Eaton Corporation says its medium-duty hybrid power systems are now commercially available and will be ready for customer deliveries in 2008 on the chassis of several major North American commercial vehicle manufacturers. These include International Truck and Engine Corporation, Kenworth Truck Co., Peterbilt Motors and Freightliner Corporation.
The announcement follows more than four years of development and 2 million miles of field-testing in North America, Europe and Asia.
According to Kevin Beaty, manager of Eaton’s Hybrid Power Systems business unit, the company plans to produce several hundred systems in 2007. Eaton is planning to ramp-up production capacity over the next three years in order to meet customer demand and achieve economies of scale.
Fleet customers for Eaton hybrid power have so far included FedEx Express, UPS, Coca-Cola Enterprises, The Pepsi Bottling Group and 14 public utility fleets into which were placed 24 hybrid-powered repair trucks.