DETROIT (May 3, 2004) – General Motors will deliver the world's first full-size hybrid pickup today when it presents a Chevrolet Silverado to Miami-Dade County at the 10th National Clean Cities Conference and Expo in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Later this month, Miami-Dade County will take delivery of a total of 50 Chevrolet Silverado extended cab hybrid pickups for inclusion in its fleet.

The hybrid pickups feature GM's powerful 5300 Vortec V-8 and Hydra-Matic 4L60-E four-speed automatic transmission, coupled with a new hybrid technology that delivers 10 to 12 percent improved fuel economy over GM half-ton pickups, giving the hybrid Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra the best highway fuel economy of any full-size truck on the market. The trucks also feature reduced emissions and unique accessory power capability, without any sacrifice in load-carrying, towing and grade-climbing capability.

"GM is committed to providing practical hybrid solutions on the widest range of high-volume vehicles, including full-size trucks. Today's delivery shows GM is delivering on this commitment," said John Gaydash, GM Fleet and Commercial marketing director. "These hybrid pickups will save more fuel than gasoline-powered pickup trucks, with no compromise in performance or utility. In addition, Miami-Dade will now have the flexibility and productivity of generating wall-quality electrical power from the GM pickup truck when in remote locations."

"We are looking forward to putting our new hybrid trucks on the road and on the job," said Olga Diaz, Miami-Dade County. "The county is looking forward to earning fuel economy savings of up to 12 percent on every hybrid pickup."

In addition to improvements in fuel economy and emissions, the GM hybrid pickups feature four 120-volt, 20 amp electrical auxiliary power outlets under the rear seat of the cab and in the pickup bed that can accommodate up to four accessories while driving or when parked. With this auxiliary generator capability, the truck's generator can operate when the truck is parked without a key in the ignition and can be used to power anything from tools at a construction site to appliances at a campsite.

In the event of a power outage, the hybrid Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups could power tools or appliances for up to 32 hours non-stop. This design shuts the engine down before the tank is emptied, leaving enough gas to drive to a station for refueling. All power supply circuits are protected by a ground fault detection system to prevent overloads and short circuits.

The GM hybrid pickups are more efficient because of the engine start/stop function and regenerative braking, which turns the motor into a generator as the truck decelerates. Extra fuel savings come from quickly shutting off fuel any time the truck is coasting or braking, and using the electric motor to smooth out any resulting vibrations.

Instead of a conventional starter motor and alternator, the hybrid truck features a compact electric motor that is integrated in a patented, space-efficient way between the engine and transmission. The electric motor provides fast, quiet starting power and the ability to generate up to 14,000 watts of continuous electric power.

At a stoplight, the gasoline engine stops running, but the accessories continue working on stored electrical power. When the light turns green and the driver releases the brake, the gasoline engine kicks in again seamlessly, with little or no delay or disturbance.

To ensure full accessory capability while the engine is temporarily stopped, an electrically driven hydraulic pump provides power steering, an electric pump continues to circulate hot water if cabin heat is needed in the winter, and cold, dry air is supplied in the summer for an extended period through control of the conventional air conditioning system.

Hybrid versions of the 2005 model year Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups will be available to retail customers starting this fall.



http://www.gm.com/company/gmability/...id_050304.html




How impressive!

 

Err i dont know if I get this right... it gets 18MPG? wow err... how... amazing yea..... That along the fact that GMC doesnt have the smarts to pull anything off thats close to reliable. :down::down:

 

sounds pretty sweet

 

is 2mpg really anything to get so excited over? any improvement is good, but this is pretty hyped up for only 2mpg.

 

Well, if it has the 26 gallon tank you can go a whole 52 more miles to the local saloon.

If you have the 34 gallon tank you can go 68 miles to Aunt Beck's house.

Is it worth 3000? Probably not, since I'm sure that using it as a generator isn't as efficient as using a independent generator for the job.

 

2mpg is 12.5% increase, so I guess it' pretty impressive. But I don't see the point in having hybrid trucks in the first place, at least not yet. They can concentrate in area that can make bigger difference w/ hybrid, like passenger cars. They tend to get driven more in longer distance and they can get even better gas mileage by using smaller engine. Smaller engine for trucks is not as logical since they need the tq from the larger engine.

 

the civic hybrid gets only 8-10% increase but on more fuel efficient cars its much harder

b/c the normal gm pickup was such a gas guzzler and had some $100 fillups per tank it may save the owner ~$400-$500 / year depending on driving (fleets will like it b/c they put large amounts of miles on trucks and it would make up for the increase in cost).

the only problem is gm has no proven ability to produce this drivetrain...no concepts or test beds...i'd be worried until a few years later and all the kinks get worked out in the real world

 

I don't think the fleet cares too much either because w/the description of the powertrain, it sounds like you will only notice gain if you have alot of stop and go traffic, else, the engine will constantly be active and won't save you any gas. At least to my understanding, the electric motor is only there to start the engine.

 

You pay $2.941-3.846 a gallon?

 

The main appeal of the vehicle is to contractors because the hybrid drivetrain also includes a built-in generator to provide juice for power tools and such.