Volvo Group is bringing to market a series of hybrid buses, trucks, and construction equipment. They use parallel hybrid technology where a diesel engine and electric motor work together but on different parts of the vehicle's operation: locomotion, raising or lowering an earth-moving bucket, hoisting refuse containers. Volvo's solution is based on a concept called I-SAM, or Integrated Starter, Alternator Motor. Were he still around, Dr. Seuss might write a book on these hybrids: I SAM, Oh Yes I Am. According to Volvo Group President and CEO Leif Johansson. "In a few years' time, hybrid technology will no longer be a special solution but a technology found in most new city buses and distribution trucks. The fourth-generation hybrid technology has the potential to make such a development possible." The hybrid vehicles include:

-- Volvo FE Hybrid, a garbage truck. Two are in test service now in Sweden. Volvo says they save up to 20% on fuel. Volvo says they can run for periods just on electrical power, making them silent (other than the clatter of garbage cans) when used for early-morning pickups in urban areas.
-- Volvo 700 Hybrid bus. Production starts in 2009 with six double-decker buses destined for London. Volvo says they can save 30% on fuel since so much energy is re-generated when vehicles slow, stop, and start up again.
-- L220F wheeled loader for the construction trade. Volvo says it can save 10% on fuel. Production begins in