Hybrid Vehicles

BAE Systems named Caterpillar as its automatic transmission supplier as its develops a parallel version of its HybriDrive brand drivetrain for trucks

A hybrid vehicle couples a fuel engine with (usually) an electric drivetrain, affording the key advantage of regenerative braking — force from the action of stopping is gathered and used for acceleration, saving fuel and increasingly allowing for a smaller engine.

Braking force is usually stored as electricity in a battery (or ultracapacitor or flywheel, or a "hybrid" of two or more), bringing all the challenges of safety and economy that accompany high-performance storage devices but allowing the option for the vehicle to be a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. A PHEV can be charged from the grid or solar or other system, and for limited distances requires no fuel engine at all.

Braking force can also be stored hydraulically, in a pressure vessel similar to a CNG tank, resulting in an hydraulic hybrid vehicle, or HHV. HHVs are emerging as strong alternatives to HEVs, especially for applications like garbage collection and package delivery requiring limited distance capability but lots of starts and stops.
Vehicles with parallel hybrid drives get motive force from a conventional engine-transmission arrangement, with electricity or hydraulic force assisting. In a series drive, all of the force driving the wheel comes from the electric or hydraulic system with the engine serving to recharge the battery or pressurize the hydraulic accumulator.

Expect state-of-the-art hybrids at HTUF 2011 in Baltimore October 10-13.

Industry Meetings