Complete text of the interview with Georg Weiberg

Weiberg: At the IAA in Hanover I did indeed speak with many interested people, and hybrid drive systems are now attracting lots of attention. However, we haven’t yet reached the point where we can record high sales figures. In terms of hybrid trucks we are concentrating on the “magic point.” The much higher prices of these vehicles must be offset by fuel savings after a certain number of kilometers have been driven - otherwise no one would buy a hybrid truck.

Weiberg: It’s not possible to say that across the board. It depends on many factors: the price of fuel, how many kilometers are driven in a year, and finally also the individual transport company’s expectations in terms of cost efficiency.

Weiberg: We are currently building relatively simple hybrids. This is due above all to the components that we have to buy from suppliers. The battery capacities are still very limited, and that also applies to the electric motor. When it comes to the battery we really need a capacity of four to six kilowatt-hours; right now we have three. We could save even more fuel if we could connect everything in a vehicle that uses electricity to the electric motor - for example, the generator. At present we are charging the batteries by means of the braking process, and the electric motor helps the diesel engine to start up and to accelerate. This is good because it makes it unnecessary to use the diesel engine in engine speed ranges where it isn’t particularly fuel-efficient. The entire principle still presents potential for development. There’s still a lot of room for improvement.

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Weiberg: I’m confident that they will be playing a vitally important role before very long. If we look at the political parameters and the environmental regulations at the national and EU levels, we clearly see that hybridization is an absolute must. No other technology available today can offer comparable fuel savings. I believe that the greatest opportunities are in long-distance road haulage, because the fuel mostly used here is diesel. But I also believe the hybrid is a good choice for delivery vehicles used in urban settings and municipal waste disposal vehicles.

Weiberg: No. There are still aspects in every category that can be improved. But there surely are various areas where we are gradually exhausting our possibilities - for example, aerodynamics. Here we’re working with rear edge flaps, roof spoilers, the underbody, and slanted windows. With the windows, however, we have to compromise in the interest of comfort. After all, drivers spend a great deal of time in the cab. And of course we also can’t just change the cargo capacity - in other words, flatten the truck’s silhouette to ensure that it offers less wind resistance.

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Weiberg: We want to convert all of the engine’s dissipation losses into energy - for example, by reclaiming heat that is produced and channeling it as energy into the drive system. That’s in the advanced development stage and won’t be realized for at least five years. But we're working on it. What’s more, we’re also committed to gains through electronic driver assistance systems. We already offer “EcoRoll,” for example: When a truck equipped with EcoRoll reaches the top of a hill and starts down the other side, the truck automatically shifts into the low-consumption idling mode. And to also handle hill-climbing in the gear that consumes the least fuel, we are developing a solution that not only factors in the standard GPS data but also calculates the difference in the altitude of the road surface in question. The electronic system “knows” when the mountain or hill is approaching and can therefore select the most appropriate gear.

Weiberg: The prognoses for the transport volume suggest that we all can afford to lean back and be satisfied. But complacency would be inexcusable. If such volumes of goods are really going to be transported with trucks, then there’s still a lot of work to do. The infrastructure has to be changed; our roads are not designed to handle volumes of transport on that scale. The 60-ton truck will then become a topic of debate, the efficiency of engines will have to be continually improved, and we must continue to intensively study alternatives to the combustion engine.