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Old 03-11-2011, 11:24 AM   #1 (permalink)
Piwoslaw
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Svietlana II - '13 Peugeot 308SW e-HDI 6sp
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New trends in European truck efficiency

I found the December 2010 issue of Ciężarówki i autobusy (Trucks and busses, published monthly by the Polish division of Moto-Presse International/Stuttgard), and in it were 3-4 articles about how European companies are increasing the efficiency of trucks.

The first thing that hinders any great improvements in FE is European law: Trucks are required to have all sorts of large external mirrors to increase safety, but they also increase frontal area and horribly mess up the airflow along the sides. Replacing all of them with cameras is not yet legal, and probably won't be any time soon. Concept trucks have drag coefficients as low as 0.3 (compared to the usual 0.5-0.85), which isn't bad even for a small car, but once the mirrors get installed Cd goes through the roof.




The next problem is length: There is a large difference between European and American truck laws (according to Wikipedia),
Quote:
In Europe the entire length of the vehicle is measured as total length, while in U.S. the cabin of the truck is normally not part of the measurement.
Vehicle length is limited to 18.75 meters (61 ft) on most roads, and 25.25 m (83 ft) on certain routes. Allowing longer trucks would increase the efficiency of transporting bulk cargo, like styrofoam.


With most trailers being 14-16.5m long, the tractor must be of cab-over-engine design, which makes it short and tall with a flat vertical front. Renault's Optifuel Lab has a 30cm nose extension which greatly improves airflow, but requires a special permit.


But even within existing laws it is still possible to improve the FE of European trucks. Fiat's Iveco Glider has 2kW (or 2 sq. meters, depending on source) of PV cells on the roof, a KERS flywheel (5% reduction in FC), and harvests heat energy from the radiator and exhaust (a thermo-dynamic system based on a Rankine cycle, up to 10% improvement on the highway). Add to that LED lights, lowered drag coefficient, a hitch that moves forward to bring the trailer closer to the cab (at highway speeds, I guess) to reduce air resistance, and an inteligent system which controls tire pressure (up to 15% reduction of rolling resistance).


Other new ideas include:
  • Hybrid drive (up to 20% more efficient),
  • Start-stop systems,
  • Alternative fuels (biogas and natural gas).

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[Old] Piwoslaw's Peugeot 307sw modding thread

Last edited by Piwoslaw; 03-11-2011 at 11:47 AM..
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