Irony. It’s all around us every day. We’d say that a hybrid bulldozer would fall under the ironic category. Calling it a “green” bulldozer would be downright oxymoronic, but Caterpillar, after about a year of field testing, is now taking orders for its D7E, the world’s first hybrid bulldozer.

The business benefits are pretty obvious as the new machine can be up to 20 percent more fuel efficient than conventional diesel models. Who wants to be wasting all that fuel at the strip mine, or when knocking down trees, or generally scaring the Earth? It’s time to be green, people, and that includes ‘dozers!

What makes this a hybrid is the use of electric motors as opposed to torque converters on the tracks. The transmission in this unit is described as a pair of power cables. The company began work on the project in the late 1990s and actually had working units in the field for about a year for testing. Dealers are now seeing the machine and are able to place orders for them.

Of note is that this model loses the “high sprocket” that Caterpillar bulldozers have used seemingly for ever. Losing that sprocket actually allowed the machine to operate better, but it required the sign off of the company’s CEO. Tradition is a big thing at Cat, and frankly that’s cool.