It took them this long to figure it out.

So all the discussion says to me that the independent trucker pays the fuel, but has to haul someones fuel inefficient trailer. This is another example of do your own thing lack of coordination. Maybe truckers, shippers and government can come up with a way to share the costs for more efficiency. If you are an oil guy, the more you sell the more you make. If you are a citizen of the country, going to war for oil is not a good idea and working together makes more sense.

Robert Englar at Georgia Tech is the leading man in the world on this. Rounded top spoiler extension to top back of container. Front air dam on top of cab must be higher than trailer or its useless. Flexible bellows/ skirt between cab and trailer/ container. Easy, very low cost, very high fuel savings. Current trucks could hardly be less aerodynamic.

It sounds a bit like the tenant landlord problem. The builder builds the house, but they do not pay the utility bills, so they put in the cheapest most inefficient appliances. Then the landlord buys the house and rents it. He does not have to pay the utility bills, so what does he care? Then the tenant moves in and has to pay the utility bills, would like to put in more efficient appliances, but it is not his house....and so it goes.

If the company owning the trailer does not have to buy the fuel, what do they care? They are not going to buy skirts and spoilers to save someone else money. The trucker will not buy them, he is cash strapped enough as it is....and so it goes. Selfishness overrides common sense in doing the right thing for all of us. Even if the trailer owners just care about themselves (and that is a good bet) then they should know that the costs for fuel are reflected in the fees that they are charged.

But maybe they can bid one trucker against another and find a Mexican trucker that will take less. Houses in Mexico cost less, so the money he sends home goes farther. If we continue with this national Walmartization and race to the bottom, that is exactly where we will end up...at the bottom and it will be very difficult to ever get up again. The Republicans believe that if everyone just minds their own business and takes care of themselves, then everything will be ok. Divide and conquer by pitting one against the other. No unity and team play because the team may talk with one another, figure out that they have been conned and taken and turn against the dividers.

I can find pictures of Walmart trailers with skirts but I've never seen any in the last 8 years and I'm on the road 100,000 miles a year. I wonder how something like this would work on a box truck.

I'd like to see how a 5% cut of 750 million liters could amount to 50 million tonnes of CO2 per year?!

With a density of approx. 0.9 kg/liter, they will be saving:

0.9*750*0.05 = 34 million kg diesel, which maybe equates to 50 million kg of CO2, but not tonnes. Makes a helluva difference...

Still, it's worth saving.

Electric car, the future but in the present.
www.blobject.es

I seem to remember seeing a video where they reduced drag with a curtain that closed the gap between the tractor and the first trailor. This may have been 20 years ago.

This really sounds like a great idea, and one that should be implemented on all trucks possible. The only drawback I can see is who will pay for this. The big companies don't have to worry about the driver with his own tractor, and the Independents can hardly afford to pay their own bills, let alone beef up their trucks. Good luck and maybe someday?!

Sideskirts are well known in the UK but have peaks and troughs in popularity with distribution fleets.
Hatcher Components is a company that has been supplying aerodynamic kit for european trucks for around 30 years.
Website address is www.hatchercomp.co.uk

I've heard there are ice build-up issues with side skirts. Does anybody have any information or experience regarding that issue?

"Within a few hours a PT- Boat pulled alongside and these officers came aboard the LCI. They pulled out this big map and informed us that tomorrow is going to be D- Day. Our outfit's orders are to assault a place on the French coast code- named Utah Beach. The attack was just a few hours away. / p "At five o'clock on the morning of June 6 the front of our transport went down and we were off. The ramp opened up 200 yards short of dry beach and we stepped out into shoulder- deep water. / p "I had just turned...

I have a novice question. I just returned from Europe where the trucks look very different than new trucks do in the U.S. Specifically I'm talking about port drayage trucks. I've seen photos of the new trucks they are bringing in at the ports of LA and Long Beach and they look like dinosaurs compared to the ones I saw at the Port of Hamburg. Are these just optics? Or is there some other reason? Does anyone know why? Which are more aerodynamic? Feel free to write me off line at mcsbjm@yahoo.com. Thanks!

The problem with side skirts and boat tails are maintenance and liability costs. Driving over a steep rail road crossing or cutting over a curb can damage the skirt before it pays for itself. Any tail hanging on the back end of a trailer will easily get hit in a trailer parking lot due manuvering a long trailer in and out of tight places. To be any good, tails have to be rigid and if so, violate the DOT's trailer bumper strength requirements.

Next your going to tell us that the same thing happened years before when you, a buddy and his brother in law (call them call them Tom and Wayne to protect the innocent) were fishing and Tom s pole fell off his lap.

That first one is the best one I've seen in the thread so far.
-Opslagruimte