Military vehicles should make leap to hybrid technology.

• Author: Signorelli, Mark
• Position: Viewpoint

The U.S. military can be credited as the bellwether for technological trends and breakthroughs that have positively reshaped society. This is especially true when new technologies first built for the military are later introduced to the public and business through commercial applications.

On the flip side, we have also seen situations where technology first developed for commercial applications can help to quickly address the needs of the military

One area where the military has the opportunity to apply technological lessons from the commercial sector is the adaption of hybrid-electric drive technology for tactical vehicles.

In the commercial sector, businesses will only invest in and market a product when they are confident there will be a demand. While hybrid technology has been around for decades, one could make the case that it has only become commercially available and popular within various transportation sectors because of consumer and government demands for more fuel-efficient vehicles and a desire for a greener planet. And it could also be argued that the scalability and storage capacity of battery technology is now becoming more affordable and reliable.

Faced with crushing fuel costs with no relief in sight, cities have turned to hybrid buses and garbage trucks, while consumers have flocked to hybrid vehicles en masse during the past decade. Manufacturers have invested in new hybrid technology and brought to bear vehicles that matched these demands.

A good case in point is the recent rise in popularity of hybrid buses that are used by public transit agencies around the United States. Cities started a serious move toward hybrid buses in the mid- to late-1990s and now more than 2,000 are in use by municipal transit systems across the country including New York, Seattle, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Ann Arbor, Mich., and Washington, D.C

New York currently has the world's largest hybrid fleet. When the city made the shift to hybrid, transit officials had to factor in the costs of purchasing the more expensive buses, training maintenance staff, and the newness of the technology. However, when they began the pilot program in 1998, New York City Transit officials moved forward because they were driven by a commitment to a bigger ideal. They were responding to demands for buses that could deliver better performance, increased fuel efficiency and reduced emissions as part of the city's commitment to an alternative fuel vehicle program.

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