Autoblog

Watch Volvo's hybrid semi-truck set a land speed record

Jonathon Ramsey — Wed, 02 May 2012 16:57:00 EST

Filed under: Truck, Videos, Volvo, Specialty

Volvo is taking its Mean Green hybrid truck on U.S. tour for a few months. One of the stops between Toronto Tuck World and the Volvo Ocean Race in Miami was Wendover, Utah, to attempt a couple of record-breaking speed runs.

Mean Green uses a tuned version of Volvo's DI6 engine, an inline 6-cylinder that puts out 1,900-horsepower, tied to an electric motor that adds 200 hp and 885 pound-feet. With that package, the Swedish Viking Speed Records Team and pilot Boije Overbrink were aiming for 165 miles per hour in the flying kilometer. They didn't quite make that lofty goal, but they did well enough to break not one, but two world records. Scroll down for the story of the day.

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Watch Volvo's hybrid semi-truck set a land speed record originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 02 May 2012 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ford, Toyota will partner on RWD hybrid system for trucks and SUVs

Sebastian Blanco — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:55:00 EST

Filed under: Hybrid, Truck, Ford, Toyota

Is the Prius V not big enough for you? Then you'll probably be interested to learn that Ford and Toyota announced a partnership today to develop a new hybrid system for SUVs and light trucks. The "equal partners" deal should result in a gasoline-electric hybrid powertrain that will be ready "later this decade" - in other words, in time for the higher CAFE standards that the U.S. government just announced.

The exact models that will use the new powertrain are, unsurprisingly, not being revealed. Instead, all we know is that Toyota and Ford will develop a rear-wheel-drive hybrid system that will improve the efficiency of trucks and SUVs while still allowing them to be driven in the way customers expect them to. The powertrain's architecture will most likely not be the same as what is used in the dominant Hybrid Synergy Drive that Toyota has refined over the past 14 years in the Prius.

The reason no one knows for sure? All that Ford and Toyota have as this moment is a Memorandum of Understanding. The next step will be a feasibility study to figure out what the exact implementation path will be, with the general outline being that the companies will work together on a powerplant that will be used independently in models that are specific to each company (i.e., this is not about sharing a platform or models, just a RWD hybrid powerplant). The two automakers will also work together on in-vehicle telematics.

Today's announcement could further confuse some people's understanding of the history of hybrid technology, since it has long been an urban legend that Ford licensed its earlier hybrid tech from Toyota. This did not happen, as we explained back in 2009.

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Ford, Toyota will partner on RWD hybrid system for trucks and SUVs originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Ram Trucks will not offer hybrid pickup to consumers

Jeremy Korzeniewski — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 15:36:00 EST

Filed under: Hybrid, Truck, Chrysler, Dodge

Have you been waiting for Chrysler's long-promised Ram hybrid pickup truck? Bad news: Speaking to PluginCars.com, Ram Trucks CEO Fred Diaz firmly put that notion on ice when he bluntly said, "Truckers don't want to buy hybrids."

We're not sure truck buyers are so much anti-hybrid as they are unwilling to cough up the necessary bucks to bring meaningful hybrid technology to their pickups. Either way, General Motors' full-size hybrid trucks have failed to set the market on fire, and there's little indication Chrysler's would either, unless the automaker were to offer them at an extremely favorable price point. That seems unlikely.

For now, it seems that the only hybrid pickup trucks Ram will offer are the recently announced plug-in models that were developed using federal stimulus funds via a $48 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant and a separate $5 million grant from the Canadian government. A total of 140 PHEV Ram trucks will be offered to fleet customers within the next several months.

The good news for mileage-conscious pickup truck buyers is that Diaz suggested other technologies from Fiat are likely to make their way to the Ram Trucks division at some point. Multiair and light-duty diesels sound like a good starting point...

[Source: PluginCars.com]

Report: Ram Trucks will not offer hybrid pickup to consumers originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 12 Feb 2011 15:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Review: 2010 Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid is all swing, all miss

Zach Bowman — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:58:00 EST

Filed under: Hybrid, Truck, Chevrolet, GM, New Car Reviews

2010 Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid - Click above for high-res image gallery

For every engineering stroke of genius out there, there are a million duds - projects that someone slaved over in good faith, only to realize that someone else had already come to market with a superior and/or more viable alternative. Both the electronic and automotive industries are awash with tales of second-place finishes in two-man races. Blu-ray vs. HD DVD, VHS vs. Betamax and Oldsmobile vs. Edsel are all stories of outright champions and also-rans. It's rarer, however, to see a company build and sell an ugly duckling right alongside the varsity all-stars of the family, which is exactly what General Motors has done with its 2010 Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid.

It's clear that GM desperately wants to mix the seemingly unblendable worlds of full-size pickup trucks and hybrids with its electrified Silverado, and to some degree, they've succeeded. Yes, our tester has a bed, four-wheel drive and a meaty V8 up front. And yes, it packs an electric motor and a mammoth battery pack. But the finished product feels like the road-going equivalent of a spork - a utensil to be used as a last resort. The only problem is, there are far better alternatives, many of which are available from The General's stable.

Gallery: Review: 2010 Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid

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Review: 2010 Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid is all swing, all miss originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mahindra to show diesel-hybrid pickup at SAE Congress

Jeremy Korzeniewski — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 07:02:00 EST

Filed under: Hybrid, Truck, Green, Misc. Auto Shows, India

Potential buyers interested in the upcoming Mahindra & Mahindra Appalachian pickup truck will get a sneak-peek of the new machine at the upcoming SAE World Congress, April 14-17 in Detroit, Michigan. The most interesting part of this news, though, is that the vehicle on display will sport a diesel/electric hybrid drivetrain, which could be the first and only such system sold in the U.S. The standard diesel Appalachian truck is expected to come with a 2.2-liter four cylinder diesel engine putting out between 140 and 150 horsepower along with 300 lb. ft of torque. Expected to sell in the low $20,000 range and be available in both two and four-door versions, Mahindra could potentially re-ignite the small truck market abandoned long ago by American automakers. With the hybrid option coming in at around $5 grand more, before any available tax credits are applied, we think that this upcoming Indian truck will make some waves here in the states when it goes on sale in 2010.

[Source: Diesel Forecast]

Mahindra to show diesel-hybrid pickup at SAE Congress originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 25 Mar 2008 07:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Detroit '08 Preview: Toyota A-BAT hybrid pickup concept

Sam Abuelsamid — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 18:18:00 EST

Filed under: Concept Cars, Detroit Auto Show, Hybrid, Truck, Toyota

click above to view more images of the Toyota A-BAT Concept

Perhaps in response to the criticism that Toyota has received over the past year from environmentalists for its ever larger and thirstier trucks, the Japanese automaker is switching direction with its 2008 Detroit concept - the A-BAT hybrid pickup concept. Toyota and Nissan pioneered the idea of modern compact pickup trucks in the U.S. market, but Toyota has largely left it behind over the past decade. The new A-BAT concept pickup is 27 inches shorter than an extended cab Tacoma and nine inches shorter than the regular cab model. In profile, the uni-body truck looks somewhat like a shorter Honda Ridgeline with rounder contours. The A-BAT is the first Toyota to have a mid-gate allowing cargo longer than the standard four-foot bed to extend into the cab. With the tailgate down, drivers can pack the proverbial 4x8 sheet of plywood. Power for the A-BAT comes from Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive mated to a four-cylinder engine, although so far there is no indication of which wheels get propulsion. Based on the snub-nosed styling, it seems probable that the engine is transversely mounted and driving the front wheels, but we'll find out for sure when the A-BAT officially debuts at the 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit next month.

[Source: Toyota]

Gallery: Detroit 2008: Toyota A-BAT Concept

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Detroit '08 Preview: Toyota A-BAT hybrid pickup concept originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 27 Dec 2007 18:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Electric truck hauls amps

Chris Tutor — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 07:55:00 EST

Filed under: Truck, Green

Slowly, the arguments against owning an alternative-fuel vehicle are being made invalid. There's an electric car for speed junkies. There's even a hybrid for hauling more than two people. The Prius not orange enough for ya? You're covered too.

But until now, if you wanted to haul cargo, your choices were limited, if not nonexistent. Phoenix Motorcars hopes to fill that need soon with its uncreatively-named Sport Utility Truck. The midsize pickup will use not one drop of gasoline while hauling your oversized sheets of plywood or mounds of mulch. The four-door cab will even let you take five of your closest home-improvement-able friends to the megastore, while the 480-lb-ft of torque takes the vehicle to 60 mph in a claimed 10 seconds and on up to 95 mph.

Phoenix says the SUT's battery pack will recharge 95% in 10 minutes with the off board charger and in six hours with the on board charger. The company says its NanoSafe battery packs will get 100 miles on a charge, and are guaranteed for 12 years. It just received a $750,000 order for 10 of the 35KWh packs from Altair Nanotechnologies. That order will help the company meet its goal of selling 500 of the California-built pickups in late 2007 in that state, and 6,000 nationwide by 2008.

Autoblog Green reported on the company from SEMA and has all the technical details on their site.

More photos after the jump.

[Sources: TechEBlog and The Auto Channel]

Continue reading Electric truck hauls amps

Electric truck hauls amps originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 01 Jan 2007 07:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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