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Hybrids on the construction site

January 20th, 2010 by Gene

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When you drive down the street, you see hybrid automobiles every day. But how about a hybrid bulldozer? Big iron. Today, on Engineering Works!

Hybrid automobiles have been around for quite a while. Honda introduced the first gasoline-electric hybrid to the United States in 1999. In 2004, Toyota started selling the Prius and Ford’s Escape hybrid S-U-V came on the market. Now, it seems like everybody’s got a hybrid. Even Cadillac and Mercedes-Benz.

Everybody sees why driving a hybrid makes sense, mostly great gas mileage. Some, more than 50 miles per gallon. And then there’s the hybrid bulldozer. Yep, bulldozer. You know, the big yellow machines that push dirt around construction sites. Caterpillar has brought out a hybrid bulldozer, a diesel-electric version of its D7 dozer.

It’s the first one, and it seems to do the same for dozers that the Prius and its automotive brethren do for automobiles. The D7E, for electric, dozer offers better fuel economy than its non-hybrid counterpart. Between 25 and 30 percent better. And it’s quieter. None of this comes for free, of course. Like automobiles, the hybrid dozer is more expensive than standard diesel dozers. About 20-percent more expensive than a comparable D7 diesel. The contractor that bought the first one says he’s happy with the way the hybrid dozer performs, and he expects it to pay for itself in less than three years.

Our dozer is at the door and we’re out of here. See you next time.

Engineering Works! is made possible by Texas A&M Engineering and produced by KAMU-FM in College Station. Learn more about engineering. Visit us on the World Wide Web.

http://engineeringworks.tamu.edu

For more:

http://enr.construction.com/products/equipment/2009/1222-CaterpillarHybridDozer.asp
http://greensource.construction.com/news/2009/090805Hybrid-Bulldozer.asp