Wouldn’t you like to have a delivery vehicle that runs around town even when the engine’s not on, thus generating huge fuel savings and emission reductions?

Such a vehicle is now on the road and part of the United Parcel Service (UPS) delivery van fleet. The technology is known as hydraulic hybrid drive. The innovation is touted to increase fuel efficiency by 50% to 70%. That’s far better than electric hybrid vehicles can offer.

And this huge mileage boost and related fuel savings comes with a 40% reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions compared to a standard diesel-powered brown van, so Big Brown can make big green claims to be helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

UPS just announced it will start installing the hydraulic hybrid drive system in 20 of its standard brown delivery vans. The company didn’t announced cost, so you can assume it’s very expensive. UPS is getting the trucks thanks to a grant from the Department of Energy’s Clean Cities program that promotes use of alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs).

The hydraulic hybrid-diesel system is supplied by Parker Hannifin Corp. The hydraulic hybrid system, which could end up in a 638 trucks thanks to DOE funding, is designed to:

• recover and store energy from the vehicle’s brakes
• optimize engine performance to maximize fuel efficiency
• drive the vehicle with the engine off, and
• reduce CO2 emissions during loading and unloading.

This type of drive system does not store the recovered energy in a traditional battery. The system uses an “accumulator” to recover and reuse as much as 70% of the braking energy. Traditional hybrid electric systems only recover 25% of the braking energy.

UPS has been testing the hydraulic hybrid drive since 2006. The delivery company also has a long history of using alternative fuel vehicles powered by compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, propane, hydrogen fuel cells, electric and hybrid electric power plants.

Tags: fuel economy, hydraulic hybrid, Parker Hannifan, UPS