Friday, August 15, 2008

A Hybrid Truck that South Asia Should Be looking At

Considering the junk for trucks that run in India - ancient Tata 1210s and Leyland trash for one - I wonder if anyone has figured out how much oil is wasted with these ancient monstrosities. I don't know what the situation is like across South Asia though Sri Lanka would certainly have some good trucks plying their roads because they have always permitted imports of good stuff. However, there is a new game and that is the hybrid truck. The technology would be ideal for the stop-start drivind conditions on the overcrowded roads in much of South Asia and today's Autoblog Green has a piece on a new hybrid truck from Peterbilt: http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/08/14/peterbilt-hybrid-truck-delivers-the-good-stuff/ With a 30-50% increase in efficiency over regular American trucks, this should offer a 90% increase over the junk that plies on South Asian roads, especially in India. It can't be all that difficult for the Tatas or for Leyland to license this powertrain technology and incorporate it into their truck frames if they really want to do it. But do they?

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