Bikes & Cars...

I was innocently surfing the Internets, like I do every day, looking for the latest in alternative-fuel advancements. Electric scooters, breakthroughs in cellulosic ethanol, greener race cars. The usual. But I was stopped in my tracks on the information superhighway when I found the post on GE's Global Research Blog detailing its experimental hybrid pit-mining haul truck. I was struck momentarily dumb by the very idea.

I rallied myself, though, and read the post. The truck, one of those oversized dump trucks that crawl around open pit mines, has a 600-hp battery pack that captures energy from the brakes to "save fuel and increase productivity." Saving gas to rip more ore or what have you from the earth -- well, that just makes sense.

The truck that was tested in Arizona was jointly developed by GE and the US Department of Energy. A diesel engine spins an alternator that generates electricty to power motors in each wheel hub. The motors are then able to recapture the energy from braking these behemoths and release it when the dump truck needs to, say, climb a hill.

Maybe next someone can figure out a way to power off-shore oil rigs by harnessing the energy of ocean waves.

Photo by wasabicube.