NREL test of UPS diesel hybrid with Eaton electric drive showed big fuel savings in testing (Photo: After Gutenberg)

When it comes to making developments and furthering the knowledge and market share of EVs, hybrid-electrics and LNG-fueled vehicles, Most transportation analysts will tell you it’s all about fleets. That’s why when fleets the size of United Parcel Service’s 88,000 ground vehicle fleet are exploring technologies that could reduce fuel consumption by 30 percent, people take notice.

UPS is partnering with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to research and develop a diesel hybrid system for the delivery company’s ubiquitous brown vans. NREL collected and analyzed fuel economy, maintenance and other vehicle performance data from UPS’s first generation hybrid diesel vans powered by an Eaton Corporation electric hybrid propulsion system. The results of their study was recently published in a report (pdf).

NREL found that the diesel hybrid delivery vans improve the on-road fuel economy by 28.9 percent resulting in a 15 percent improvement in total cost per mile while maintaining similar reliability and operational performance as compared to conventional vehicles.

According to NREL, the hybrid system employs an Eaton automated transmission with an integrated motor/generator and advanced lithium ion batteries. Both the Freightliner hybrid model and the conventional model use a Mercedes-Benz MBE 904 four-cylinder diesel engine.

A second generation study is currently planned for 2010 to look at more advanced versions of the Eaton hybrid in operation within the UPS fleet.

Images source: After Gutenberg