Earlier this year, ReVolt Motors introduced itself to trucking with news of a diesel-electric hybrid powertrain that could be retrofit onto existing trucks in an effort to help the trucking industry reduce emissions.
The company was initially set to show off its Peterbilt 379 show truck that featured the ReVolt hybrid retrofit at the Mid-America Trucking Show this spring, but with the cancelation of the MATS Ride & Drive, ReVolt put its plans on hold and decided instead to showcase the rig at the big Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo in late April/early May.
There at ACT Expo, Overdrive sister publication Clean Trucking Senior Editor Jay Traugott met with ReVolt Motors president and CEO Gus Gardner to see the new diesel-hybrid electric powertrain in a classic Peterbilt 379.
Catch a full transcript of the video via this link.
As Gardner explains in the video, the hybrid powertrain still operates with a 1,200-mile range, comparable to traditional diesel trucks, using both the diesel engine and electric generator that charges the batteries that power the drive axles. Operating on full electric mode, the truck can go for about 100 miles.
ReVolt says its system -- a 9-liter Scania diesel engine powering a generator, which charges a 210-kWh battery pack -- can achieve at least 12 miles per gallon in targeted applications and generate about 40% in fuel savings.
“So if you're driving L.A. to Phoenix at 60 miles an hour, hauling a ... 40,000-pound load, getting 10 miles a gallon with a super-efficient truck, we're probably not going to help you,” Gardner told Traugott in the video. “It's not going to justify the cost." Yet if your lanes are "through mountains … your route is all rural roads through a bunch of small towns where you're starting and stopping, going over hills, and you're getting six-and-a-half, five-and-a-half, four miles a gallon, we're probably going to be a huge addition to you. We're going to have a really short payback period. We’re going to create value.”
A ReVolt spokesperson told Overdrive that on its prototype units, the ReVolt hybrid system weighs about 4,000 pounds more than a traditional diesel truck, but because it operates with an electric motor, it does qualify for the additional 2,000-pound weight limit allowance that electric trucks qualify for, so it can legally operate at 82,000 pounds.
“It’s important to keep in mind that these numbers are from the early development units,” the spokesperson added. “ReVolt has a pathway to get to net zero" on weight, "but it is still in process.”
See the video (above and at this link) for more on application, pricing, what ReVolt believes sets it apart from other attempts at hybrid powertrains in trucking and more details.
[Related: What if your trailer could take some of the load off your diesel?]
