Lightning Hybrids is an innovative automotive research and manufacturing company based in Loveland, Colorado. We focus on hydraulic solutions for vehicles – ranging from 100 MPG hydraulic hybrid sports sedans to fuel efficient HyPER Assist™ retrofit systems to lightweight carbon fiber tanks.

In October of 2008, founders Dan Johnson and Tim Reeser, motivated by a challenge from Dan’s father, Sam Johnson, assembled a team and started work on a 100 MPG hydraulic hybrid sports sedan. They entered the $10 million Automotive X PRIZE race for “super fuel-efficient vehicles that people will want to buy” slated for mid-2010.

In April 2009 we introduced the LH4 car at the Denver Auto Show. At that show we were asked many times, “When are you going to make a hydraulic hybrid kit or retrofit for trucks?”

When we returned from the show we found ourselves at a crossroads. The X PRIZE was becoming prohibitively expensive. We knew that if we can get the car to market we could certainly sell a 100 MPG sports sedan, however the cost of getting to market is well over $12 million because of all the regulations and testing that would have to occur.

As we explored ways to push forward in our work on hydraulic hybrids, we began developing the hybrid drivetrain as a kit or retrofit for trucks. In summer 2009 we dropped out of the X PRIZE race and to fully focus our team on the development of the patent-pending HyPER Assist™ (Hydraulic Power & Energy Recovery) technology on a Chevrolet 2500 pick-up and will be testing the system with the EPA in summer 2010.



In the process of developing the HyPER Assist™ technology and in an effort to make the system lighter and safer we designed a patent-pending dual-tank system that uses a carbon fiber accumulator. This system is used in the HyPER Assist™ and the carbon fiber accumulator can be used in a number of other applications.