Hybrid garbage truck comes to New Haven

New Haven, Conn. (WTNH) - The city of New Haven showed off the newest garbage truck in their fleet on Monday.

The $388,000 hybrid is an investment in the future. But this vehicle doesn't have an electric engine that switches to gasoline. Rather, a source of its energy comes from the braking system.

"It uses hydraulic fluid to save energy, capture energy while braking, and then uses that stored energy to give a boost when starting back up," explained Giovanni Zinn, environmental consultant.

Which is a lot of energy with 34,000 stops a week. It's believed the truck will save up to 30 percent in fuel consumption over the regular diesels, or roughly $5,000 a year. The truck was partially paid for by a $70,000 state grant.

This may only be the beginning.

"The next one, frankly will be squad cars, which run a lot, they get an incredible amount of usage," said Mayor John DeStefano.

And how will something that gets so dirty run so clean? The truck also has a filter that captures harmful particles that usually are forced in the air.

There are a total of 13 garbage trucks in New Haven's fleet and if they get the money, they'd like to get one of these vehicles per year.