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Focus: Transportation Management

Feature Article from Our Transportation Management Subject Area - See All
 

From SCDigest's On-Target E-Magazine

- March 31, 2015 -

 

Logistics News: Another "Super Truck" from DOE Program Promises Major Fuel Savings

 

New Truck from Daimler North America Said to Achieve Amazing 115% in Freight Efficiency


SCDigest Editorial Staff

 

For the past few years, the US Department of Energy has been running a "SuperTruck," program in which it is matching investment dollars with several major truck and engine manufacturers in an effort to gain substantial improvements in vehicle fuel efficiency.

Officially, the DOE says the program is about "expediting the development of advanced heavy-duty vehicle efficiency technologies." It further says this research is connected to looming fuel standards for heavy duty trucks likely to be effective in 2020 that are supposed to be developed by the end of this year – meaning the stakes are high. The DOE program has some $284 million in funding.

SCDigest Says:

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During that test, the Daimler truck achieved an average of a remarkable of 12.2 mpg, almost double the levels of trucks currently on the road.
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To ensure total vehicle improvement, program objectives state that 30% of the vehicle efficiency improvement must come from the tractor and trailer, while the other 20% should come from the engine. Along with the overall efficiency, each vehicle's engine needs to show a 50% brake thermal efficiency.

In mid-2014, a combination of engine maker Cummins and truck manufacturer Peterbilt announced significant progress, saying that testing for its SuperTruck design had demonstrated gains of more than 68% in freight efficiency over a 24-hour duty-cycle, a 50% improvement in freight efficiency on an 11-hour drive-cycle, and a 20% improvement in the thermal efficiency of the engine.

Freight efficiency is a measure of how much freight can be moved over a given distance by a given amount of fuel, using a metric of something like freight-tons moved per mile. That is considered a more meaningful number than miles per gallon because mpg by itself does not consider the weight of the freight being moved.

The Cummins-Peterbilt gains were achieved from a combination of increased aerodynamics, reductions in tractor-trailer weight, and gains in "thermal efficiency," which has to do with the engine's ability to convert the chemical energy contained in a gallon of fuel to power at the driveshaft.

While the gains were impressive, experts cautioned that the some of the technologies involved were far from commercialization, so the full practicality of the total design was in question. However, many of the technologies in the design are or could easily be commercialized.

"In light-weighting the truck, we used some rather exotic components, such as magnesium crossmembers and the aluminum-matrix brake drums," a Peterbilt spokesperson said at the time. "They certainly have commercial potential, but they probably wouldn't be readily accepted by industry. Our next challenge is in making those things commercially viable."

Others noted the goal of the SuperTruck program was not to design at this point a commercially viable vehicle, but rather to show what could be accomplished, even if there are questions about how much of the technology innovation can soon make it on the road.


(Transportation Management Article Continued Below)

 
CATEGORY SPONSOR: SOFTEON

 
 

Daimler Trucks Announces Major Improvements with its SuperTruck

Last week, Daimler Trucks and its US brand Freightliner appear to have upped the SuperTruck ante even more.

At the 2015 Mid-America Trucking Show in Kentucky, Daimler displayed its new prototype SuperTruck design, developed in part from a $40 million grant from the DOE program.

Daimler said the project, developed in partnership with engine maker Detroit Diesel and others, exceeded the company's expectations, achieving freight efficiency improvement of a remarkable 115%, far above DOE's own goal of a gain of 50%.

 


The improvements are versus a baseline 2009 tractor-trailer combination. They were measured after testing the new truck on highway routes in Oregon and Texas.

The final test consisted of a five-day, 312-mile round trip route on Texas Interstate 35 between San Antonio and Dallas, at a weight of 65,000 pounds running at a speed of 65 mph. During that test, the Daimler truck achieved an average of a remarkable of 12.2 mpg, almost double the levels of trucks currently on the road.

The mileage improvement come from a variety of innovations, including much more aerodynamic tractor and trailer designs, low resistance tires, and greater intelligence built into the drive train.

Again, Daimler qualified the news by noting that some of the components used in the prototype truck may not be commercially viable at this point.

But assuming the preponderance of the gains are achievable and can be commercialized over the next few years, these SuperTruck related developments may result in an inflection point in the logistics industry, substantially reducing trucking costs, doing the same thing for CO2 emissions per ton of freight moved, and altering the dynamics of truck versus rail decisions and the cost advantages of alternative fuel trucks - though many if not most of the improvements are likely achieved regardless of what fuel type is used.

Good news all round.


What's your reaction to this newest SuperTruck design? How big an imact can all this have? Let us know your thoughts at the Feedback button (for email) or section (for web form) below.

 


   
 

Recent Feedback

Great initiative by the Department of Energy and good work by Daimler Trucks! I think this is a fascinating idea and could have some really cool impacts on the industry. The trucking industry can gain some definite ground on rail should mpg be doubled and gas prices continue to drop. In fact, I've heard every one cent decrease in diesel costs saves the industry a third of a billion dollars! I can't imagine how much doubling mpg would save. A drop in rates could make more people interested in shipping their freight via trucking as well. In fact, a drop in rates and greater demand for shipping via trucking could allow shipping companies to increase salaries for drivers which could end the drivers shortage. All great news! Are there any more exact timelines for how long it will take for these parts to become commercialized? The sooner the better!


SCMLonghorn
Learner
Texas
Apr, 13 2015
 
   
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