CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

The future might see medium and large trucks with hybrid electric-combustion engines running on the roads, provided their production starts in a big way.

According to a report in New Scientist, sales of small- to medium-size hybrid passenger cars, like the Toyota Prius, are growing fast, but hybrid technology for trucks is about a decade behind.

"We are just now starting to see hybrid trucks coming into production," said Richard Parish of the Hybrid Truck Users Forum, an organisation partly supported by the US Army to develop the industry.

Compared to passenger cars, trucks operate for more hours a day at lower fuel efficiency, meaning hybrid technologies could offer greater cuts in fuel use and emissions per vehicle. "Hybrid trucks have developed slowly because the complexity of hybrid vehicles is a bad fit with the way trucks are built," said Parish.

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