Mack Showcases Latest Hybrid Class 8
Mack Trucks announced it recently displayed its second-generation zero-emission-capable Class 8 drayage truck at the California Air Resources Board’s Low Carbon Transportation Heavy-Duty Showcase in Sacramento.
The plug-in hybrid-electric truck, which is based on a Mack Pinnacle axle back daycab, has been operating in revenue service with a customer drayage fleet for more than 12 months, according to the Greensboro, N.C.-based company, a unit of Volvo Group.
“Testing of this truck has allowed us to validate the emission reduction potential of the PHEV technology in combination with self-learning algorithms to control electric operation,” Jonathan Randall, Mack Trucks senior vice president of North American sales and marketing, said in a release.
Unlike the first-generation truck, which utilized geofencing capabilities similar to those enabled by Mack’s GuardDog Connect telematics platform to switch between zero-emission and hybrid operating modes, the second-generation truck relies on an adaptive self-learning algorithm — that records the load, speed and power and torque demand, analyzes that data and combines it with GPS location — to identify and create zero-emission zones in order to maximize the all-electric operation.
This self-learning approach has enabled the second-generation truck to operate in zero-emission mode more than twice as much as the first-generation truck, which relied solely on preset geofences. The dramatic increase in all-electric range was achieved with no changes to battery pack size or capacity, or truck performance, according to the company. — Transport Topics
