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TRUCKING INDUSTRY COMMENTS * EUROPE - Hard sell for hybrid trucks
City buses, refuse trucks and delivery vans are perfect candidates for hybrid powertrains, which use less energy and cause less pollution than conventional combustion engines, especially in stop-and-go trafficAmsterdam,Holland -Reuters, by Christiaan Hetzner -11 Nov 2007: -- ... But while image-conscious drivers, especially in the United States, have embraced hybrid cars, truck operators find the new technology too expensive compared with the potential fuel savings -- and hybrid diesel-electric trucks are struggling to catch on... While consumers may decide what car to buy based on emotions, truck fleet operators think strictly in terms of total cost of ownership. How much cargo can it haul? How often will it break down? And how much fuel will it consume?... Added weight from a second powertrain can limit a trucker's haul -- increasing per ton transport costs -- and with most hybrid models still at the development and field-testing stage, prices are set to stay high until there's enough of a demand to warrant industrial-scale production... The main obstacle to growth is the truck industry's low volume compared with cars, according to Stefano Chmielewski, president of Renault Trucks, the French unit of Volvo . "Take Europe. About one third of the overall truck market is distribution vehicles, divided up over 7 brands so about 15,000 units each. Economies of scale begin at 150,000 for trucks," Chmielewski told Reuters ahead of last month's European Road Transport Show in Amsterdam... (Photo: Renault's futuristic Hybrys concept truck, is seen in this undated handout image)
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