Hybrid Sweet Sweeper Allianz 4000 is World's First

Hey world, check it out, time to get green while cleaning up while saving the world. All of these things are the same thing, in a way, and now they're all in the same vehicle. This Allianz 4000 vehicle has a top speed of 60 miles per hour and currently resides in New York City. It has a 6.7-liter Cummings diesel engine and two 12-volt lithium-ion batteries with an electric-traction drive system. How much more efficiently does it run than its non-hybrid counterparts? How does 40-45% fuel savings sound to you?

Allianz sales manager Chad Bormann says thusly of the Allianz 4000: "We have the ability to operate using a smaller single diesel engine running at lower RPMs. This alone creates savings against any street sweeper that requires an auxiliary engine in conjunction with the chassis engine to drive and operate the sweep functions. The fuel savings are extreme and the carbon footprint minimal considering that street sweepers are operated for long shifts daily all over the world."

Not only does the car offer a better fuel savings than all of its predecessors, its emissions are much lower too. In fact, "This alone helps to justify any upfront additional costs that are associated with the hybrid purchase," says Bormann on how these lowered emissions help cities meet their emissions standards. All this doesn't help with the speed of the actual cleaning though, sadly, super sadly, as identified in its clean mode which only ends up being between 3 and 7 mph. Chuggin along.

[Via Wired]