Peterbilt Launches Model 320 Hydraulic Hybrid

Peterbilt Motors Company announced the limited production availability of the Model 320 Hybrid Class 8 refuse truck.

The low-cab-forward Model 320 Hybrid utilizes Eaton’s Hydraulic Launch Assist™ (HLA) technology and is ideal for vocational stop-and-go applications such as refuse collection.

The Model 320 Hybrid is the fuel-efficient solution for municipal and residential solid waste transportation fleets who work in urban areas requiring clean, quiet operation.

The Model 320 Hybrid was engineered to meet the reliability demands of refuse collection routes with 800-1200 stops per day.

The highly fuel-efficient hydraulic system captures the truck’s kinetic energy during braking to assist in launching and accelerating the vehicle. The HLA technology works by recovering up to 75 percent of the energy normally lost by the vehicle’s brakes in the form of pressurized hydraulic fluid. This fluid is stored until the driver next accelerates the vehicle which reduces fuel consumption and wear on the engine. Testing has proven a significant reduction in maintenance costs, and indicated the potential to reduce annual brake replacement costs by 3 to 4 times over a similar non-hybrid baseline truck.

In “fuel economy mode,” savings occur when stored energy is used to launch the vehicle without power from the primary engine. In “performance mode,” the stored energy is released and blended with engine power at launch. Here, a double-digit savings in fuel economy can still be realized, along with an 18 percent improvement in acceleration.

The core of the hydraulic hybrid is the Eaton Hydraulic Launch Assist System. The major components of the system include the pump/motor, high pressure accumulator, and low pressure reservoir. During acceleration, fluid in the high-pressure accumulator is metered out to drive the pump/motor as a motor, propelling the vehicle by transmitting up to 380 horsepower and 2,550 ft-lbs of torque. This type of system is known as a “parallel” hybrid hydraulic system. Parallel systems are best suited to vehicles operating in heavy stop-and-go duty cycles where energy previously turned into heat during the braking cycle can be recovered and reused to launch the vehicle from a stopped position.

The Model 320 Hybrid Hydraulic Launch Assist (HLA) vehicle is the perfect environmental option for refuse applications. The HLA system is a parallel hybrid powertrain that captures a portion of the vehicle’s kinetic energy in the form of hydraulic pressure during braking, and releases that