Lightning Hybrids says it has secured its largest order to date: supplying 35 hydraulic hybrid systems to Kiessling Transit, a Massachusetts-based transportation company.
Kiessling Transit's vehicles, featuring new model-year 2015 and 2016 Ford E-450 chassis and Elkhart Coach bodies, will have the Lightning Hybrids system installed prior to delivery this summer. Kiessling Transit will use the hybrid vehicles to transport primarily urban-area Massachusetts residents with disabilities.
As Lightning Hybrids explains, its hydraulic system is applied to the driveline of a vehicle to regenerate braking energy, which is stored without batteries and used for the next acceleration.
This order follows a year-long pilot program with Kiessling Transit: The company had purchased a vehicle with the hydraulic hybrid system through Lightning Hybrids' Boston-based dealer, National Fleet Hybrids, in 2013.
“Kiessling Transit is excited to incorporate vehicles with Lightning Hybrids' technology into our fleet. We are pleased with the results of the pilot program, which proved a fuel economy gain of around 30 percent all year, and we look forward to seeing the positive results continue on a much larger scale,” says Roger Kiessling, chief operations officer of Kiessling Transit.
