Archive for July, 2006

Dakota, June 2006

Originally uploaded by First_Things.

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Leaves on the trail in Santa Fe National Forest, New Mexico in October 2005.

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A little known corps of engineers creates environmental innovations on an increasingly dwindling budget.

There has been a lot of chatter about hybrid cars, hydrogen-powered cars and even solar-powered cars coming to market in order to help us kick our “addiction to oil.” But few designs for viable alternatives to large gas guzzling vehicles, like delivery and garbage trucks, have come out of the engineering box. This new UPS truck, designed and built by engineers working for the EPA’s Clean Automotive Technology program in Ann Arbor, Michigan, runs on a combination of combustion engine and hydraulic pumps.
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The concept is surprisingly simple: When you step on the gas, the diesel engine drives hydraulic pumps that power the wheels and charge hydraulic storage tanks. When you let up on the gas, the engine shuts off completely and the hydraulic chambers engage to power the truck. There is no direct drive shaft from the engine to the wheels. When you brake, the forward momentum of the vehicle is converted to energy that is stored in the high-pressure hydraulic tanks, an efficiency concept reminiscent of hybrid electric cars that charge the car’s battery with the energy created by breaking. That process, in hybrids, can recover about 20% of the car’s moving energy; in the hydraulic truck, an astounding 70% of the energy is recovered. For the stop/start use common to most UPS trucks, that translates to a 60% to 70% increase in fuel efficiency.

The first two prototypes for the vehicle will hit the road this year, signaling a huge victory for engineers in the EPA’s Clean Automotive Technology program. - Seed: Punishing Success at the EPA

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