Azure Dynamics Corp. (Vancouver, BC) jointly announced a $1 million sponsorship with EnCana Corp. (Canada) of its Smart Energy Management Technology for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), which may help Canada's national postal service deliver cleaner air along with parcels and letters within three years.
The 18-month pilot program will begin in-service testing of five retrofitted Canada Post delivery vans utilizing Azure's hybrid-electric powertrains. The vans will be utilized in regular Canada Post delivery routes. Two more vans will undergo stringent laboratory testing in extreme conditions to quantitatively validate their performance.
The first hybrid vehicle will begin operating in one of Canada's major cities in August 2003. The vehicles will feature Azure-developed hybrid powertrains that have the ability to regenerate energy in the brake cycle and can reduce fuel consumption by over 50 percent and reduce emissions by up to 90 percent. The units will be "cluster-tested" in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.
The technology is a sophisticated energy-management system for HEV powertrains, and offers real-time energy management to optimize performance of the HEV propulsion system components. It adapts the control system to actual operating conditions.
