Volvo’s ‘Mean Green’ Sets World Speed Record With Fastest Heavy-Duty Hybrid Vehicle
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WENDOVER, Utah — Compared with the current land speed record of 763.035 miles per hour, 147.002 mph is not very fast.
But that speed is now the world record for heavy hybrid vehicles, a mark set here last month by a Volvo Group-built truck known as Mean Green, pending certification by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, which sanctions and endorses land speed records.
“We have done the first world land speed record of a flying kilometer with a hybrid diesel truck,” Boije Ovebrink, Mean Green’s owner and driver, said after completing the run that clocked in at 147.002 mph. For the “flying kilometer” run, Ovebrink started driving 700 meters before the measured kilometer, and the resulting speed was his average speed throughout the kilometer.
“I was very pleased,” Ovebrink added.
Mean Green slightly resembles a North American Class 8 freight tractor, and it features mostly production Volvo parts, such as its I-Shift automated transmission and disc brakes. It uses the VN cab and frame Volvo sells in North America.
But it’s also quite different from the trucks Volvo sells. It has a 1,900-horsepower, 16-liter engine, with special racing pistons and a ceramic clutch made for racing. The camshaft and turbochargers are from Volvo but are made for boat engines.
Plus, it is a hybrid diesel-electric truck, something that Volvo does not offer in Class 8 trucks.
“It’s a rolling laboratory,” Ovebrink said after showing off Mean Green’s features. Volvo built it in Sweden in 2009 for Ovebrink, and the company is now taking it on a North American tour that has included stops at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky., Truck World in Mississauga, Ontario, and Volvo factories.
The flying kilometer record achieved April 27 beats out Ovebrink’s own previous record of 135.943, which he set last year in Sweden as the first record for a hybrid vehicle weighing more than 1,000 kilograms, Volvo said in a statement.
Ovebrink also beat his own record for a standing kilometer, in which the vehicle starts the kilometer at a complete stop. His speed for that run was 95.245 mph, beating the 94.605 mph record he also set last year.
Both records are subject to FIA certification, which should take 30 to 60 days, said Dave Petrali, who officiated the attempt for the U.S. Auto Club, a local affiliate of FIA.
The speed represents the distance traveled divided by the time it took to travel it, so it is not the fastest rate of speed the vehicle reached.
Ovebrink completed the time testing at Wendover Airport, a former military facility near the Bonneville Salt Flats, which itself has hosted multiple land speed record attempts. The salt flats do not dry out enough for speed trials until late summer, prompting Ovebrink to use the airport instead, he said.
But at 4,240 feet above sea level, the altitude made it difficult to hit the speed Ovebrink thought he could.
“The altitude gives the turbochargers a breathing problem,” he said. Turbochargers can easily overheat in the thin air, so Ovebrink’s mechanics decreased the truck’s engine power to prevent overheating.
“Today I have about 1,100 degrees Celsius on the exhaust, and that is OK,” he said. “If you go over 1,200, you are in trouble.”
At a Swedish course where Mean Green has completed unofficial time trials, the truck has done a flying kilometer at about 164 mph, Ovebrink said. That course was at an altitude of about 328 feet, and he had more room to accelerate before the kilometer started, he said.
The April 27 world record attempt was meant to bring attention to Volvo’s research and development into hybrid technology, said Ed Saxman, drivetrain product manager for Volvo Trucks North America, which, along with Mack Trucks Inc., represents Volvo Group’s commercial truck presence in North America.
“It really helps to promote a lot of discussion and interest in hybrid technology,” Saxman said.
In North America, Volvo does not sell any hybrid trucks, he said. Hybrids rely on braking to charge the batteries, he said.
“You don’t go down a big enough hill to store enough energy for you to go up the next. There’s just not enough braking,” he said. Internationally, Volvo makes transit buses and trash collection trucks that use hybrid technology.
