Heavy hybrid haulers

Volvo experiments with energy-saving systems

July 20, 2008|By ARNOLD S. PLATOU

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The research being done at the Hagerstown plant, where Greszler and Charest are based, is so important that the U.S. Air Force has awarded Mack six contracts, plus one now pending, a Volvo spokesman said.

In all, the military is paying Mack $16.7 million to develop the hybrid technology and deliver seven prototype vehicles, spokesman James A. McNamara said.

In addition to the handful of employees doing such work here, there are Volvo teams in Sweden and France, and at Nissan Diesel, which is part of Volvo, in Japan. In Sweden, where Volvo is headquartered, the U.S. and Swedish governments are helping pay for research on hybrid technology for long-haul trucks.

Thus far, Mack has built three hybrid test trucks that are dump trucks and two that are refuse trucks. Two of the dump trucks are at Air Force bases in Nevada and Hawaii, and one is being tested at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.

"We're still in the testing phases," Charest said. "We're not selling anything today, but we're getting closer."

Startup unsettled

So when will Volvo begin mass production of the new hybrids here in Hagerstown?

Volvo Truck Corp., which is headquartered in Gteborg, Sweden, isn't saying.

Its top official, President and CEO Staffan Jufors, is quoted this month by Green Car Congress, which specializes in online reports about energy and technology, as saying, "We will start producing hybrid trucks in 2009."

Jufors does not say whether that refers to Volvo's powertrain production sites overseas.

Asked if Jufors could be talking about the Hagerstown plant, "We're not in a position to make any specific product announcement at this time," McNamara said. "We are in the development and test vehicle phase."

At present, no U.S. heavy truck manufacturer has begun production of the big trucks. This year, some began producing what are called "medium-duty" trucks, but that is not Mack's market.

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