Published: August 26, 2009 11:40 pm      

Turtle Top filling hybrid order for transportation company

NEW PARIS — One local company’s hybrid vehicles have been drawing the attention of government entities across the country.

Turtle Top Inc., a New Paris-based specialty vehicle manufacturer, hosted Hoglund Bus Co. representative Scott Gretsch this week. Gretsch was checking on an order he helped to coordinate for 15 hybrid buses for Metro Mobility, a regional transportation service for people unable to use fixed-route buses due to disabilities or health conditions. The service is administered by the Metropolitan Council of Minnesota. Metro Mobility’s fleet manager accompanied Gretsch on the trip.

“This order has been in the making for quite some time,” Gretsch said. “It was placed this spring, and the reason that Metro Mobility chose Turtle Top is just because of their high quality.”

He also pointed to what he saw as a pioneering aspect of the purchase.

“It’s one of the first orders of that size, if not the first made for hybrid buses in the country,” Gretsch said.

While visiting the plant he and the fleet manager performed pilot inspections on the buses under construction.

Interest tied to fuel cost

Turtle Top Vice President Phil Tom said he is happy about the order, but not surprised.

“We’ve been working on the deal for a while,” Tom said. “We’re also building a hybrid vehicle for the state of Florida.”

Tom explained that while interest in the company’s products was high when fuel was topping $4 per gallon, as the price dropped, so did that interest. So over the last two years, the company has been working on its hybrid program, not only prototyping and testing, but exposing the products to large vehicle fleets, the federal government and several car rental agencies.

“There is definitely interest at all the various levels. I think people are just trying to get themselves educated and see if it would work for them and their duty cycles,” Tom said. “The strongest interest level definitely has been with municipalities and government at the state level. Hotel shuttles, the limousine market, those segments really aren’t interested, at least at this time.”

Turtle Tops’ new hybrid vehicles require more construction lead time than its normal buses, and take about 120 days to be built and shipped. Part of that time increase is due to the chassis required by the hybrid systems. Each chassis has to be special ordered.

Another option

In addition to hybrid systems, Turtle Top also offers a bi-fuel system that runs on liquid propane and gasoline, as well as a compressed natural gas system. Tom said company officials have been in conversations with a company offering a liquid propane injection system that runs exclusively on propane.

“We’re working with a lot of different types of technology these days when it comes to alternative fuels, and we try to provide our clients with a system that works best for their individual segment as well as help improve our environment,” Tom said.

One such new development is a pollution-control technology coming out in 2010. The system scrubs the exhaust in a diesel vehicle.

“Once it’s done with the conversion, the air coming in the front will be dirtier than the air coming out of the tailpipe,” Tom said.