3/11/2010  Oils For Natural Gas Engines
By Deborah Lockridge, Editor

Recent announcements illustrate the growing interest in natural gas engines for medium- and heavy-duty commercial trucks. In January, UPS announced it was buying 245 new compressed-natural-gas delivery trucks. Late last year, Kenworth announced it was expanding its natural gas offering to its T800 short hood and W900S models. At the Technology and Maintenance Council meeting in Tampa last month, Navistar and Clean Air Power announced a deal to develop Navistar's MaxxForce 13 big-bore engine as a dual-fuel version to run on natural gas and clean diesel, which will initially target the regional haul tractor market with a goal of achieving a 400-mile range. Also at TMC, Shell Lubricants introduced an engine oil for use in natural gas engines.

Although Shell had previously offered an oil for stationary/off-highway natural gas engines in the U.S., and had an oil for natural-gas engines in other parts of the world, up until now, they felt the demand wasn't there for a natural-gas oil in this country. Until now.

Many local fleets, municipalities and public transit companies are using natural gas-powered vehicles because of their lower emissions.....

3/9/2010  Gasoline-Diesel Cocktail: A Potent Recipe for Cleaner, More Efficient Engines
By Brian Mattmiller, University of Wisconsin

Diesel and gasoline fuel sources both bring unique assets and liabilities to powering internal combustion engines.

But what if an engine could be programmed to harvest the best properties of both fuel sources at once, on the fly, by blending the fuels within the combustion chamber itself?

The answer, based on tests by the University of Wisconsin-Madison engine research group headed by Rolf Reitz, would be a diesel engine that produces significantly lower pollutant emissions than conventional engines, with an average of 20 percent greater fuel efficiency as well.

These dramatic results came from a novel technique Reitz describes as "fast-response fuel blending," in which an engine's fuel injection is programmed to produce the optimal gasoline-diesel mix based on real-time operating conditions.....

2/17/2010  Investing Wisely in Green Technologies
By Diana Britton, Managing Editor

These days, there are more opportunities than ever to implement "green" into your fleet. And while these green technologies have their advantages and disadvantages, the most important thing, especially in these economic times, is to find the green solutions that provide a return on investment, said Pat Quinn, president and co-chairman of U.S. Xpress Enterprises.

During a recent webinar hosted by the Trucking Industry Mobility & Technology Coalition, trucking industry executives discussed "Green Trucks: The View From the Road." Quinn encouraged listeners to test and evaluate green technologies to find the best fit for a particular fleet or business model.

Fuel Consumption

According to Glen Kedzie, vice president of environmental affairs and assistant general counsel of the American Trucking Associations, the trucking industry has achieved nearly zero emissions of nitrogen oxide as of Jan. 1, 2010, and zero emissions of particulate matter as of Jan. 1, 2007.

"We have made incredible progress, but there's still pressure to do more," Quinn said.....

2/16/2010  Hybrid Yard Jockey Delivers
By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor

The terminal tractor - yard jockey, hostler, whatever you call it - has to be one of the most used, abused and under-regarded vehicles in any fleet. Yet a green-painted tractor from Capacity of Texas now entering production has one of the most sophisticated hybrid power setups you'll find in any vehicle.

Think about the duty cycle of the yard jockey, and a hybrid powertrain makes enormous sense. It is all low-speed, stop-and-start. There's opportunity to use regenerative braking. Electric traction is perfect because the motor's peak torque is at stall so it can get very heavy containers under way very effectively. And electric power is cheap: An overnight charge of the Capacity PHETT that will run it for up to half a day costs 63 cents.

The Pluggable Hybrid Electric Terminal Tractor is just coming to market after a staggeringly short development period from concept to vehicle in just 10 months. This is in large part due to Capacity chief engineer Colin Roberts, whose General Motors experience has made him the man to ramrod a major project through Capacity's highly nimble engineering, research and development process.....

2/12/2010  Cool Electric Spin: Driving a Ford/Eaton Plug-In Hybrid
By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

Eaton's electric-drive system is the one usually used by truck manufacturers who offer a medium-duty hybrid, including Freightliner, Freightliner Custom Chassis, Kenworth, Peterbilt and Navistar International. One builder that doesn't make hybrids is Ford Motor - but it does supply chassis for conversions. Eaton used a Ford F-550 to install a plug-in version of its electric system for demonstration purposes, and like all hybrids, this one was an interesting drive.

The F-550 with its Altec public-utility body is a demonstration vehicle that was shown to President Obama last summer. He was no doubt impressed with this American-designed and -built product that promises considerable fuel savings and emissions reduction. Not present during that show-and-tell was the engineer who has overseen the vehicle's development, Helene Cornils. Too bad, because she could've told him about using the F-550 hybrid to drop her two kids off at school one morning after having the truck at home overnight. "The other kids said, 'Oooh, what a cool ride,'" the native of France said. "I was a cool mama."

The kids were impressed by the truck's big look and feel, but more importantly, it saves fuel and cuts exhaust emissions even more than the Power Stroke V-8 diesel's 2007-spec particulate filter and other advances already achieved. The plug-in feature supplements hybrid action by topping off the lithium-ion batteries while the truck's parked overnight. This extends battery life and allows the truck to go farther and work on electric-only power first thing in the morning.....

1/27/2010  Proposed EPA Smog Standard Not Likely to Have Much Impact on Trucking
By Oliver B. Patton, Washington Editor

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to significantly tighten its standards for smog, a change that likely would have only a small impact on trucking.

The agency is considering lowering the current primary standard for ground-level ozone from .075 parts per million to between .060 and .070 ppm. Ozone, which has been linked to health problems such as asthma and other lung conditions, is formed by the action of sunlight on emissions from industrial facilities and power plants as well as cars and trucks.

"I don't foresee a big impact on our industry, at all," said Glenn Kedzie, assistant general counsel of the American Trucking Associations.

He explained that if this proposal is cleared, by the time it is put into effect starting in 2014, much of the trucking industry will have acquired vehicles that meet the emission standards that started in 2002 and got progressively tougher in 2007 and 2010. The standard that took effect this year, for example, brings NOx emissions to practically zero.

The regulatory system requires geographical areas, typically urban areas, to meet these standards. If they do not, they must come up with a plan to reduce smog. Kedzie thinks most such non-attainment areas would target fixed sources such as power plants before going after mobile sources, but older vehicles could be targeted as well.

"I don't think you'll have mobile sources being a big target for further NOx reductions," he said. "If it's going to impact anybody, it's going to be the older, higher-emitting-NOx vehicles. And if it is going to impact them it probably will be very few trucks … it won't be the larger trucking companies and it probably won't be the mid-sized trucking companies."

If any restrictions did reach the industry, they probably would show up as a retrofit requirement on older engines that do not meet modern emission standards, he said.

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1/19/2010  Barriers to Commercialization Still Exist For Hybrid Truck Industry
By Diana Britton, Managing Editor

Hybrid drivetrain technology has the potential to improve fuel economy by 20 to 50 percent on medium- and heavy-duty trucks. The technology can also reduce greenhouse gas emissions and smog-forming pollutants by the same percentage. With such benefits to the trucking industry, why is the hybrid truck industry still in an early stage, almost 10 years behind the market introduction of passenger hybrids?

According to The Hybrid Commercial Vehicles Report, published by SupplierBusiness, an IHS Global Insight Company, all the major truck manufacturers and hybrid system developers in the U.S. are on board with the technology. Many have prototypes or are developing hybrid models. In addition, many fleets have shown interest in using hybrid trucks, with adoption from FedEx Express, UPS and Coca Cola, to name a few. The hybrid truck industry has grown from only 200 vehicles in 2006 to an expected 5,000 in 2010, the report says.

But not enough fleets have adopted the technology to keep costs down and kick commercialization of hybrid technology into full gear.....