A 50 percent more efficient big rig? Meet Super Truck II

[searcher]

A 50 percent more efficient big rig? Meet Super Truck II​

In America, we move most of our stuff by road—trucks carried almost five times as much cargo as trains in 2017, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. While it's true that personal vehicles contribute the majority of our transport-related carbon emissions, a quarter still comes from bigger trucks and buses. When it comes to the biggest trucks on our roads—the Class 8 trucks that can pull up to 80,000 lbs (36.2 tonnes)—there's a lot of room for improvement, which is where Super Truck II comes in. The Department of Energy funded a challenge to double the efficiency of 18-wheeler trucks, and the big machine you see in the photos here is Freightliner's response.

In fact, the story dates back to 2010 and the first DoE Super Truck program, which eventually funded four truck makers (including Daimler Truck North America, which owns Freightliner) to develop a heavy truck with 50 percent better efficiency than anything then in production.

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A 50 percent more efficient big rig? Meet Super Truck II

It was achieved through a combo of aero, tire, and powertrain improvements.

arstechnica.com

 

[chieftain]

Kenworth down here developed a prime mover that could haul a standard 22 pallet tautliner (approx 42 tons) and average 20mpg. There was none of the exhaust fuckery that has burdened modern semis, just clever design. The truck was demonstrated at a trade show in 2008 and hasn't been seen since.

 

[Casey Jones]

Kenworth down here developed a prime mover that could haul a standard 22 pallet tautliner (approx 42 tons) and average 20mpg. There was none of the exhaust fuckery that has burdened modern semis, just clever design. The truck was demonstrated at a trade show in 2008 and hasn't been seen since.

Do you know this firsthand?

I ask, because there are several holes in that story. First, Kenworth doesn't build engines. They make assembled trucks - along with sister PACCAR company, Peterbilt - using an engine of the buyer's choice.

PACCAR is now building engines (separate division from Kenworth and Peterbilt), but that's a relatively new development. It was about the same time Caterpillar gave up on compliance with diesel emissions stipulations.

I'm suspicious of such a jump in performance - let's just say the physics don't seem to be adding up. We're hard pressed to make a 5000-pound full-size pickup get 20 mpg; and that's with all kinds of gimmicks like ten-speed automatic transmissions and computer controls. To make something twelve-times heavier, 80,000 pounds, jump from 4-6 mpg, to 20 mpg...I'd want to see tests.

And it would sell, and like hotcakes. Fuel prices are driving trucking companies and O-O's out of business, now. Even if performance was subpar, it would be an acceptable compromise.

I suspect the reason it disappeared was, the PR office wrote a check that the engineering staff couldn't cash.

 

[chieftain]

Do you know this firsthand?

I ask, because there are several holes in that story. First, Kenworth doesn't build engines. They make assembled trucks - along with sister PACCAR company, Peterbilt - using an engine of the buyer's choice.

PACCAR is now building engines (separate division from Kenworth and Peterbilt), but that's a relatively new development. It was about the same time Caterpillar gave up on compliance with diesel emissions stipulations.

I'm suspicious of such a jump in performance - let's just say the physics don't seem to be adding up. We're hard pressed to make a 5000-pound full-size pickup get 20 mpg; and that's with all kinds of gimmicks like ten-speed automatic transmissions and computer controls. To make something twelve-times heavier, 80,000 pounds, jump from 4-6 mpg, to 20 mpg...I'd want to see tests.

And it would sell, and like hotcakes. Fuel prices are driving trucking companies and O-O's out of business, now. Even if performance was subpar, it would be an acceptable compromise.

I suspect the reason it disappeared was, the PR office wrote a check that the engineering staff couldn't cash.

Yes and no, I am still friends with one of the engineers involved but have never seen the truck in the flesh. The data though I have and it was interesting to say the least. From what he told me, they built it as a proof of concept, with a custom engine that wasn't a PACCAR, Detroit Diesel, Caterpillar or Cummins. I don't actually know who made the engine for them, old mate told me that it disappeared sometime after the initial hullabaloo had been tempered.