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By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

For years, builders of hybrid-electric systems have been saying that prices for lithium ion batteries they need would be coming down, which would make these fuel-saving vehicles more affordable

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

By Jim Romeo, Contributor

Public utilities are in a precarious position. They must advise customers to be more prudent with their energy consumption; they also must set an example that their business operations are doing the same.

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

By Deborah Lockridge, Editor in Chief

One company thinks it has the answer for truck operators that want to use natural gas but are concerned about range issues: a dual-fuel system that can be retrofitted to existing diesel engines

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

United Parcel Service has ordered 48 road tractors that will burn liquified natural gas while pulling trailers up and down Interstate 15 between southern California and northern Utah

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

A report recently released by Canada's federal department of Natural Resources, entitled Natural Gas Use in Transportation Deployment Roadmap assesses of the potential benefits and the obstacles to liquefied natural gas as a fuel for trucking

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

A refiner in Nevada has formulated still another alternative fuel, a mixture of natural gas and petroleum it calls GDiesel

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By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

Although some researchers predict fuel prices won't spike again as they did in 2008, it's still likely that fuel prices will go up over time

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

The Hybrid Truck Users Forum's 10th annual meeting in late September in Dearborn, Mich., featured a ride and drive of electric and hybrid trucks

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

Hybrid Truck Users Forum's 10th annual meeting in late September in Dearborn, Mich., was its largest ever, with close to 700 attendees.

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

Eaton Corporation says that customers of its hybrid systems have collectively accumulated more than 100 million miles of service, and have cumulatively saved 4 million gallons and 40,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions

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Vedder Transport Ltd. of Abbotsford, British Columbia has issued a purchase order for 50 Peterbilt 386 liquefied natural gas (LNG) trucks powered by Westport HD LNG-powered engines

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BAE Systems is developing a parallel hybrid propulsion system designed for medium- and heavy-duty truck applications. The parallel system is the latest version of the company's HybriDrive green propulsion system

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Freightliner Trucks delivered what it calls the first turnkey natural gas truck upfitted with a vacuum body

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By Deborah Lockridge, Editor

Crescent Crown Distributing is one of the five largest beer distributors in the country, delivering more than 26 million cases a year in Arizona and Louisiana. As a leader in the industry, company officials believe it's their job to take the lead in sustainability initiatives as well

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

By Jim Park, Equipment Editor

What prompts a very successful and highly visible carrier to wade deeply into uncharted territory and invest millions in yet-to-be proven technology? "It's the right thing to do and the right time to do it," says Claude Robert, president of privately held Groupe Robert in Boucherville, Quebec

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

We were stopped at a red light on 11 Mile Road, a broad, eight-lane boulevard in Oak Park, Mich., northwest of Detroit, and I eyed the cars and trucks alongside us.

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Diesel Direct and Freightliner Trucks together have developed what they say is the first-ever diesel electric hybrid fuel truck. The innovative Freightliner Business Class M2 106 Hybrid will be used to deliver fuel to fleets primarily in Massachusetts

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

For many years we've been accustomed to seeing electric carts scoot around golf courses and airports, and strong, silent forklifts do heavy lifting in factories and warehouses. Now street-legal trucks are ready to haul cargo in American cities

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

Primitive batteries and limited range caused electric cars and trucks to lose a technology battle with the internal combustion engine in the early 20th century. But electrics have come a long way, buddy

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor

In a Portland "market" launch of its plug-in electric commercial van, Navistar expanded on the technical side of the eStar, which it's offering in cooperation with Modec of the United Kingdom. The Class 2C-3 van is all-electric. With a range of 100 miles on an eight-hour charge, the revolutionary-looking vehicle is targeted at operations that currently use gasoline or diesel step vans in city applications.

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

By Diana Britton, Managing Editor

Demand for hybrid trucks is expected to grow over the next six years across North America and Europe, and the medium-duty market will likely be the leader, with significant penetration into the hybrid secto

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

Well-attended educational sessions and an ever-larger trade display marked the National Truck Equipment Association's annual meeting and Work Truck Show, held in March at the St. Louis Convention Center

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

Navistar International's electric truck is called "eStar." It's being assembled by its Monaco RV subsidiary in Wakarusa, Ind., and it's priced at $150,000, less various government monetary grants meant to encourage purchases of the non-polluting vehicle

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

Over the next 25 years, energy consumption is expected to grow, but there will also be a greater use of renewable fuels within the transportation secto

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Tropicana, a division of PepsiCo, has taken delivery of two new hybrid diesel-electric medium-duty Peterbilt trucks, which service downtown Chicag

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By Thomas Pettersson, Volvo Trucks

Which fuels will replace oil? Nobody yet knows the answer. However, in order for the manufacturers to be able to offer vehicles that the market will want in the future, strategic decisions have to be made today

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor

Diesel-electric hybrids are proving ever more popular in vocations such as utility trucks and pickup and delivery

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By Deborah Lockridge, Editor

LOUISVILLE, KY -- After the bitter battle on Capitol Hill about healthcare reform, a well-known alternative energy advocate predicts Congress will turn to legislation that will help the country toward a bipartisan goal of reducing our dependence on foreign oil

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

By Deborah Lockridge, Editor

Recent announcements illustrate the growing interest in natural gas engines for medium- and heavy-duty commercial trucks

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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

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

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 suppl

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

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

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

By Diana Britton, Managing Editor

The biodiesel tax credit expired at the end of last week, leaving biodiesel producers and truckstops in uncertainty over what the next few months may hold, and truckers concerned about possible price increases

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

By Diana Britton, Managing Editor

Vermont-based Bourne's Energy, a family-owned company that delivers fuel and propane to households and businesses, has a long-term goal of producing a usable biofuel in Vermont

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor and Diana Britton, Managing Editor

Kansas City-based Smith Electric Vehicles is making the first deliveries of its Newton Class 5 through 7 all-electric truck

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

While passenger cars may be well-suited to hybrid and electric technology, natural gas makes more sense for the trucking industry, and would be taking off among fleets, were it not for the economy, according to David Woodbur

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

Kimberly Taylor of the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute was almost ecstatic. "The whole world is watching their calendar, waiting for their grants to come out," she said of people in the business of producing and using cars, truck

Tags: Alternative Fuels & Hybrids

By Diana Britton, Managing Editor

The New York City Department of Sanitation collects more than 12,000 tons of residential and institutional refuse and recyclables each da

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By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

Here are two ways to avoid buying petroleum from unfriendly countries

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By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

Government people tend to spend a lot of time thinking and planning when they should just get things done, contends David McCary, director of solid waste management for the City of San Antonio

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