Hybrid Fleet Vehicles 191
howman writes "This article in the Toronto Star tells of a Canadian company called Azure Dynamics Corp. which has a novel approach to cutting fuel costs and harmful emissions in fleet vehicles. The novelty is not so much in their technology but in the fact that they are hitting the fleet vehicle users market. While Azure doesn't manufacture any of the components, it 'works with the companies that make all the parts for Canada Post's trucks or Purolator's vans - the engines, the chassis, and so on - to convert those vehicles into HEVs.' With an existing and potential client list that includes Purolator, Canada Post, the United States Postal Service and Renault and London Taxi International, it may not be long before you see one of their branded vehicles on a street near you."
aluminium batteries (Score:5, Interesting)
Hope this sticks (Score:5, Interesting)
There are so many better alternatives now than there were then. This is one of the best I have seen, so maybe it will actually catch on and have enough longevity as an idea to create a cultural change.
Emissions (Score:2, Interesting)
depends on it's use... (Score:4, Interesting)
your greatest increase in economy is by adding a double overdrive gearbox to it. They sell them as aftermarket add-on's for Motorhomes and they can increase a 33 foot motorhome's gas mileage by 20%.
The biggest problem with emissions and fuel economy though is NOT the vehicles but the drivers. if the drivers were careful with their driving economy will go up, but it's more cost effective to push your employees harder and force them to drive inefficently and even break the law.
as for in-town deliveries... I dont understand why a pure-electric vehicle would not be the best choice. they spend more time off then running.
Re:The electricity still comes from fossil fuels! (Score:4, Interesting)
Show me some evidence that 85% of the power we get in ontario is from fossel fuels. That sounds like some bullshit to me. Especially considering you say 15% hydro (very low for the ammt of hydro we produce) and do not include nuclear power anywhere in your numbers.
Do not make outrageous claims with inaccurate numbers.
Infrastructure (Score:3, Interesting)
I read an article in Discover or Scientifc American (can't remember which!) recently detailing the shift to alternative fuels. Not only is it a challenge to develop applicable technologies that are economical for end users, an even greater challenge will be to develop the infrastructure necessary to support these vehicles. We take for granted that one can stop at a gas station and fill up. If one we're driving a propane-powered vehicle, one would require an appropriate filling station. The answer to this appears to lie in getting large companies to 'buy in' (sorry for the manager speak, lots of meetings this week!) to using alternative fuels and retrofitting their stations for those fuels. When they have taken hold, and enough demand exists, consumer stations can begin to be retrofitted with the necessary equipment to ease consumers into using cars that run on newer fuels.
It's kinda like how you can still buy VHS!
Re:Critical Mass (Score:5, Interesting)
1) You are still burning nitrogen, which creates NOx emissions [google.com] (bad).
2) Nonrenewable
Hydrogen and fuel cells are clearly the future. My vision is that some enterprising inventor will come up with a high-density method for storing hydrogen, at which point high-capacity hydrogen batteries will be possible. As I pointed out yesterday [slashdot.org], NiMH batteries are just closed loop hydrogen fuel cells. With a high-density hydrogen storage solution, you could have a battery-powered car which could travel several thousand miles between charges, which would likely consist of swapping out the battery pack.
This would work well with out existing infrastructure. Power plants typically idle down to very inefficient ranges during the night time hours. These plants could simply use the excess electrical capacity at night in order to separate hydrogen from water. This hydrogen could be stored in said high-density storage solution and stored in battery packs. These battery packs could be used in all sorts of stuff from automobiles to houses (making note that the "grid" is where most of our energy is consumed today - it is very inefficient).
Re:dual fuel quite possible (Score:5, Interesting)
As for your idea of having your own "bulk" tank in the backyard I don't think it is possible. To fill up a car you need to have a certification at least here in Canada.
For the people that say propane is explosive and might be a danger to the public if you have big "bulk" tanks I had a guy show me how to extinguish
fire with liquid propane. It worked. Apparently propane has much higher ignition point then reg gas
it is a lot safer to use. Plus all the tanks in the vehicles have safety devices that will prevent leaks from the tank unless the tank itself is physically damaged.
Re:Critical Mass (Score:3, Interesting)
propane conversions were really popular here in the 80's, but demand has lessened signifigantly, propane conversions are expenzive, and your mileage is less, so even with the signifigantly cheaper cost of propane, you never recover from the initial cost of the conversion unless you put on a LOT of miles. There's also the disadvantage that you can't park in any covered parkade (they're worried about a possible leak as propane is heavier than air and will pool in lowlying areas instead of properly dissipating)...
A large number of taxis still use propane, and some police cars (though they seem to be giving up on it too these days)
Our transit system experimented with natural gas powered busses for a few years, but they gave up on that one too, apparently it took hours to fill the tanks, and the busses were constantly in for service, those that are still on the road are running off of their gasoline tanks only (they were all dual fuel). about the only vehicles I see on the streets on a regular basis that run on natural gas are those owned by our local natural gas supplier, and even they haven't converted their entire fleet.
things aren't looking entirely gloomy for alternative fuels though, just today our transit system released a press release saying they're trialing a diesel-electric hybrid bus... we'll see how that goes...
How about working with Toyota? (Score:3, Interesting)
It's a good mix, too--Azure has the technology Toyota may not have, and Toyota has probably more experience with hybrid drivetrain vehicles than anyone else in the world, thanks to the successful sales of the Toyota Prius.
I for one would love to see the United States Postal Service eventually phase out its current fleet of small mail-carrying vehicles with ones that use a hybrid drivetrain--we're talking sales that could run into the tens of thousands!
Re:Hmm. Diesel-Electric? (Score:3, Interesting)
But with today's technology, a parallel diesel-electric hybrid vehicle could be made quite small indeed. And it will be very clean, especially with the use of sulfur-free diesel fuels and the latest in fuel-delivery and exhaust emission control technology.
Re:Makes Perfect Sense (Score:3, Interesting)
I would think that using turbo diesels would be a better solution for most fleets. I can see how inner city buses and taxis might be a good fit for hybrids, and some delivery vehicles that make frequent stops, but other than that I frankly doubt that they provide a better return than a nice efficient turbo diesel.
Re:Hmm. Diesel-Electric? (Score:5, Interesting)
Trains are in a situation where weight matters much much less than in a car. They can afford the weight difference of having an extra generator in there driven by the diesels. Also, their diesels are much larger, and larger diesels are more efficient. The most efficient internal combusion engine in the world is the size of a small house and runs on diesel fuel. I forget what the application was, though I believe it was on some sort of ship, which makes sense.
Some hybrid vehicles now use a CVT (continuously variable transmission) so they can use the gasoline engine more often, and keep it in its powerband more reliably.
Converting a two wheel drive vehicle to a hybrid is typically relatively trivial; You hook up power to the non-driven wheels. This usually represents only a small engineering challenge. The rest of the problems are fairly well-known today. As I am fond of pointing out, even radio controlled cars do regenerative braking these days, and it does make a significant difference in runtime. It's probably a bigger challenge to try to find someplace to put the batteries :)
Incidentally, they do have semi-trucks with automatic transmissions and they usually don't have many gears. However, they are lossy during acceleration as are all automatic transmissions. They probably do have a lockup torque converter, however, so once they get going they should be approximately as efficient as a manual gearbox.
Re:You can buy one from Toyota. (Score:3, Interesting)
How do you expect people to actually use these vehicles if you can't test drive them and have to jump through hoops and wait a year to buy one? Most car purchases are impulse. If you want people to use these vehicles you need to get them sitting on dealer's lots so we can come by and go, "Ohh, shiny."
That might well be true today. (Score:4, Interesting)
With a battery powered vehicle you can switch the supply to another generation platform by sticking a solar panel on the roof of your house and flicking a switch. Can't do that with Petrol, ethanol, methanol, hydrogen.
Hydraulic hybrids (Score:3, Interesting)
Hydraulic hybrids. [iags.org]