The U.S. Dept. of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory recently completed a yearlong of gasoline hybrid electric (gHEV) trucks compared with conventional diesel vehicles that showed the trucks produced substantially reduced tailpipe emissions during all drive cycles tested in the laboratory when compared to conventional diesel vehicles.
On a drive cycle representing routes with frequent stops and accelerations, the gHEV trucks exhibited a 20% improvement in fuel economy while drive cycles representing routes with fewer stops and accelerations demonstrated similar fuel economy to the diesels.