Eaton Corp's medium-duty hybrid power systems are now commercially available and will be ready for customer deliveries in 2008 on the chassis of several major North American commercial vehicle manufacturers. These include International Truck and Engine Corp, Kenworth Truck Co, Peterbilt Motors, and Freightliner Corp.
This announcement follows more than four years of development and two million miles of successful field-testing in North America, Europe, and Asia.
According to Kevin Beaty, manager of Eaton's Hybrid Power Systems business unit, the company plans to produce several hundred systems in 2007. Eaton is planning to ramp-up production capacity over the next three years in order to meet customer demand and achieve economies of scale.
More than 220 hybrid-powered vehicles with Eaton's advanced technology systems have been produced to date for testing and evaluation, most of which have been placed into service alongside their conventionally powered counterparts.