Mayor Tyra-Lukens and I attended an event yesterday at Eaton Corporation’s Eden Prairie facilities to see three new hybrid vehicles that have been developed by Eaton right here in Eden Prairie. The hybrid vehicles are part of a public-private partnership among Eaton, The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), United Parcel Service (UPS), International Truck & Engine, and the U.S. Army. Sohan Uppal, Vice President of Technology for Eaton Corporation hosted the event. The key invitee, besides Mayor Tyra-Lukens, of course, was U.S. Senator Norm Coleman.
The purpose of the event was to demonstrate Eaton’s new Hydraulic Launch Assist (HLA) technology. I am not the right guy to explain how this technology works, but I’ll give it a try. The technology captures power from the vehicle as it decelerates and stores it in a hydraulic system in the power train of the vehicle. When you press the accelerator to start the vehicle moving again, the stored power helps the “launch” the vehicle into motion again. After you are moving again, the vehicle’s motor kicks in like usual.
We saw three samples of vehicles that use this technology: a chassis for a future garbage truck, a sample airport shuttle bus, and a UPS delivery truck. The start & stop use patterns of these vehicles are ideal for this technology. The HLA technology is these vehicles has increased their fuel efficiency by 50-70% and lowers the emission of greenhouse gases by 40%! UPS is putting several delivery trucks into regular use in the Detroit area soon to test the system in a real life environment.
I rode in the shuttle bus prototype driven by Senator Coleman. I got to drive it as well. It drove like a regular vehicle. Mayor Tyra-Lukens drove all three vehicle. She said she liked the garbage truck model best. Senator Coleman said he liked the UPS truck best, and that it was always good to have another skill set to fall back on someday.
In the world we live in today, energy efficiency and energy independence in America is a matter of national security. Senator Coleman drove that point home in his remarks to the assembled Eaton engineers and scientists. The work they are doing on this project – right here in Eden Prairie, I might add – is work that is good for their company, good for our natural environment, and good for our country. It was an honor to see it first hand at this early stage in its development.
