Heavy-Duty Hybrid Truck Testing
In the Fiscal Year 2011-12 AQIP Funding Plan, CARB allocated funds to the U.S. Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for the testing of hybrid heavy-duty trucks. This testing was intended to support CARB’s investment in hybrid trucks through the Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project and updates to CARB’s heavy-duty hybrid test procedures. The objective of the testing was to evaluate and quantify the emission impacts of commercially available hybrid medium- and heavy-duty vehicles relative to their non-hybrid counterparts. The study was intended to help improve the performance of commercial hybrid vehicles, estimate the real world benefits of advanced hybrid truck technology in California, and allow CARB to strategically match advanced propulsion systems to duty cycles to optimize for emissions reductions, fuel economy, and return on grant funding or fleet capital investment.
Specific project tasks included:
- Coordination and implementation of fleet partner agreements
- Drive cycle data collection
- Fleet drive cycle analysis and characterization
- Chassis dynamometer emissions and fuel economy measurement
- Portable emissions and fuel economy measurements
- Vocational analysis and methodology development