Ford and Toyota team up to work on hybrid trucks and SUVs

When it comes to our electric vehicles and hybrids, they seem largely limited to cars, while more fuel-hungry vehicles such as lorries, trucks, SUVs, trailers, etc have been left out of the fuel-saving loop. Not anymore apparently, as Ford and Toyota have teamed up and will jointly develop a hybrid powertrain (a combination of an electric motor and gas engine) for light trucks and SUVs.

As with most hybrid and electric vehicles, the price they’re asking for is usually not cheap which is why Ford and Toyota have signed this deal, in which development costs will be shared and in turn they hope these savings will be passed on down to the consumer.

Trucks and SUVs are common and apparently indispensable to American customers, at least according to Toyota’s executive VP for research and development, Takeshi Uchiyamada, so by providing hybrid trucks and SUVs to that demographic will help to save energy and reduce carbon emission.

Unfortunately if you were hoping for a hybrid truck or SUV any time soon, you may be in for a wait. For starters a year would be needed for both companies to figure out who researches what, and two or three years before a system can be developed, and even then neither company is certain what sort of mileage can be achieved. Either way it’s a start, so kudos to both companies for their efforts!

Tyler Lee
Categories: Green, Transportation
Tags: ford, hybrid, toyota