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New technology to trigger hybrid zero-emission mode in high pollution

A new system that would automatically switch hybrids to electric mode in heavily polluted streets is going on trial in Leeds.

City street with heavy traffic

The technology would trigger in heavily polluted areas.

Known as Project ACCRA, the technology uses an air quality monitoring sensor developed by EarthSense to measure local air quality levels in real time and upload them to a specially developed hybrid vehicle interface from clean truck technology company, Tevva. This would then trigger on-demand zero-emission running instructions in vehicles when pollution levels are high enough.

On trial using part of the proposed clean air zone in Leeds, the technology is being evaluated by Cenex and Transport Systems Catapult in the hope it could be used more widely in Leeds and other UK clean air zones. Other project partners include transportation network system developer, Dynniq.

“Using real-time air quality data to understand pollution in our city centre and automatically instruct vehicles driving into high pollution areas to switch to zero-emissions driving, has the potential to save lives and transform our city centres,” commented Professor Roland Leigh, technical director of EarthSense.For more of the latest industry news, click here.

For more of the latest industry news, click here.

Natalie Middleton

Natalie has worked as a fleet journalist for over 20 years, previously as assistant editor on the former Company Car magazine before joining Fleet World in 2006. Prior to this, she worked on a range of B2B titles, including Insurance Age and Insurance Day.