Trucks of the future driven by coming greenhouse gas, fuel efficiency regs

Discussing coming truck technologies during the Commercial Vehicle Outlook Conference today at the Great American Trucking Show are from left moderator Jack, Roberts, executive editor of Commercial Carrier Journal, Overdrive and Truckers News; Ben Smith, manager, product strategy, Freightliner Trucks North America; Craig Bennett, senior vice president, sales and marketing, Utility Trailer; and Jeff Jones, vice president, sales and marketing, Cummins. (The Trucker: DOROTHY COX)

By DOROTHY COX
The Trucker Staff

8/26/2010

DALLAS — In some aspects of trucking, the future is approaching at warp speed. And nowhere is that more true than the technology being driven by coming greenhouse gas reduction regulations and proposed mandates to increase fuel efficiency.

One of the most compelling technologies mentioned at the Commercial Vehicle Conference here at the Great American Trucking Show is the use of “predictive” technologies to make a truck “smart” enough to know the terrain ahead and act accordingly.

Predictive cruise control uses GPS and digital mapping techniques, something already being pursued by trains to save fuel by predicting hills, valleys and regulating fuel use to match.

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And it’s the same idea with heavy-duty trucks. The technology lets the truck know where the slopes and hills are and the cruise control allows the truck to gain the momentum to get to the top of a big hill without “gunning” the engine and to even out on the flat spaces, said Ben Smith, manager of product strategy for Freightliner Trucks North America.

He also mentioned Predictive Load Management or PALM technology, which can achieve optimum engine cooling by doing the same thing, accurately predicting the terrain and regulating cooling to take some of the load off the engine.

Of course, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is the most stringent state when it comes to “green” technologies for heavy trucks, and many emissions and related regulations that begin in California make their way to the rest of the nation through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and/or Congress.

This led panelist Craig Bennett, senior vice president for sales and marketing for California-based Utility Trailer, to quip that if a company can make it in California they can make it anywhere.

Stringent fuel-savings guidelines set by CARB led Utility Trailer to design and test its own side skirts, which tested out at a 4-percent fuel savings and when used with low rolling resistance tires yielding a 1.5-percent fuel savings meet CARB’s mandated 6.5 percent fuel savings for trailers.

Also look for technology that recovers wasted heat from the engine for power optimization, one of the “most promising” technologies for Class 8 applications, noted Jeff Jones, vice president of sales and marketing for Cummins.

He described the ISX15 waste recovery system which uses super-heated fluid to create steam to recover heat and increase fuel efficiency up to 8 percent.

He called such technology a “win-win” for both the environment and operations.

Dorothy Cox of The Trucker staff can be reached to comment on this article at editor@thetrucker.com.