OYSTER BAY, NY – In its new report "Commercial Hybrid Vehicles: Heavy Trucks, Buses Get the Hybrid Treatment,Promising Greater Fuel Economy, Less Pollution," NextGen Research forecasts the global commercial hybrid vehicle market will triple, from a tepid 8,653 units in 2008 to more than 27,000 units in 2013. The company foresees this market will begin to grow more quickly in 2010, as the global economic downturn ends and the testing of hybrid vehicles in commercial fleets is completed.

Commercial vehicles can't just implement the consumer hybrid scenario of downsizing the internal combustion engine and adding an electric motor, because trucks, vans and buses need a certain level of power to make it up hills (especially when carrying full loads), and smaller engines would strain to accomplish that. Already-heavy commercial vehicles would need sizable, heavy battery packs to support an electric motor solution large enough to help propel the vehicle, but that additional weight would place more strain on the motor and the engine, and could reduce cargo capacities.