Quote:
Originally Posted by darcane
Heavily modding the trailer seems like cheating to me. Unless the truck is always going to be paired to that trailer, you won't be getting that benefit.
I wonder what it gets for mileage with a conventional box trailer. That's far more "real world" in my book.
Also, how much cost is added to build a truck like this?
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The costs could be prohibitive as firms often have 50 to 100% more trailers on hand than tractors to move them. Trucking firms here in California fought the regulation to move to "Smartway" trailers with improved aero and low rolling resistance tires. But once firms could see the 1500 dollars cost per trailer could be recouped in relatively short order, it became an easier sell. The same could be said of the tractors. Natural Gas Tractors have a price penalty of roughly 30-50K dollars over a standard clean tech diesel. But, for many operators, the tremendous savings in fuel costs means a quick payback. I foresee these mods costing roughly the same $50K USD to implement on the production lines. The fuel cost improvements will make these costs acceptable to many firms.