Caterpillar introduces hybrid bulldozer

Caterpillar Inc. is launching a line of diesel-electric hybrid bulldozers it says will improve fuel efficiency 30 percent while maintaining the power the company's customers expect.

[ADM]

Great. . .now we can rest easy knowing we're not harming the environment as we pave paradise. Seriously, I thought this headline was pulled from The Onion when I read it.

[Miz]

ADM wrote:

Great...now we can rest easy knowing we're not harming the environment as we pave paradise. Seriously, I thought this headline was pulled from The Onion when I read it.

Unless you live in a mud hut in the jungle you use the results of those machines every day. Should Cat not try to make their vehicles better for the environment to avoid being in the news so you don't have to make a hypocritical comment about them "paving paradise?" Another pathetic, radical wanna-be who sits in a nice building, using A/C, probably leaving all the lights on all day, driving a car everywhere, using internet lines that are buried in the ground where those trees used to be, and them making a stupid comment insulting Cat for making a Hybrid earthmover, insinuating that they should instead send their entire business under because that's the only way people will stop paving over trees to make buildings.
...and if you need to ask why it's a headline you obviously don't know the least bit about science or you'd understand what a feat it is. If you want to pretend you know what you're talking about please do so at another newspaper forum because it's way too early for me to have to deal with such unadulterated stupidity.

[Tom]

Thanks KINGPIN !

[Homer Simspson]

KINGPIN have you ever thought about running the trib? You are a hell of a lot more informative.

[Made In China]

While the R&D for this product may have been made in the USA, you can bet the store that it will not be long before they move their production facilities to China.
Peoria, Moline, Muncie, etc; imploding and has-been towns in a land that time forgot. The global-economy is passing the midwest by, wave to your future - midwesterners, you're reverting to what relatively few jobs are left in agra-bus and to supporting your huge entitlement classes in Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Gary, and the like; as well as shuttering store fronts and baording up houses in Moline, Akron, Dayton, Columbus, Canton, Milwaukee, etc, etc.
The midwest... is going out with a whimper, but, what else can be expected when our trade policies motivate capital to move their facilities overseas and politicans [e.g. Quinn and Stroger] think they can tax their way to prosperity?
The Labour Party in England taxed and taxed some more in the 1960's and 1970's until they nearly drove England to complete ruination. Now we're taxing the ever fewer and fewer left standing of what was once known as the middle-class and printing money like there's no tomorrow.
Electric dozers, a great idea and I commend CAT for bring'n 'em on line; but, don't delude yourselves that Peoria, Moline, Muncie, Illinois and/or Indiana will reap the benefits - when they move their facilities to China!

[Skynet]

I can dig it.

[Miz]

"Made in the USA" doesn't mean the same thing in a global economy. Even if the physical construction jobs don't exist in the US, many people have work because of the R&D, US sales teams, and other support systems (marketing, HR, legal, etc). Even without the direct benefit of manufacturing jobs, the US overall benefits.

Also, if they're anything like the first hybrid cars, I bet the profit margin is virtually nothing. The first group of Hybrid cars to come out were sold at a loss and, iirc, cost about $25,000 for an ugly 2-seater. Manufacturers had a sales cap so they wouldn't lose too much money...but they sold what they could for good company PR. It makes the government happy and makes customers happy to know their company cares about the environment.

The environment is important, but if Cat went broke selling US made hybrids they wouldn't exist to sell any hybrids. If my options are 1) no hybrid dozers or 2) hybrid dozers built in another country (still supporting a US company) I pick the latter.

[Luke P]

Before others come to stroke KINGPIN's ego, know that he plagiarized "his" comment from Reed Business Information.

KINGPIN, if you're going to copy-and-paste wholesale, at least have the decency to provide attribution as well.

A link to the original: http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_...

[Greg]

KINGPIN wrote:

.
.
Caterpillar's D7E crawler dozer is the first electrically driven dozer using modern alternating-current (AC) technology, and Cat claims it will move up to 25 percent more material per gallon of fuel than the D7R Series II. The drive system takes advantage of today's small, less-costly semiconductors that can rectify heavy-duty-drive voltage to AC, eliminating brushes. The drive is developed by Caterpillar specifically for crawler tractors.
A 235-horsepower Cat C9.3 diesel drives a generator to produce electricity that runs to a power module where it is inverted to AC current. The current powers two AC drive motors arranged in series, which drives a differential steering system much like that used on other Caterpillar dozers.
The electric drive train has 60 percent fewer moving parts than the drive in previous D7s. And because power flows from the generator to the electric drives through cables, rather than a hard drive shaft, the tractor's heaviest components can be positioned optimally in the frame for ideal machine balance.
The C9.3 engine is smaller and achieves rated power at 1,700 rpm, compared to the D7R's 240-horsepower Cat 3176. Smaller displacement is responsible for some of the up-to-20-percent fuel savings, but the biggest efficiency gains come from eliminating the torque converter and keeping the engine running in a much more narrow range of speeds
Electric drive eliminates gear shifting, and is said to perform much like a hydrostatic drive, albeit with a much faster response to load demands. Electric-over-hydraulic joysticks control propulsion and blade. Steering performance is improved 50 percent, partly due to use of a dedicated steering pump equal to that used in the D8's differential steering system. With no mechanical link between the D10-sized final drives and the electric motors' refined power, the D7E can lock one track for pivot turns, and even counter-rotate to turn within a diameter no greater than the machine's overall length.
Efficiency is also gained by eliminating parasitic engine load. There are no belts on the D7E's engine. The cooling fan is powered by a thermostatically controlled hydraulic motor.(The generator, inverter, and electric motors are liquid cooled.) Twenty-four-volt current is drawn from the generator and diverted to run the water pump, charge the batteries, and power the self-contained air conditioning unit mounted on the cab roof.
"We evaluated all of the current applications for the D7R and purposely set out to build an electric-drive machine that can do all of the same things, and work in all the same environments, that the powershift machine currently can do
.
.

They should have interviewed you before publishing the story. Thanks.

[Tic]

the headline is miss leading
it's a diesel-electric drive bulldozer
not hybrid as people think as in a prius.

Diesel-Electric drives have been used in Diesel railroad locomotives since the 1940's
ans more recently in cruise ships and freighters

a foot note:
General Electric did build
Diesel-electric-battery locomotives in the late 30's for use on the old interurban rail lines.

[C Racker Jack]

Dude thought the King was PR mouthpiece for the cat, relaying essential information that the Trib writer ignored in his interview.

[Dipstick]

ADM wrote:

Great...now we can rest easy knowing we're not harming the environment as we pave paradise. Seriously, I thought this headline was pulled from The Onion when I read it.

You DOPE! or more likely - on dope!

[Deer Tic]

Tic wrote:

the headline is miss leading
it's a diesel-electric drive bulldozer
not hybrid as people think as in a prius.
Diesel-Electric drives have been used in Diesel railroad locomotives since the 1940's
ans more recently in cruise ships and freighters

General Electric did build
Diesel-electric-battery locomotives in the late 30's for use on the old interurban rail lines.

Ummm... Metra is currently running diesel-electric. Been running 'em since the 1970's before it was even Metra/RTA/etc. Nothing new here...
a foot note:

[history lesson]

Deer Tic wrote:

<quoted text>
Ummm... Metra is currently running diesel-electric. Been running 'em since the 1970's before it was even Metra/RTA/etc. Nothing new here...
a foot note:

Makes you wonder how come this technology never made it to cars until now ( Chevy volt)

[North Riverside Rich]

Tic wrote:

the headline is miss leading
it's a diesel-electric drive bulldozer
not hybrid as people think as in a prius.
Diesel-Electric drives have been used in Diesel railroad locomotives since the 1940's
ans more recently in cruise ships and freighters
a foot note:
General Electric did build
Diesel-electric-battery locomotives in the late 30's for use on the old interurban rail lines.

"miss leading"??

[Mav]

Fuel-efficient bulldozers. Another triumph for capitalism. Way to go CAT.

See all of you socialist buffoons, when you let the free market system do what is does best (i.e. compete by responding the best to current consumer demand), you get quality results at a reasonable price. Let the government run the show, all you get is a high bill (in the end).

[Thomas G]

Great move by CAT, it will be interesting to see how Deere and others respond. See more at www.FirmlyGreen.com

[David Roknich]

I am certain that the Israelis will be glad to avoid the purchase of Arab oil while using these to murder innocent civilians in their continuing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere.

Last week, there was a shareholder's revolt at Caterpillar over the sale of weapons to countries that have a poor human rights record - including Israel, where Caterpillar bulldozers are used as weapons. They have killed several US citizens already, simply because they were in the homes of people who belong to a tribe slightly different than the Jews. Unfortunately, the shareholders who opposed the sale of bulldozers to Israle did not prevail. Most are paid for with US tax dollars, so the money is good, and plentiful.

This is an utterly one-sided press release from a company that feeds off the use of US tax dollars for acts of genocide by a fascist minority that now controls the state of Israel, thanks to 8 years of work by Bush and the Neocons dismantling the Camp David Accords.

Why did radical Zionist Douglas Fieth quietly leave his position as the 3rd highest official in the pentagon under Rumsfeld? It was found that his law firm, in which he is a full partner, was receiving an annual retainer from clients who specific goal was to unravel the Camp David accords that helped keep a reasonable level of peace and civility between Israel and the Palestinians for so many years prior to the Bush administration.

As soon as Bush was elected, they began to use Caterpillar bulldozers to murder people in their homes - simply because those people were not Jewish.

This is fascism and genocide, and 946 cases will be presented for war crimes trials in Spain later this year for the most recent abuses by Israel.

[David Roknich]

I am certain that the Israelis will be glad to avoid the purchase of Arab oil while using these to murder innocent civilians in their continuing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere.

Last week, there was a shareholder's revolt at Caterpillar over the sale of weapons to countries that have a poor human rights record - including Israel, where Caterpillar bulldozers are used as weapons. They have killed several US citizens already, simply because they were in the homes of people who belong to a tribe slightly different than the Jews. Unfortunately, the shareholders who opposed the sale of bulldozers to Israle did not prevail. Most are paid for with US tax dollars, so the money is good, and plentiful.

This is an utterly one-sided press release from a company that feeds off the use of US tax dollars for acts of genocide by a fascist minority that now controls the state of Israel, thanks to 8 years of work by Bush and the Neocons dismantling the Camp David Accords.

Why did radical Zionist Douglas Fieth quietly leave his position as the 3rd highest official in the pentagon under Rumsfeld? It was found that his law firm, in which he is a full partner, was receiving an annual retainer from clients who specific goal was to unravel the Camp David accords that helped keep a reasonable level of peace and civility between Israel and the Palestinians for so many years prior to the Bush administration.

As soon as Bush was elected, they began to use Caterpillar bulldozers to murder people in their homes - simply because those people were not Jewish.

This is fascism and genocide, and 946 cases will be presented for war crimes trials in Spain later this year for the most recent abuses by Israel.

[Greg]

David Roknich wrote:

I am certain that the Israelis will be glad to avoid the purchase of Arab oil while using these to murder innocent civilians in their continuing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere.
Last week, there was a shareholder's revolt at Caterpillar over the sale of weapons to countries that have a poor human rights record - including Israel, where Caterpillar bulldozers are used as weapons. They have killed several US citizens already, simply because they were in the homes of people who belong to a tribe slightly different than the Jews. Unfortunately, the shareholders who opposed the sale of bulldozers to Israle did not prevail. Most are paid for with US tax dollars, so the money is good, and plentiful.
This is an utterly one-sided press release from a company that feeds off the use of US tax dollars for acts of genocide by a fascist minority that now controls the state of Israel, thanks to 8 years of work by Bush and the Neocons dismantling the Camp David Accords.
Why did radical Zionist Douglas Fieth quietly leave his position as the 3rd highest official in the pentagon under Rumsfeld? It was found that his law firm, in which he is a full partner, was receiving an annual retainer from clients who specific goal was to unravel the Camp David accords that helped keep a reasonable level of peace and civility between Israel and the Palestinians for so many years prior to the Bush administration.
As soon as Bush was elected, they began to use Caterpillar bulldozers to murder people in their homes - simply because those people were not Jewish.
This is fascism and genocide, and 946 cases will be presented for war crimes trials in Spain later this year for the most recent abuses by Israel.

So you don't remember the thousands of rockets Hamas had been shooting into Sderot and other towns, terrorizing citizens. You don't recall Gilad Shalit being kidnapped and held without any international body being able to visit him. You don't recall the smuggling of arms by Hamas into Gaza after Israel voluntarily pulled out of Gaza. And you don't remember the so-called fishing boats loaded with weaponry en route to Gaza, all for the purpose of killing innocent Israelis.

Selective memory disorder.

Go to a library. Read some newspapers. Think clearly.