UPS will test new hydraulic hybrid trucks
If you thought the muscled deliveryfolk in tight brown shorts were hot, wait ’til you get a load of their trucks. UPS drivers in Detroit will be testing new hybrid delivery trucks developed by the U.S. EPA, which the agency claims will boost fuel efficiency up to 70 percent in stop-and-go traffic. The “hydraulic hybrid” trucks — also intriguing to the Army and FedEx — sport low-emission diesel engines and store braking energy not in a battery, but in a hydraulic system. A hydraulic hybrid will save about 1,000 gallons of fuel a year compared to a typical UPS truck. If the trucks are mass-produced, the new hybrid technology will add $7,000 to their cost, but could save companies as much as $50,000 over a delivery truck’s 10- to 20-year lifetime, says EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson. He declared, “With this new system, I guess you can say brown is the new green.” But wait — we thought green was the new black? We’re so confused.
