Two recent developments illustrate the effort that is being put into improving fuel efficiency in the trucking industry.
The American Transportation Research Institute is collecting data about fleets that use truck speed limiters, reports Truckinginfo. The goal is to document the benefits of fuel management techniques.
In other news, Navistar is working NASA's Ames Research Center, the Lawrence Livermore National Lab and the U.S. Air Force to develop methods for reducing the drag coefficient of big rigs, reports The Trucker.
The goal is development of test devices, including wind tunnels, for learning about the aerodynamics of long haul trucks.
The average big rig gets about 6 miles per gallon of diesel fuel, with about half the engine output solely used for overcomign wind resistance, reports The Independent.
The goal is to increase fuel efficiency at least 12 percent.
If adopted broadly, resulting innovations such as aerodynamic add-ons could save 3.4 billion gallons of diesel a year and $10.2 billion, reports the San Jose Mercury News.
