Working Groups are targeted, user-driven teams made up of leaders from
commercial and military fleets interested in using hybrid trucks in a
specific application. While membership in the working groups is
generally limited to user fleets only, truck makers, system developers,
suppliers, the U.S. Army’s National Automotive Center (NAC) and other
organizations often play an important supporting role.
With CALSTART organizing and facilitating the groups, their goal is for
users to identify a common truck type, size and duty cycle across
fleets, and determine if that platform might work as a hybrid truck. If
so, the group will outline a common performance specification and a
business case for this vehicle with the intent of working with truck
and system makers to build and sell such a truck.
Working group fleets are encouraged to enter into purchase and use
commitments, assuming the truck meets the specification. The initial
vision is that the first level production (pre-production) would be
relatively small – enough to allow first-mover fleets to purchase and
validate a few vehicles per fleet prior to larger purchases. This model
has now been successfully followed by the Utility/Telecom, Refuse,
Parcel and Bus Working Groups, and will soon lead to deployments in the
Class 8 Working Group. A new forum has also been launched to follow
this model: the Commercial Construction Equipment Users Forum. Check out the links on the left for details on each group's work.