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May 1, 2016

Wrightspeed engine * USA - The "Tesla" of Garbage Trucks

* California - An hybrid system with an electric motor and extensive power and torque

  (Video by Ole Schell - Feb 18, 2014: A spot featuring the Wrightspeed electric/turbine powered truck performing on The Bonneville Salt Flats as it is tailed by a turbine powered Bell 206 Ranger Helicopter) 

--- Wellington, New Zealand, had a serious issues with its decades old vehicles. They rely on a system of overhead wires the city can’t afford to maintain, so it looked like municipal authorities would need to swap out the clean transport system for dirty diesel trucks and buses. But before the city revamped its mass transit system, a third way presented itself, a high-tech, more sustainable solution that may foreshadow a shift in how cities run their fleets of heavy vehicles, such as buses and garbage trucks... A former Tesla Motors founder, Ian Wright, started his own company on a seemingly simple premise, applying the massive sustainability gains of electric engines to the least sustainable vehicles on the road. The company’s electric motors, battery packs, and a gas turbine can provide lumbering, multi-ton motor vehicles with 60 percent better fuel efficiency and 90 percent cleaner emissions. It was a simple choice for Wellington to go with Wrightspeed technology, which will be installed in the city’s trolleys over the next year as part of a US$30 million deal announced last week...

(Photo: The Wrightspeed engine system) 

 --- The Wrightspeed hybrid system—an electric motor with extensive power and torque, a computer-controlled high-tech gear box and four-speed transmission, and a battery that’s charged by a gas-fueled turbine range extender called the Fulcrum—provides the push needed to move a heavy vehicle up hills with an electric engine, while giving it the extra juice needed to last through a long, arduous route with multiple stops...    Wrightspeed doesn’t work for every heavy vehicle, but for the backbone of urban transport and heavy-duty hauling, the system saves fuel costs and reduces emissions, with the more expensive upgrade paying for itself in three to four years. says Wright. "A garbage truck can go through 14,000 gallons a year. That’s a lot more pollution, and a lot more potential savings" ...

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posted by Unknown @ 5:46 AM  0 comments

Oct 2, 2014

ELECTRIC TRUCKMAKERS * USA: Wrightspeed

* California - FedEx’s new electric trucks get a boost from diesel turbines
(Photo: Wrightspeed Back axle)
Silicon Valley,CAL,USA -Wired, by JORDAN GOLSON -30 Sep 2014: -- FedEx runs such a massive operation—it uses more than 47,000 vehicles and nearly 700 aircraft to deliver about 4 million packages every day—that any systemic change it makes to cut down its carbon footprint can have major consequences. That’s why news that it’s using technology developed by a founder of Tesla Motors to make its trucks way more fuel efficient is so exciting, both for its investors and those who want the planet to breathe easy... FedEx is working with Wrightspeed, the Silicon Valley-based company founded and run by Ian Wright, who helped create Tesla in 2003. Wright is still all about electric mobility, but his new company doesn’t make cars. It makes electric powertrains to be dropped into existing vehicles. And it’s sold 25 of them to FedEx for a pilot program... The Wrightspeed conversion takes an existing conventional truck and replaces all the gas-powered parts that make it move. The engine, differential, and transmission are junked. An electric motor is matched to each drive wheel and a battery pack is thrown in to hold the electricity that powers them. The truck—now an electric vehicle—can be plugged in to charge the 39 kilowatt-hour battery, which holds enough juice to take the truck about 30 miles. Regenerative braking helps capture some extra power, but that’s still totally lousy for a vehicle that spends all day driving. So Wrightspeed added an extra ingredient: a diesel-powered turbine to generate electricity while on the road...
(Photo: Wrightspeed converts trucks into EVs with onboard diesel generators)
The turbine is an internal combustion engine, burning diesel fuel. But instead of using the power it creates to pump pistons, it generates electricity. As long as there’s diesel in the tank to power the turbine and create electricity, the truck can keep driving. When the tank is dry, it can be filled at a standard gas station (as long as it has a diesel pump). For the driver, very little changes except for a new instrument panel that shares data about battery charge and generation levels... The system doesn’t eliminate the use of fossil fuels, but Wrightspeed says it can double the energy efficiency of FedEx’s fleet. That’s because the turbine system is especially well suited to delivery trucks...

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posted by Unknown @ 6:10 AM  0 comments

Dec 18, 2009

Hybrid Power Trains * USA - Alte Targets Fleets with Retrofitted Ones

Retrofitting tiny fraction of entire US fleet inventory could generate $2B in annual revenue by 2013

New York,NY,USA -Forbes by Christopher Steiner -December 28, 2009: -- If gas prices hover at $3/gal, taxis, limos, vans, shuttle buses benefit more from hybrids than consumers... Alte, new company in Detroit, will be retrofitting existing fleets w/ hybrid power trains. Most hybrids like Prius have 2 drive trains; 1 turned by battery power, the other by gasoline engine... Alte's design involves single shaft spun by battery-powered electric motor. Small gasoline engine powers generator when needed. Saves parts, weight, fuel, though not enough to justify cost unless incurring miles like fleets do... CEO John Thomas, mechanical engineer, former head of MI sedan program at Tesla, expansive about Alte's potential... Alte plans to sell drive-train kits thru 100 dealerships paying 1-time $200K fee for licensed Alte territories. With 900 conversions per year, dealership win at least 4 service bays would make $1.4K-$2K in pretax profit per vehicle... Ex-Chrysler chief executive Thomas LaSorda signed on as an investor, board member... (Photo: Eyes on the prize. Chief Executive John Thomas shows off his hybrid power train.)

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posted by Unknown @ 10:05 AM  0 comments

Oct 17, 2008

Study * USA - Shows Fuel Efficiency of Plug-in Hybrid Cars

San Diego,CAL,USA -The San Diego Union-Tribune, by Terry Rodgers -25 Sept 2008: -- According to the results of a yearlong study recently released by San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), plug-in hybrid cars achieve far better gas mileage and generate less pollution than standard hybrids. The utility conducted the research in order to test claims that plug-in cars, which are expected to be widely available by the end of this decade, are more fuel-efficient and markedly cleaner than standard hybrids... (Photo / Union-Tribune - Pat Cadam (left) and Nick Rothman installed a lithium ion battery pack in the trunk of a Toyota Prius in San Diego to convert the standard hybrid car to a plug-in vehicle)

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posted by Unknown @ 4:35 AM  0 comments

Jan 15, 2008

HYBRIDS * China - Eaton Debuts Hybrid Power System in 30 Chinese Buses

Guangzhou,China -TruckingInfo (USA) -15 Jan 2008: -- Eaton Corp. has formally introduced its first commercially available hybrid power system in China with Beiqi Foton Bus Co., deploying the hybrid system in 30 city buses for Guangzhou Yiqi Bus... Eaton provides diesel-electric hybrid power systems in the United States for truck and bus applications and is also pioneering hydraulic hybrid power systems technologies for use in refuse trucks, delivery vehicles, buses and other applications...

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posted by Unknown @ 10:28 AM  0 comments