For semi and agriculture I truly don't understand why nobody has gone diesel electric, like a train. Arguably one of the most efficient ways of transportation. And something I would interested in owning.
Seems its either all IC or electric. Hybrid is being looked over anymore. No way would I go with a 100% electric vehicle, but that's my prerogative.
There are a TON of hybrid commercial vehicles on the road. We have a fleet of over 1400, currently we are 100% hybrid. They SUCK. They are un-reliable and literally double the cost in maintenance on a yearly basis's and over double on a life-cycle cost versus the identical equipment spec'd with regular diesel power. Not to mention the quadruple cost to purchase new. But, to help offset the cost is the fuel mileage increase of the hybrid. We are currently saving .63 MPG average over the 1400+ vehicles. Subtract that from the huge increase in downtime (if it's in the shop your spending money instead of making money) and the additional maintenance costs and it's a money loosing idea. The ONLY reason we still run them is because of politics. If it wasn't for ESG scoring at the Bank and the political pressure we would dump these in a heartbeat.
I'm sure the counter argument will be it's just because the technology hasn't matured. Well, we've been running commercial sized hybrids since 2003 and the reliability and cost to maintain and operate has NOT gone down 20 years and 3 generations of technological updates.
Also, ALL of the battery packs these use are either manufactured in China or are manufactured here with materials from either China or Russia. The average battery life has improved from 5 years to around 6.5 years. Let me just say, there isn't really any industry set up to handle these batteries and the ones that are "recycled", yeah most of those get shipped off shore and are burred in a field in Malaysia.
I've also seen several people fried from EV's and hybrids, both in accidents and due to unfamiliar maintenance procedures.
I'm not a fan of hybrid or 100% battery stuff from an environmental or trade standpoint. I LOVE them from a maintenance stand point. The OT has bought me a LOT of nice stuff and contributed nicely to my retirement fund. We've also had to hire drastically more people because of them. Roughly the same fleet size in 2003 and we had around 240 mechanics, by 2007 we were around 290-310 to keep up with the additional work. Our test fleet of 100% battery stuff (on the commercial side, we've already had issues with our automotive fleet that's in-service) is likely going to be around half again as much maintenance increase as we saw with hybrids. With the increased disposal issues to go with this stuff.