Hybrids on the Construction Site
When you drive down the street, you see hybrid automobiles every day. But how about a hybrid bulldozer? We'll talk about hybrids on the construction site, today, on Engineering Works! Or listen to the podcast . Hybrid automobiles have been around for quite a while. Honda introduced the first gasoline-electric hybrid to the United States in 1999. In 2004, Toyota started selling the Prius and Ford’s Escape hybrid S-U-V came on the market. Now, it seems like everybody’s got a hybrid. Even Cadillac and Mercedes-Benz. Everybody sees why driving a hybrid makes sense, mostly great gas mileage. Some, more than 50 miles per gallon. And then there’s the hybrid bulldozer. Yep, bulldozer. You know, the big yellow machines that push dirt around construction sites. Caterpillar has brought out a hybrid bulldozer, a diesel-electric version of its D7 dozer. It’s the first one, and it seems to do the same for dozers that the Prius and its automotive brethren do for automobiles. The D7E, for electric