The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory last month installed its second fuel-efficient, hydraulic hybrid propulsion system on a passenger shuttle bus, part of its work to comply with a March 2015 White House executive order setting tougher goals for renewable energy in federal buildings and fleets.
The hydraulic systems are engineered by Loveland-based Lightning Hybrids. The Ford E-450 buses operate on NREL’s 632-acre campus in Golden at the only U.S. federal laboratory dedicated to energy efficiency research, development and commercialization.
The patented Energy Recovery System has no electric batteries and instead uses a hydraulic system to repurpose energy from braking to power to the wheels, saving fuel and cutting emissions. Lightning Hybrids spokeswoman Bonnie Trowbridge said she couldn’t disclose the system’s cost.
NREL, which researches and develops vehicle and sustainable vehicle technologies, was “happy to utilize its campus shuttles to help Lightning validate the performance of their technology,” spokesman Matt Ringer said in a statement.
The lab first deployed Lightning Hybrid’s technology on its campus last year. Combined, the buses shuttle more than 500 employees and visitors around NREL’s Golden campus, according to the release.
“To have NREL use our Lightning Hybrids product to serve their campus and their team is an endorsement of the quality and engineering of our hydraulic hybrid system,” Lightning Hybrids CEO Tim Reeser said in the statement.
In the fall, Lightning Hybrids received the Best Venture award from a field of 30 “cleantech” industry finalists at the NREL-hosted Industry Growth Forum in Denver. It was the first time the company had been selected as a finalist to present its technology and business model, Trowbridge said.