Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid
Heavy duty PHEV system developer Odyne Corporation calling it quits
There is now one less company working on developing hybrid drive systems for trucks and buses. Odyne Corporation has been developing plug-in hybrid systems for medium and heavy duty trucks and buses. Unfortunately, while vehicles like school buses, garbage trucks and delivery trucks have the ideal duty cycle for a plug-in hybrid drivetrain with comparatively small operating area and lots of low speed start-stop operation, the cost premium was simply too much for operators to bear in the current economy. As a result, the company hasn't been able to generate enough revenue or find a buyer to keep it in business. Two months after hiring Matrix USA to investigate alternatives, the company is calling it quits. Odyne will be laying off its employees and winding down its operations.
[Source: Odyne via GreenCarCongress]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jharlan 10:47AM (1/08/2009)
These heavy vehicles are not toys for the wealthy, they have to be economically viable. In a free market system the least efficient producers will always be going by the wayside in the face of the competition. There is considerable demand for these vehicles, but must show at least economic parody with conventional vehicles over their life expectancy.
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Max 4:17PM (1/08/2009)
They probably have some patents they could make money off in the long term, as the tech gets cheaper.
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boom trucks 9:40AM (3/28/2009)
It is great that people are thinking about the environment and working to make the world a safer place. Not only the materials that you are using on your home are safe for the environment but dump trucks have come a long way since the earlier models. We are learning and expanding and coming up with a wide range of safer more effective vehicles for the work force. I think it is great that many auto manufacturers are turning to hybrid vehicles to protect the environment and now they are even using hybrid dump trucks.
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