The City of Austin has bought four hybrid refuse vehicles from the Hybrid Drives Division of Parker Hannifin Corp. in partnership with Autocar.


The four new Autocar E3 trash trucks will not only save the city money in terms of maintenance costs, but they will also reduce carbon emissions by up to 55 tons each, a total of 220 tons, in one year - the equivalent of removing a total of nearly 40 mid-size cars from the road, or planting as many as 5,200 trees and letting them grow for 10 years, says the company.

The hybrid transmissions in the trucks, Parker says, can also help save as much as 50% in fuel costs.

The vehicles feature Parker's RunWise Advanced Series Hybrid Drive System. The RunWise technology is on the Environmental Protection Agency National Clean Diesel Campaign's Emerging Technologies List.

"RunWise is a unique hydrostatic drive combined with brake energy recovery capabilities that delivers dramatic fuel savings, lowers noise levels, reduces brake wear and improves vehicle performance," says Tom DeCoster, business development manager for Parker's Hybrid Drives Division.

Parker has partnered with Keep Austin Beautiful, a local non-profit that provides resources and education to inspire people toward greater environmental stewardship, as well as Mayor Lee Leffingwell, to proclaim April 26 as 'Keep Austin's Air Clean Day.'

As part of its partnership with KAB, and to celebrate Keep Austin's Air Clean Day, Parker will donate $1,000 to KAB to help advance environmental stewardship throughout the City of Austin. In addition, Parker will donate a tree to KAB to plant in a community garden in honor of Arbor Day on April 27.

For more information about Parker's RunWise system, go to http://parkerhybrid.parker.com. For more information about KAB, go towww.KeepAustinBeautiful.org.

Here's a video of the Autocar E3 refuse truck in action: