Pickuptrucks.com and USA Today reports Ford is working along side The Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power and Folsom Technologies. What will this team create? A "hydraulic hybrid" F-150 pickup, capable of hitting 40 miles per gallon city.

Ford has won countless awards in recent years for their amazing green cars, like the upcoming electric Ford Focus and hybrid Ford F-150 pickup. But even the non-hybrid variant of F-150 is attracting attention from green truck shoppers.

The hydraulic hybrid's brakes capture energy typically lost as heat and uses it to pressurize hydraulic fluid in a container, called an accumulator. That stored hydraulic power is used to supplement the hybrid's gas engine via two hydraulic pumps incorporated into a transmission.

"We have the potential to reach 40 miles per gallon or higher with hydraulic power," Perry Li, co-deputy director of CCEFP and a mechanical engineering professor, told Levine. "But we feel like we don't give up anything vs. an electric hybrid, and there are no batteries and nothing to recycle."

An important factor for truck buyers is towing capability. These hybrids will not only receive great MPG ratings, but will also keep a high towing ability. Ford has dabbled with hydraulic hybrids before, dating back to 2002 and the Ford F-350

In the near future, trucks like the hydraulic hybrid F-150 pickup will hit dealership lots like Freedom Ford located at 7520 N. Military Highway Norfolk, VA 23518. Keep an eye out for all the hybrid, fuel efficient cars headed to a dealer near you from Ford Motor Company.