the relationships, and they're
building these new businesses.
The learning curve for fleet operators exploring this green, new world can be daunting. So
organizers of the Work Truck Show have added an intensive series of educational seminars
held in advance of the show opening. The Green Truck Summit brings together top industry
executives, truck manufacturers, and fleet operators to share insights and solutions
for implementing clean technologies into commercial vehicles.
And despite a little late-spring snow in Indie, a ride-and-drive event held outside the convention
center proved quite popular. Attendees had the chance to take the wheel and experience
the latest green rigs in real-world conditions. The rate at which the truck industry has embraced
clean, alternative fuels and technologies is amazing and holds great promise to keep
on trucking towards a clean-driving future.