The World's Largest Hybrid  

EcoGeek points to a rather large hybrid electric vehicle that GE is working on. Its not exactly green, but better than the status quo at least.

Its wheels are bigger than your car...the driver has to climb a flight of stairs to get to his seat. And, if GE has their way, they might soon be painting it (at least metaphorically) green.

Hybrid cars are generally most exciting when they combine their energy-efficient drive trains with small, lightweight bodies. This is the only way to see Prius-like mileage of 60+ mpg. But hybrid systems also work for larger vehicles like the 2WD Chevy Tahoe hybrid that brought home this year's Green Car of the Year award by getting 50% better city fuel economy than its non-hybrid counterpart.

But GE and the U.S. Department of Energy are taking the idea of making big vehicles more efficient to the extreme. They're working on a project to hybridize haul trucks which, when fully loaded, weigh more than 200 Chevy Tahoes.

Haul trucks are basically massive dump trucks used in mining operations. They, of course, consume massive amounts of fuel, and so increasing effiency marginally can save massive amounts of fuel. Already, most new haul trucks are electrically powered, like diesel locomotives. Their diesel engines power generators that power the electric motors. This is more efficient than traditional drive trains, and provides much more torque for moving such gigantic loads.

GE is working on a system to basically run the electric engines in reverse during braking and store the generated electricity in the same battery packs they use for their hybrid locomotives. They've already got a test-system in place and operating. They're trying to figure out how long the batteries will last in the harsh conditions of mines, and are still unsure how how much fuel they can save using the technology.