Vehizero: The Mexican Hybrid
by Jacob Gordon, Nashville, TN 
on 04.21.06
As the debate on immigration gets hotter and hotter, and thousands of immigrant workers consider a massive strike and boycott on May 1st, people have gotten a lot more curious about the living conditions in the countries that immigrants leave behind when they come to the U.S. Of the ills that many people flee in Mexico, environmental pollution is not the least of them. Mexico City has some of the worst air quality in the world. There is a glimmer in the smog, however, that has come from the technological front. The young Mexican company Vehizero has been making hybrid gas/electric delivery trucks that have been selling so fast that orders are backlogged.
Vehizero is Mexico’s “first and only hybrid vehicle manufacturer,” according to World Changing’s guest contributor, Rob Katz. The 1-ton delivery truck gets 60% better fuel economy that its most efficient competitor, and is comparable in price. Design features of the truck also lower its chance of theft, which lowers road tax and insurance. Vehizero plans to add to its line a 3-ton truck, 100-passenger bus, and a small personal vehicle. Seems like it would make a lot of people happy is some of the truck migrated up north, no? :: Vehizero via WorldChanging
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>>is some of the truck migrated up north, no?
Is this to mean you know they will not be offering the trucks above the Rio Grand?
I would actually like to see if they could send a truck up to be shown in an eco-vehicle exhibit were holding this summer.
I've been living in Mexico city for over 3 years, but so far I have read about those Vehizero truck many time recently, but never actually seen one on the roads. The city is huge so this might hold true for a while until they reach a certain critical mass.
The main problem I see with them is that the majority of the small truck fleet you see around town is probably 20+ years old and up, and it will take a very long time for all those people with very old polluting truck to replace them unless they are forced to do so by a strictly enforced law, and even them probably the bulk of them will not change them as there is no way they can afford a new vehicle, they would probably just pick up another old relic.
I am sure that they will do well in the large commercial fleets, but unless they can increase production by an order of magnitude or two the total impact on local pollution will be minimal.
The vehilces are running around with a "Bimbo" logo. No this is not some busty woman, it's a bread company in Mexico. The savings of 60% in fuel costs would be a good force of change for the old trucks, plus the tax breaks alone in the first year are huge. Being an electric vehicle they can write off the whole thing in the first year instead over time. For commercial fleets this is a big chunk of money.