Staples Road Tests Diesel-Electric Hybrid Delivery Truck

Staples is road testing the company's first hybrid delivery trucks in Los Angeles and Boston. The vehicle was built jointly by Isuzu and Enova. The trucks feature a diesel-electric power train with an 85-hp electric motor and use nickel-metal hydride batteries. The truck itself is a standard Isuzu design that has been modified with the diesel-electric power train.

The vehicle is equipped to relay test data back to Isuzu in Japan, and weighs 800 pounds less than a conventional Isuzu diesel truck. Much of the weight loss was achieved by redesigning the interior of the vehicle, and reducing the weight of storage compartments and doors. Isuzu says that the interior components will outlive the truck, so they can be reused in later models, reducing the overall cost of the vehicle.

The trucks were introduced at AltWheels Fleet Day, an annual event that took place at Staples World Headquarters in Framingham, MA. The one-day meeting was targeted at fleet managers and commercial vehicle operators looking for strategies that other businesses are using to cope with rising fuel costs and the growing demand for cleaner vehicles.

Staples, General Motors, Ford, Freightliner, Eaton, Smith Electric, Azure Dynamics, National Grid, Clean Energy, Dennis Burke, Toyota, Massport,, Isuzu, Penske Truck Leasing, GE Capital Solutions, Enova Systems and others participated in or sponsored the event. Several manufacturers displayed their newest hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Technologies included hybrid-electric vehicles, PHEVs, hydrogen FCVs, ethanol and biodiesel vehicles, compressed natural gas, vehicles, electric vehicles and those equipped with idle reduction technologies.

Source: Wired, Staples
Photo: Staples