Hybrid Incentives
Posted by Brandy Alvarado on Sun, Mar 29, 2009 @ 02:14 PM
A new Federal incentive could boost commercial diesel hybrid sales. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently launched a program that would fund up to a quarter of the costs fleet owners pay towards replacing diesel trucks with new diesel-electric hybrid, liquefied natural gas or other alternate-fueled engine.
In addition to the financial incentive offered by the EPA, fleet owners would also reap the benefits of added fuel and energy savings. For starters, hybrid trucks recover energy using an electric motor, or even a pressurized hydraulic system, which boosts the performance of the internal combustion engine during acceleration or when carrying a heavy load.
Fleet owners know very well how much fuel is lost due to idling. An idling truck can waste nearly a gallon of fuel and hour and cause significant engine wear.
The California EPA Air and Resources Board mandates that 2008 and newer model year heavy-duty diesel engines must be equipped with a non-programmable engine shutdown system that automatically shuts down the engine after five minutes of idling or optionally meet a stringent oxides of nitrogen idling emission standard. Not only that, but the in-use truck requirements require operators of both in-state and out-of-state registered sleeper berth equipped trucks to manually shut down their engine when idling more than five minutes at any location within California. (http://www.arb.ca.gov.)
According to the EPA, the new fleet owner hybrid-incentive program can be combined with federal tax credits ranging from six to twelve thousand per vehicle. The EPA’s grants are just one of the new programs funded by the Obama administration’s economic stimulus plan.
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