Then a month later in 2008, Odyne Corporation upped the ante again by unveiling the world’s first CNG PHEV refuse truck in Fresno, California. Well, this year Odyne and DUECO have done it again and this time in Wisconsin, the home office for each company.

This dynamic duo of large plug-in hybrid electric vehicles has unveiled two new utility PHEVs to both Marshfield and Plymouth Utilities. Like the PHEV rolled out in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the Marshfield PHEV is a utility bucket truck.

On the other hand, Plymouth Utilities is the first to own and operate a 4×4 Plug-in Hybrid Digger Derrick. This hydraulic truck is typically used to drill holes in the earth for telephone poles.

Both trucks recharge their batteries at night using off-peak electricity from the grid. Now, if we could just get them to use wind energy for recharging they would be that much cleaner. Regardless, turning large heavy trucks into hybrid vehicles is a definitely a step in the right direction.

The Scuderi air hybrid uses split-cycle paired cylinders for power. According to independent third party validation, the efficiency of a Scuderi engine is around 40-percent compared with 33-percent on a standard internal combustion engine (ICE). Toxic emissions are also reduced by 80-percent.

What makes the Scuderi different than a typical ICE? The Scuderi air hybrid uses a power stroke on every revolution, fires after top dead center, has a flame speed 4 times faster than conventional ICE and uses compressed air to store energy rather than a battery.

The Scuderi air-hybrid also is knock resistant, has a helical crossover passage that helps with the appropriate mixture of gasoline and air, unique spark plug location that promotes more complete combustion of fuel and less emissions, plus it has a fast action variable valve configuration.

Based in Ocala, Florida, E-One is known as an industry leader in manufacturing fire rescue vehicles, having more than 23,000 such vehicles in operation. Complete with a conference room, workstations, video monitors and satellite hookups, the E-One Hybrid is also environmentally conscious.

The E-One Hybrid uses a unique power distribution system to convert “340 Volt DC hybrid battery power into usable 120 Volt AC power.” The auxiliary power configuration saves on the burning of fossil fuels compared to vehicles offered by other manufacturers.

So, the next time you see a large fire with a bevy of large fire trucks putting out blazes, you may see a bit of green in the midst of all the red as this mobile E-One command center has gone hybrid and won’t be contributing much carbon on the scene.