Queens, NY – New York City is testing hybrid sanitation trucks to see if the cleaner models could someday replace the old ones.
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Mayor Michael Bloomberg says three hybrid trucks will begin picking up residential waste in Queens next month.
Officials say today’s trash truck gets about three miles per gallon. The hybrids are estimated to get about 25 to 30% more mileage.
Bloomberg says he is trying to reduce emissions in all city vehicles. The hybrid trucks were unveiled a month after The Associated Press reported that his official SUVs idled for long periods of time – sometimes more than an hour – all over the city.
Bloomberg apologized and ordered an end to the practice.
so if the current trucks get 3 MPG and the new trucks get 30% better mileage, so we are talking about 4 MPG? wow , a great investment for 1 additional MPG!
In addition to maybe… saving fuel in general, there’s some other key improvements the hybrid trucks provide. Same, by the way, with the hybrid buses.
When the buses and trucks (and hybrid cars) come to a stop, they can shut off their engines. This reduces teh annoying smoke when idling. (The engines come right back to life when the accelerator is pushed).
The big other key is that the battery pack provides part of the horsepower needed when the rigs start moving. Think of all the heavy exhaust when a bus starts.. and all of that gets blown right at the folk standing at the bus stop. (In the case of a sanit truck it would be right into the face of the worker).
With the hybrid, a lot of the torque is provided by the electric motor. This way the smoke is much less literally “in the face”. The batteries are recharged, bit by bit, as the truck is moving on the road, so the smoke is more disbursed.
Oh, and the diesel is more efficient at the steadier state rpm on the highway, so you actually do better in regards to the whole pollution picture, as opposed to just moving it from the starting line. (Which, again, would be worthy on its own since you don’t want all those fumes at the bus stop/truck start).
This is the stepping stone technology to getting off Arab oil funding terrorism in our backyards.
The end goal is pure electric drive.
We wish Bloomberg’s promise turn into reality. The residents of Queens are already breathing the dust and smoke laden air resulting from auto-emission that could be understood from the asthma and allergy allerts as provided by the different websites.
Tony Smith