Free Republic

LANDOVER, Md. – Pressing his energy policy goals, President Barack Obama on Friday prodded large companies to modernize their shipping fleets with more fuel efficient vehicles, improvements that he said would reduce U.S. dependency on foreign oil and cut down business overhead costs in the long term. The president ventured to suburban Maryland and toured a UPS shipping facility, where he examined all-electric as well as hybrid vehicles used by companies such as AT&T, Verizon and PepsiCo. Obama launched a new public-private partnership designed to help large commercial fleets cut back on their diesel and gasoline use.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is teaming up with ArvinMeritor, an auto component supplier, to develop a diesel-electric hybrid truck that may be the first of its kind in North America. The companies said in a news release this week they had agreed to develop a dual-mode, diesel-electric drivetrain for a class 8 truck, called the "workhorse of the U.S. long-distance trucking industry" by ArvinMeritor. "We've been working on development of hybrid drivetrains for some time," said Carsten J. Reinhardt, president of ArvinMeritor's Commercial Vehicle Systems business, in the news release. "This class 8 project is a major step in our continuing...