Mercedes creates "aero trailer" concept to improve big rig fuel efficiency

[Straywolf]

Found this while surfing thought it was pretty cool.

Mike


Every time you drive by a semi and feel your car get pushed away from the rig, it reinforces the reality that tractor trailers punch a big, ragged hole in the air around them. It takes a lot of power to force those big boxes through the wind, and Mercedes-Benz is working to please both fleet operators and the environmentally conscious by taking some of these heavy haulers for a spin in the wind tunnel for a much-needed aerodynamic tuneup.

The result is a trailer that features a front airdam, side trim panels rear diffuser, and a tapered rear design that adds up to an 18 percent reduction in wind resistance when paired with the Mercedes Actros tractor. Mercedes projects that a truck averaging 150,000 kilometers per year (93,205 miles) will save 2,000 liters of diesel (528 gallons) during that time while releasing five fewer tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

The wind-cheating changes leave the cargo box completely unaffected, though the aero trailer is going to need special legislative dispensation to allow its extra length on the road. The tail extension makes the trailer a half-meter too long than the current law allows, though other specialty trailers, like those with forklifts, have been given such consideration, paving the way for the more-efficient Mercedes trailers. See the full press release after the jump.

[SonoranWraith]

Efficiency is nice and all but I guess I just like the look now so my reaction to the trailer is: puke.

[LowGMC]

Interesting. But imagine the money that will need to be spent to make every loading dock fit that.

[Snowman]

I've seen trailers a little like that on the roads already. They may help fuel efficiency but they also look really goofy.

[SWAGGER]

A lot of the larger transport and delivery companies in Ireland have started running aero trailers in the last few years. Nothing completely different, but the front wall is curved, just over the cab of the truck, the underside is closed off and some even have a curved roof. Like this:

[SWAGGER]

Some of the changes that companies are making and the effects that these changes have:

[Espeefan]

I don't even like the skirts they are starting to run on the trailers in North America, but I guess the fuel savings will really add up through the life of a truck.

[Bsorenson79]

It's funny to me because they are going through all this trouble to make the trailers more aerodynamic. Mean while they are using a cab over which to me is the most aerodynamic unfriendly design you can in the world. Now you hook that trailer up to a KW T700 it would be a lot more affective.

[Espeefan]

Honestly, I think you'd be surprised at just how aerodynamic those COEs made in Europe are. I bet they are not as bad as you think. Probably as good, if not better then North America's best conventionals. Europe is pretty strict about fuel consumption. The design is not so much about the total frontal area of the cab, but rather how the air flows around it, or through it. The grill openings and ducts you see let the air through smoothly, and whatever doesn't flow through, flows around. It's a pretty rounded design despite it looking like a wall.

[SWAGGER]

Espeefan is bang on the money. Yes, at first glance, the face of the euro trucks look like a huge flat wall, but the EU does have extremely tight emission regulations and all vehicles both private and commercials have to pass full tests, every 2 years for private and every single year for commercial (In Ireland anyway). It's basically a road worthiness test and if you fail, you don't get your cert and window disc and to fix the issue and retest. The trucks, just like cars are tested in wind tunnels and I would think that they are probably a bit more efficient than the US trucks, between design, size, weight and engine size. I assume the engine capacity is a little smaller here, but I don't know for sure. Plus we tend to pull smaller loads in EU. Standard trailers are only 40 foot long as opposed to the 53' vans I see over there a lot.

I have seen so many videos of US trucks, where the guy plants the throttle and you see massive black plumes of smoke billowing out of the huge stacks. You would never see anything like that here, people would think you were about to explode! LOL! You don't really see those giant CAT motors in trucks here either, usually just the OEM factory units, which are plenty powerful for the particular job in hand.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love American trucks, much prefer them to our own, but they are definitely not fuel efficient. Not that I care about that, while most people here are switching to diesel or hybrids and dropping from 1.8 or 2 litre cars to 1.6 or 1.4, even less for some, I just bought myself an American 4x4 - Jeep Grand Cherokee. Nothing special to you guys I am sure, but in Ireland, to drive a 4.7 litre V8 petrol is insane, between the road tax (based on engine cc and costing me 1566 euro per year) and then petrol and everything else, most people think I am idiot, but I am sucker for that V8 rumble.