Military looks to develop heavy hybrid trucks

updated 4:08 p.m. ET May 2, 2006

OSHKOSH, Wis. - At the top of a 10-foot-high mound of dirt, Gary Schmiedel takes in the silence. The military truck he’s driving barely hums just before it careens down a steep incline into a muddy pool.

Normally the vehicle — a Heavy Expanded Mobility Technical Truck or HEMTT — would be so loud the occupants wouldn’t be able to talk to each other, said Schmiedel, vice president of product engineering for Oshkosh Truck Corp. But this version is about as loud as a standard sedan, with a smooth ride, splashy computer screens and a comfortable interior.

This isn’t your dad’s military truck, a bumpy, loud gas guzzler. This is a hybrid made at the request of the Defense Department.

Oshkosh Truck, the military’s exclusive provider of the Army’s heavy cargo-hauling HEMTT vehicles, is finishing up prototypes of its electric hybrid. It not only increases gas mileage by about 20 percent from the standard 3 to 4 miles per gallon, it generates enough electricity to power a city block or hospital. The company, based in this city about 100 miles north of Milwaukee, just signed a contract to produce a prototype of a similar vehicle for the Marines.

It’s not clear how the hybrid technology will affect prices for the military vehicles, whose diesel version costs from $200,000 to $400,000, said Schmiedel, vice president of advanced product engineering for Oshkosh Truck. Even modest reductions in gas mileage help, he said, pointing out that 70 percent of what military vehicles carry is fuel.

The hybrid technology can be far-reaching, said Schmiedel. Commercial vehicles such as garbage trucks and emergency vehicles all could benefit from using less fuel, he said. The Department of Energy has said it hopes to double the fuel economy of garbage trucks by 2010.

FACT FILE Oshkosh Truck, in conjunction with the military, is developing a heavy military hybrid vehicle used for hauling cargo. Here’s how the vehicle compares to older versions: — 20 percent improved fuel economy. — A hybrid generator that can produce enough power to run 50 homes for an indefinite period. — 40 percent more room in the cab. — 3,000 pounds lighter. — 16 inches shorter. — Can directly unload cargo from planes. — Payload and center of gravity carried 11 inches lower, meaning less chance of tipping. Source: The Associated Press

The ability to generate power could be another selling point, Schmiedel said. The technology has a storage system capturing energy that would otherwise be wasted in the braking process. The generator can produce up to 300 kilowatts of power — enough to run 50 homes for an indefinite amount of time, he said. In response to Hurricane Katrina, Oshkosh took a hybrid truck to New Orleans and used it to pump out a hospital basement.

“First and foremost it’s a truck. If it has the flexibility to act as a generator in a pinch, that’s a heck of a disaster recovery attribute,” Schmiedel said.

The military is working with several companies to get power systems into its hybrid vehicles, said Paul Mehney, communications officer with the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, in Warren, Mich. Hybrid generators would eliminate the need to haul in a separate diesel generator, he said.

“It comes in real handy in the field. You can power an operation center out of that. You can power water purification systems off that,” Mehney said.

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