BOSTON -- What has hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances, innovative energy saving technology, and an unlimited international calling plan? Well, yes, that foreclosed mansion up the street -- but we're more interested in the hybrid delivery truck Enova and Isuzu built for Staples.
The office-supply mega-mart is road-testing two diesel-electric trucks in Los Angeles and Boston, where it showed off one of the trucks during AltWheels Fleet Day. Aside from saving Staples money on fuel and sparing the rest of us some exhaust fumes, the trucks show what sort of innovations are possible when a huge corporate customer tells a vehicle supplier, "We want more efficiency. Make it happen."
"We have a ball working with OEMs," Mike Payette, Staples' fleet director, told Wired.com, using fleet-speak for original equipment manufacturers, which the rest of us call automakers. "I flew to Japan and told Isuzu they need to bring a hybrid truck to the United States if they want to compete."
Instead of an Easy Button, this Staples truck has a hybrid button that activates an electric motor located just behind the transmission. There's a nickel-metal hydride battery to keep it going and lots of clever weight-saving technology, too.
Enova built the hybrid powertrain, which was installed on an otherwise stock Isuzu truck. "That way, Isuzu can continue to produce their trucks the way they always do in Japan," Payette said.
A radiator (shown above) keeps the NiMH battery from overheating as it provides juice to an 85 horsepower electric motor (shown below). Eighty-five horses may not sound like much, but it's enough to let the truck dash away from curbs like Sarah Palin ducking reporters. Electric motors also provide loads of torque, and since this one is mounted behind the transmission, it's not running at full power. "We had to start it at 15 percent power so it didn't tear up the rear end," Payette said. "Then, we can tweak up more power as it breaks in." How do engineers know when to turn it up to eleven?
See that pink cellphone wedged behind the computer packs? Like a lonely college freshman, this Class 6 truck likes to call home a lot. The phone constantly relays data to and from the Isuzu engineers in Japan, and it occasionally phones home to say "Scotty, I need more power!" Isuzu will use the data to make future generations of hybrid trucks more efficient, and the company says working with Staples has advanced the technology. "They measure everything consistently. It's a symmetrically managed fleet," Isuzu's Chip Taylor told Wired.com. Both Taylor and Payette are eager to see how the truck fares during the winter.
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Nothing but the finest apatong hardwood floors and stainless steel interior (above) for this truck. Sure it's expensive, and it seems opulent for hauling file cabinets, whiteboards and cheesy motivational posters, but it'll outlast the truck -- which means it can be yanked out and sold when the truck dies, cutting down on waste and helping Staples recoup some costs.
All those office supplies used to be secured behind doors locked with "banana locks." The hybrid truck uses an electric door with LED illumination and a motor (pic below) that weighs as much as one of those banana locks but makes life so much easier for the drivers. Now they can pop the lock and open the doors with the push of a button. The high-falutin' floor, racks and high-tech door are lighter, too -- the hybrid weighs 800 pounds less than the diesel-only model, despite the battery, motor and other gadgetry.
Staples is keeping the performance and fuel efficiency data classified for now, but Payette says the company is "very pleased" with the truck so far. Having been stuck behind diesel-belching delivery vans in Boston traffic, we hope he's pleased enough to order more.
Photos by Keith Barry/Wired.com
