Focusing on Trucks at the French-American EV Technology Conference

75% of the total fuel consumption on our roads comes from commercial vehicles, and therefore an increase of a few miles per gallon in large trucks has a massive effect on reducing the environmental impact of moving our stuff around.  This makes the hybridization or electrification of large trucks a high priority for those concerned about the eco-friendliness of our large-vehicle fleets.

I was interested to learn of the developments in trucking made by Eaton — most of which are fairly technical innovations in drive trains.  But they presented one thing at the French-American EV Technology Conference this morning that I had forgotten to consider: The PTO (power take-off) systems that are used, for instance, to lift workers in buckets up to work on trees or power lines have historically required that the truck’s motor is running — and at fairly high RPM ranges at that.  This, of course, is terribly inefficient.  In many applications, a truck is stationary 65% of the time its motor is running. 

Electric (even hybrid-electric) versions of trucks put an end to this terrible waste, since the PTO operates from the battery.  Interesting, eh?