U.S. DOT Secretary Visits Navistar’s Melrose Park Engine Plant

MELROSE PARK, IL – U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Mary Peters recently visited Navistar’s Engine Group headquarters in Melrose Park, Ill., to evaluate first-hand the benefits of a burgeoning new technology available for the commercial transportation industry — diesel hybrid electric power.

Navistar International Corporation, through its subsidiaries, is a manufacturer of diesel hybrid commercial trucks, school buses, and commercial vans. 

The International DuraStar Hybrid — a medium-duty utility truck that has been in service with ComEd for more than two years — along with a plug-in hybrid school bus from Navistar’s subsidiary IC Bus, LLC, were demonstrated to Secretary Peters.

The hybrid unit provides customers like utility companies, telecom companies, and delivery companies with improved fuel efficiency and reduced engine emissions.

The International DuraStar Hybrid diesel hybrid electric truck has the capability to provide fuel savings from 30-40 percent on a standard in-city pickup and delivery applications. The fuel efficiency can increase to more than 60 percent in utility-type applications when the engine can be shut off, but electric power still operates the vehicle. Diesel emissions are completely eliminated when the hybrid truck operates equipment (like overhead utility booms) solely on the truck’s battery power, instead of allowing the engine to idle.

Navistar currently has more than 200 hybrid trucks and 20 hybrid school buses in operation around North America with very positive results.

In addition to production of the International DuraStar Hybrid, Navistar’s contributions to advanced diesel-hybrid technology include:

· IC Bus recently announced it is the first and only bus manufacturer to begin production hybrid school buses. The buses improve fuel efficiency by 40 percent while reducing emissions by up to 90 percent.

· Scheduled delivery of the nation’s first 19 plug-in hybrid school buses from IC Bus to 11 states under the efforts of Advanced Energy, a non-profit consortium of school districts, state energy agencies, and student transportation providers.

· IC Bus’ announcement in October 2006 that it is launching a new line of diesel-electric hybrid commercial buses.

· Navistar’s partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Army, UPS, and Eaton Corporation to develop the first-ever series diesel hydraulic hybrid urban delivery vehicle.