Walmart, equipment suppliers working on hybrid fleet rollout

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — The company that operates North America’s second-largest trucking fleet.

Wal-Mart Stores is supporting development of new hybrid technologies, developed jointly by Peterbilt Motors Co. and Eaton Corp., by helping to validate the concept and refine the final design.

Wal-Mart recently announced its “Sustainability 360” program that will aggressively promote environmental stewardship of aerodynamically styled heavy-duty vehicles among customers, suppliers and associates through a number of global innovation projects.Peterbilt and Eaton have previously partnered to develop hybrid electric class 6-7 vehicle platforms and Class 8 hybrid hydraulic vehicles. With a successful test and evaluation program, the heavy-duty hybrid electric power system will be available in 2009.

“We are pleased to partner with Peterbilt to produce a heavy-duty hybrid truck that we believe delivers a strong value proposition,” says Jim Sweetnam, Eaton senior vice-president and president of the Truck Group. “During the past five years, we’ve clearly demonstrated our leadership in the hybrid marketplace with the success of our patented hybrid power system in the medium-duty marketplace. We’re excited that Wal-Mart’s fleet is now seeing the value of our hybrid technology.”

Tim Yatsko, senior vice-president of Transportation for Wal-Mart, said, “We are continually looking for new, innovative ways to improve the fuel economy and reduce the emissions of our fleet. We currently operate the Peterbilt Model 386, and we anticipate that the hybrid version will help us move toward our goal to increase our fleet efficiency by 25 percent over the next few years.”

During third-party testing, the Eaton Hybrid Power System has routinely achieved a 5-7 percent fuel savings versus comparable, non-hybrid models. It may result in a savings of one gallon of fuel per hour when idling.

At an average diesel price of almost $2.50 per gallon, those savings equate to about $9,000 to $10,000 a truck per year in operation.