40% Better Fuel Economy - HYBRID Class A?

[Scarab0088]

Does anyone know if there is a RV made with one of these Chassis?
MB-HEV Chassis | Commercial Bus Chassis

Freightliner Front Engine Diesel (FRED) with Hybrid Electric drive.

I searched iRV2 and found that DriVer was on top of it - as usual:
http://www.irv2.com/forums/f57/fccc-...ion-60734.html
Thanks Mike!

Advertised with 19,500lb to 32,000lb GVWR, I would think this could be used under MANY types of RV's...

My Hybrid Ford Escape gets about 40% better MPG than the Escape with the V6 (these are equal for power) the annual fuel savings paid for the difference in purchase price after only 3 years!

Safe travels

P.S. I don't mean to start a FRED vs. Rear Engine Diesel argument...I bet a Rear Engine Diesel Hybrid would sell like crazy if there was 40% better economy with no loss in power too.

[Mekanic]

A Hybrid Electric drive on a RV would NOT be a good thing. where the hybird gets its wasted energy is in braking. So Stop and go traffic it is great. (like city transit buses)
On the open highway the benefits are almost Zero.
And its gonna take up a lot of space.

That link you referenced to was 4 years old. And I do Not see a hybrid on their site Now.

Although in the mountains of Colorado it could work well If the battery pack was large enough. (kind of like the dynamic braking on freight trains)

[Scarab0088]

Originally Posted by Mekanic

A Hybrid Electric drive on a RV would NOT be a good thing. where the hybird gets its wasted energy is in braking. So Stop and go traffic it is great. (like city transit buses)
On the open highway the benefits are almost Zero.
And its gonna take up a lot of space.

Although in the mountains of Colorado it could work well If the battery pack was large enough. (kind of like the dynamic braking on freight trains)

This, I think, is a common misunderstanding about Hybrid Vehicles. And while stop-and-go gives truly AWESOME MPG, it is a big help on the highway too.

I live with a Hybrid everyday, so I know the real world improvements that the system gives the driver.

Example in stop-and-go: While at Yellowstone last spring, our Hybrid SUV was getting over 65MPG for the week of our visit, because we were usually going under 20MPH to see all the animals
and
Example on combined City/Hwy driving: We usually get 30MPG driving in SoCal where driving everywhere requires a freeway - going well over 60MPH.

The same SUV with a V6 (equal in power - my aunt has one) gets 19MPG Highway and 14MPG city.

The electric motor is always there and adds a significant amount of power during every up-hill climb - no matter how slight. The motor switches to a generator and re-fills the battery on the backside of each hill.

Press the accelerator to pass and it is the electric motor that gives you the extra boost, then recharges the battery while returning to normal speed.

This ebb and flow from the hybrid drive helps keep the gas engine in it's most economical power band.

Plus, at every start from a full stop, we can usually go all the way to 25MPH on all-electric drive, without using even one drop of gas!

If anyone has a different experience, then we should talk about "hypermiling" to improve your mileage

I really wish my RV could do these things!

[akeyzoo]

Interestingly they quit making the hybrid escape as the turbo 4 was more efficient. I was inundated with commercials for diesel Audi's and BMW's during sunday night football this week, IMHO that is the short term future.

The escape hybrid had the equivalent of 155HP with both powerplants working, and the V6 was 200HP. A big difference in power BUT, maybe not from seat of pants since from a standstill you cant beat the torque an electric motor has!

Now, back to applications in RV. I see a hybrid class A as an expensive gimmick at best. I think the reality we are seeing in cars is that it is very difficult to beat a diesel car with a hybrid. Jetta's have been getting 70MPG for years. Now, add an incredible amount of mass and I think the capability gap widens. Add to that the fact that the systems to support a 35,000lb rig would be incredibly expensive for a vehicle that most users put few miles on and components would age out before miles driven got you anywhere near an ROI.

Me, I welcome the good ol USA allowing more consumer car diesels. The Germans have it right (VW/Audi/BMW)

All opinions expressed by me above are likely wrong ;-)

[Scarab0088]

I would disagree that the reason to drop the Hybrid Escape was efficiency. Instead , it is profit. The pre-2013 Escape was duplicate to the Mazda Tribute...now its the CX5. The CX5 wasn't designed for the Hybrid drive.

In contrast my work car is a new Fusion Hybrid (similar drive to the Escape) and it's getting just under 40MPG!!! The ecoboost is ONLY getting 30 highway...remember I am getting 30-32MPG combined in my Escape Hybrid. I believe there's lots more capability undiscovered in Hybrid's. Like what about Diesel Hybrids?

For the RV chassis, there is an easy place to start...the FCCC FRED under RV's like the 2009-2011 Damon Outlaw. That chassis had a 27,000lb GVWR and similar HP and MPG to my W24 with 8.1L gas, despite only being the 5.9L Cummins. Add the reported 40% MPG improvement to that.

I agree that Diesels are much more part of our vehicle future than gas for many reason including MPG and possibility of Alt fuels like bio-Diesel. And I agree with Toyota's stated plan to make Hybrid technology a "long bridge" leading to the vehicle of the future.

Oh well, it's purely academic, as there doesn't seem to be any RV mfgt's that tried the Freightliner Hybrid Chassis...but I will keep looking.

Safe travels