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Uncertain future for hybrids
Page 58
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It would be a brave pundit who attempted to predict the future of hybrid trucks. On the one hand their evolution is being driven by genuine environmental concerns and the threat of ever-harsher emissions legislation.
The public perception of hybrid technology is that it is out of the box and doing its thing. If the legislators adopt this somewhat optimistic view, would anyone really want to bet against the adoption of at least some level of hybridisation in future EU, US or Japanese emissions protocols?
Assuming that concerns about the global environment are at least in part justified and it would take some courage to argue that they are not cleaning up vehicle emissions is clearly a good idea.
On the other hand, we have to look at the economics of going greener. No one is ready to supply a definitive list price for a ready-to-work hybrid truck, but we did hear talk of a 15% increase over list when compared with a non-hybridised vehicle. In whole-life terms, some of that 15% would doubtless be repaid in terms of fuel savings but the question of residual values must also be considered.
We come back to the fact that the only factor that can drive forward the adoption of hybrids beyond the PR-sawy mega-fleets such as Wal-Mart, UPS, FedEx and the like is legislation.
Commercial Motor readers are well aware of the tight margins on offer within road transport. You don't need too many fingers to work out that in the vast majority of cases, the cost would outweigh the benefits.