Fleet economy: it's all in the body

“If you made an increase of 0.1 miles per gallon across the entire trucking industry, they would save $850 million a year.”

So says David Kayes, engineer in charge of environmental regulations for Freightliner. With rising fuel and labor costs, a shortage of drivers, and stringent new emissions standards, the bottom line is top priority for an industry projected to grow 16 percent over the next 15 years.

Portland-based Freightliner, a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler (NYSE: DCX), says attention to fuel efficiency and innovative truck design can help fleets meet the challenges.

National energy consultant Amory Lovins recently met with Freightliner chief engineer Tony Petri and designer Richard Weber to discuss high-efficiency truck redesigns (see SIJ Profile, April 2005). Freightliner says it’s not ready to discuss the future designs, but an announcement is expected in 2005.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 2007 emissions standards are having a majorimpact on engine development, said Kevin Downing, air quality planner with Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).

“These represent a big change,” said Downing. “The diesel trucks sold in this country will be the cleanest trucks in the world, both for particulate matter ... as well as nitrogen oxides (NOx).”

But engine-emission improvements have come at a cost to fuel efficiency, said Kayes, because increased hardware requirements add weight and require modified front-end design. Since Freightliner trucks are designed to accommodate engines from other manufacturers, “making gains in the fuel economy is really about the body design,” said Kayes. “Reducing particulate and NOx emissions, we’re forced to sacrifice something with fuel economy. We don’t want that and neither do our customers.”

Current emissions standards, implemented in 2002, had been expected to take effect in 2004. But disagreements between EPA and the trucking industry forced an early rollout of the standards, Downing said. The changes drove up truck costs and consumers worried the new models hadn’t been thoroughly evaluated, he said. As a result, industry sales suffered.

“Talk is rising again about these 2007 standards,” said Downing. “It’s very against Freightliner’s interest to have another one of these truck avoidance cycles going on.”

This time, Freightliner is working to make sure its 2007 trucks meet environmental goals without alienating consumers.

“They could do an aesthetic truck that’s a real energy pig,” said Marty Stipe, an engineer with the Oregon Department of Energy (DOE). “Something that’s macho. But they’re really focusing on doing it right.”

As the cleaner-burning engines emerged, Freightliner recognized a need to test trucks designed to accommodate them.

Freightliner constructed an on-site wind tunnel to help speed development of aerodynamic front-end designs. Before the wind tunnel was built, Freightliner could only road-test full prototypes of redesigned trucks. The company ran test vehicles on Interstate 205 near Portland. Design teams placed smoke bombs on the leading edge of the truck so observers could track airflow around the design, said Downing.

Now, Freightliner uses clay models of redesigned vehicles in the wind tunnel, and technicians monitor air flow around the design from observation rooms and computer terminals.

“We’re measuring the drag, shaving something off, adding something on,” said Kayes. “Did it improve? Did it worsen the drag?”

The tunnel began operating in April 2004 with support from the Oregon Department of Energy’s Business Energy Tax Credit. The tunnel tests have lowered costs and sped the pace of improvements without sacrificing aesthetics, according to Freightliner.

It’s rumored the tunnel could be supporting more drastic Lovins-inspired redesigns, as well. “There’s an ongoing attempt to get lighter weight vehicles and improve the aerodynamics…We’re working on something even better, but at the same time this work will continue,” Kayes said.

For on-road tests, Freightliner is partnering with Oregon’s DOE, Transportation (ODOT) and DEQ to test approximately 50 new vehicles. DOE plans to evaluate improved efficiency from wind tunnel testing, while ODOT could use the trucks for road-stress and pavement tests. DEQ says it will evaluate emissions from ultra low sulfur diesel used in the trucks, mandated by 2007 regulations. In return, ODOT will exempt test vehicles from paying Oregon’s weight-mile tax.

Freightliner currently runs road tests in Oregon, Texas and South Carolina. With the new wind tunnel facility, the company has an interest in consolidating road tests in Oregon. The state worked out an agreement with Freightliner to keep the company invested in remaining in Oregon. “What I consider a risk is, they’ll call up Ohio and say, ‘We’d like to run the test there,’” said Stipe.

Currently, the company has over 3,000 employees in its Portland office and manufacturing facilities.