eTec Will Test the 2008 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid

Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation (eTec) will test two 2008 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid for the Department of Energy as part of the Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity (AVTA).

They will perform baseline testing after a break-in period. They will then conduct testing at 160,000 miles in order to test for any changes in fuel consumption, acceleration, gradeability, road load coefficients (to support dynamometer testing), and vehicle durability.

eTec has already completed testing on 12 HEV models and is currently testing a number of plug-in HEVs, including conversions of both the Toyota Prius and Ford Escape Hybrid vehicle platforms. eTec will prepare a final report detailing the life cycle costs of the Tahoe Hybrid vehicles that includes fuel costs, operations and maintenance costs and resale values that will be posted on the DOE’s AVTA website, www.avt.inl.gov.

AVTA is part of the Department of Energy’s FreedomCAR & Vehicle Technologies Program and is conducted by the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). Baseline performance testing will utilize specifications developed by eTec in conjunction with vehicle manufacturers and industry stakeholders (such as fleet managers), with the objective of measuring real-world vehicle performance. This project is part of a five-year contract with the Department of Energy that started in October 2005 and is valued at $10.5 million.