Medium and heavy duty hybrid trucks – which includes hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, battery electric, and plug-in electric power take-off variations – are expected to surpass 100,000 vehicles annually by 2017.
According to a report by Pike Research, the global truck market currently stands at around 3.7million vehicles and will grow at a rate of 4.1 per cent annually to reach 4.7million by 2017. However, the market for hybrid and plug-in trucks will grow at a far faster rate – at around 47.2 per cent between 2011 and 2017.
At the heart of the growth will be the Asia Pacific market, which will be boosted by various government activities, and will reach 41,657 hybrid trucks sold in 2017 – followed byNorth Americawith 25,952.
Pike senior analyst Dave Hurst outlines that with fuel prices increasing truck manufacturers are expanding their offerings to help reduce emissions and fuel usage. However, hybrid trucks still face a number of barriers particularly relating to the cost of the system – they all have higher upfront costs and that results in a higher total cost of ownership for the vehicles.
As such he believes that government incentives and emissions or fuel economy regulations will be vital in promoting hybrids and plug-in trucks.
