U.S. House passes hybrid heavy-duty truck bill

U.S. House passes hybrid heavy-duty truck bill A U.S. House passed a bill Sept. 24 providing $16 billion through 2011 to encourage the development of hybrid heavy-duty trucks, according to published Congressional documents.
   Introduced by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., the Heavy Hybrid Truck Research, Development and Demonstration Act of 2008 offers manufacturers grants to build, test, and eventually market hybrid heavy-duty trucks.
   The bill also provides grants to expand advanced energy storage technology research by the Department of Energy to include hybrid trucks.
   Sensenbrenner pointed out during a June hearing on the bill that a heavy-duty hybrid engine could use up to 60 percent less fuel than a comparable diesel-powered engine. He also pointed to significant reductions in emissions from hybrid trucks.
   The bill 'encourages the development of technologies that can reduce fuel consumption and emissions. These reductions will lower the cost of fuel and the (technologies) can be exported, so they can reduce emissions worldwide,' he said.
   He added the bill's Energy component would correct a disparity between truck and car research.
   'The Department of Energy administers several grants to speed production of hybrid cars, but does not have a single grant specifically intended for trucks,' Sensenbrenner noted in a June statement. 'Trucks currently consume 48 percent of our fuel and each individual truck consumes substantially more fuel than a passenger car. In addition, industries turn their trucks over faster than consumers and can therefore adopt new technologies faster. This means trucks, not cars, are the low hanging fruit.'