SuperTruck lauded

Freightliner's SuperTruck concept has received a Distinguished Achievement Award from the US Department of Energy for its advances in fuel-efficient road transport.

In 2010 the SuperTruck program saw the Department of Energy invite manufacturers to improve the fuel efficiency of a Class 8 heavy-duty truck by 50 per cent by 2015, using a 2009 truck as a baseline comparison.

In return the DoE offered significant subsidies to the participating manufacturers – these amounted to $US40 million ($A52.5 million) in the case of the Freightliner SuperTruck.

The Freightliner SuperTruck not only achieved the 50 per cent improvement in fuel efficiency, it smashed it – ultimately recording an improvement of 115 per cent.

DTNA says the concept vehicle achieved an average fuel consumption of around 19L/100km (5.3 kilometres per litre) when travelling at 100km/h at a running weight of 29.5 tonnes, compared to the more usual figure of 39L/100km (2.5 kilometres per litre) for a comparable rig.

The Freightliner SuperTruck achieved this through a mixture of technologies, including the use of lightweight materials, advanced aerodynamics, an integrated Detroit driveline with automated manual Detroit DT12 transmission, low-rolling-resistance tyres and the use of predictive cruise control that utilises GPS and topographic mapping, among others.

DTNA says the program has resulted in some advances filtering through to production models, while others have been found to be unfeasible at this point in time.

For example, some aspects of the aerodynamics and powertrain technologies have already been incorporated in models like Freightliner's Cascadia Evolution and Western Star's 5700 XE (both pictured).

Conversely, Freightliner's concept truck adopts an aluminium chassis and the extensive use of carbonfibre, which are both prohibitively expensive at present.

Related reading:
Inside Freightliner's SuperTruck
Daimler unveils SuperTruck