Gadgetory

the spirit of invention can be felt in certain places it can be found in certain people the Wright brothers call these Outer Banks their home for years this is where their invention was born where their dream took flight in 2011 our inventors set the wheels in motion on the super truck project a challenge set before us by the US Department of Energy to build a truck that improves Freight efficiency by 50% the focus was the entire vehicle I mean the only part we carried over from production was part of the cab the body white so this was a unique opportunity where we were able to optimize the entire vehicle tractor and trailer together the entire atomic development was driven by simulation which is what we use to evaluate the aerodynamic property of a particular model and then we iterate on the process to tweak that model to get maximum aerodynamics we can get out of it we had people working on powertrain of course dedicated to the powertrain improvements we had a whole team dedicated to the vehicle improvements at the end of the day was all about building this complete vehicle that everybody was a part of one of the most important lessons that we learned during the powertrain development for super truck was how important it is to consider everything as a system so we took a very systematic approach developing not only the powertrain components but marrying those components to the transmission and the whole truck this whole truck is the system that was created together so that's the innovation of thinking about a vehicle in this way instead of a tractor or trailer or just an engine or a transmission in the end creating one of the most advanced and efficient trucks ever built a global team dedicated to making our own dreams take flight driven by a culture of innovation continuous improvement stubbornness dedication passion we built this together this is Volvo super truck more than 3,000 pounds life 40% less drag 70% better fuel economy fuel-efficiency is at the heart of Volvo's innovation and design this is what we do this is what we know of all the accomplishments of the vehicle I'm most proud of the people in the way they work and perform to finish this project a lot of the knowledge that we gained through this program was already transferred to trucks that our customers are driving today beginning with model year 2016 we introduced a few vehicle changes affecting aerodynamics that were inspired by learnings from super truck the biggest change was the bumper that went across the board and all the VNL models one of my favorite parts of the super truck project was that in the powertrain system we were able to develop a variety of technologies some which were much closer to the customer such as the wave piston turbo compound and fuel injection system which will be able to deliver as part of the 2017 powertrain update we were also able to develop technologies which were much more advanced such as the waste heat recovery system which will take many years until it's ready for the customer this technology is already changing the trucks you drive today and it will shape the trucks of tomorrow the spirit of invention lives within us so we'll keep reinventing at the IAA in Hanover ma n unveiled its brand-new truck study called concept s it's highlights are presented by dr. Arthur - Allison a design studio the advertise concept s as a design study which shall present a new way of dramatically reducing fuel consumption and co2 emissions so instead of zone the harm spoiler dizzy automat we took several aerodynamic measures in order to reduce drag for example did we incorporate sensors which detect the shape of the trailer and automatically adapt the spoilers to it further measures were taken like streamlining the exterior shape of the truck side enriched reading mode isn't substituting the rearview mirrors by small cameras integrated in those little wings each an ever exterior part has been integrated into the overall shape of the truck to avoid aerodynamic turbulences but today are being caused by fuel tanks and battery containers I see the businesses with all those measures not only lead to a beautiful appearance but to a dramatically reduced fuel and emission consumption of 25% so powerful Damodar inch bowel survey the gazettes gave almost no but it's not only about technology what we need is a legislative reform allowing us to slightly adapt the exterior dimensions of our trucks and trailer combinations we hope that our concept s helps to initiate a political discussion and maybe then the next truck generation looks like this here it is the future truck 2025 from Daimler thanks to a so called highway pilot this truck drives autonomously on the freeway the concept vehicle gives a technologically accurate idea about commercial trucking of tomorrow the aerodynamic design and modern LED lighting that replaces conventional headlights bring the face of this concept vehicle to life it convincingly combines functionality efficiency and emotion comparable to an autopilot in a plane that radar sensors and dual camera system of the highway pilot makes autonomous driving possible without relying on other vehicles or any kind of guiding infrastructure this highly intelligent system relieves the driver from tedious driving as he gains time for other tasks and communication the intelligent highway pilot reacts to a wide range of traffic situations such as moving over for approaching emergency vehicle in spite of all the sophisticated technology it is the driver who remains in charge and in no way will the highway pilot replace the driver it simply makes this job easier while increasing the overall safety because this truck basically drives in an environment where driving is boring monotonous not very exciting highway pilot takes over and it never gets tired it's always 100% sharp it's never angry it's never distracted so this is a much safer system due to this increased safety lower fuel consumption in overall reduction of costs the future dropped 2025 fundamentally changes commercial traffic the job of the truck driver and the business of commercial trucking but the question remains when will you see this truck on the road near you obviously the biggest part for us is to get legislation ready and get in a legal environment that allows us to do that to do so as you know in Europe it's right now illegal to drive these vehicles in public roads we have some states united states that already allow that so in u.s. we can in Arizona for example in Nevada for example we can already drive this truck today and it base to who's going to be first so wherever we're going to have the legal environment that we need we will introduce that technology we've built technology trucks those have conventional engines but we pair them with very sophisticated systems that increase both the efficiency and the safety of those vehicles now all of these are potentially game-changing technologies and we'll continue to work on those but we wanted to push ourselves and our vendor partners just a little bit further so let me take a quick moment to introduce some of our partners on this project we have Bill Kahn and Victor Garcia from Peterbilt motors we have Adam Hill with Great Dane trailers and we have Steve Gillette with capstone turbine and so here today for the first time publicly Walmart's advanced vehicle experience which are seen in the video is the power train which is made up of a micro turbine a battery storage system and an electric motor moving inside the cab through the sliding driver's door you'll see the key difference that allowed for the more dramatic Aero design the driver sits in the center of the console rather than over to the left the dash is electronic and therefore customizable to the gauges and performance data that a particular driver wants to monitor and it's all finished off with a full-size comfortable sleeper moving on to the trailer not only is this the first time a trailer has been made out of carbon fiber but it's actually the first time one piece 53 foot panels of carbon fiber have been manufactured looking at the front of the trailer you can see that the nose is convex which increases the aerodynamics of the entire package as well as adding additional cargo space inside the trailer my name is Bill Kahneman manager of advanced concepts of Peterbilt motors and the program director on the wave project we missed a little bit about the aerodynamics of the truck but let me elaborate a little bit farther you notice with the center console driver were able to taper the nose of the vehicle in more another key feature is that because we have an advanced powertrain we do not need to have the radiator in from the vehicle anymore this relates to 20% improvement in aerodynamics over melt over Walmart's existing Peterbilt fleet if you think about it 20% aerodynamic improvement relates directly to a 10% improvement in fuel economy hello my name is Adam Hill from Great Dane trailers and I would like to talk to you today about this newest technology at Walmart commissioned us to build this true piece of equipment over the road trailer is made primarily of carbon fiber material carbon fiber is about 10 times stronger than steel but it's lighter than fiberglass and that is one of the biggest reasons that it was chosen to highlight the technology of this equipment this trailer has the capability of being fully loaded with a standard cargo load it can handle forklift traffic for backhauls and it is 100% DLT legal there are several technologies that went into this trailer besides the carbon fiber which gives us about 4,000 pounds of weight savings when SPECT very similar to a conventional Walmart fleet trailer hi I'm Steve Gillette with capstone turbine gas turbines were evaluated by Peterbilt back in the 60s while they proved to be robust fuel efficiency was lacking an advantage of the capstone microturbine is that it can operate on natural gas or other fuels this will help Walmart achieve its goal of using 100% renewable fuels in the future the emissions is extremely low and does not require after treatment or use any diesel emissions fuels the micro turbine is spinning at high speed on air bearings so there's no oil to change and the turbine is air-cooled eliminating the need for a large radiator which allows for a more aerodynamic design truck like the one you see you you you