Toyota, Daimler Truck, Hino, Mitsubishi Fuso tie up on ecological technology

Efforts to make trucks more emissions friendly, and yet I have never seen an aerodynamic truck.

I think the headline should be “tie up for” rather than “tie up” which means to block or inhibit.

Moderator: Thanks for pointing that out. It has been corrected.

Efforts to make trucks more emissions friendly, and yet I have never seen an aerodynamic truck.

These are pretty common on North American highways. Under trailer skirts like the one shown are very common. One also sees drag reduction aids on the rear of the trailer.

https://extramiletx.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Cab-extenders.jpg

https://s18391.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Trailer-Topics-Reducing-Drag-Tail.jpg

Fuel is one of the greatest costs of operating a truck fleet. A reduction in fuel consumption of even half a mile per gallon is a big deal for a large fleet so the cost of these simple aerodynamic aids more than pay for themselves.

Modern Volvo VN series tractors are as nice as it gets.

https://www.cittrucks.com/efs/wp/domains/www.cittrucks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/IMG-1435-scaled.jpg

Tell me that isn't an aerodynamic tractor !

Efforts to make trucks more emissions friendly, and yet I have never seen an aerodynamic truck.

Aerodynamics has only a small part in emissions. It has to more do with the engine. Trucks need bigger engines, so if change the fuel of the engine, you can change the emissions.

Does this include Oyajis who suddenly decide they are a woman? Could be an easier solution for these corporations

Thanks, Desert Tortoise. I guess I never see aerodynamic trucks in Japan. I remember a Fiat truck featured on TV in the 70s as a kid that seemed to be much more aerodynamic in appearance. I wonder what the drag coefficient (Cd) is of your first truck.

Mitsubishi Fuso being rescued yet again.

So within a span of 3 years, Japan down from 4 Truck OEM's (Hino, Fuso, Isuzu, UD) to 2 (Hino, Isuzu).

Foreign manufacturers not welcome anymore ?

Tesla CEO Elon Musk calls hydrogen "the most dumb thing I could possibly imagine for energy storage." And he is right. Daimler and Toyota should really stop focusing on hydrogen.

Three times more electricity is needed to power a hydrogen truck than a truck with electric batteries. A lot of energy is also lost in production, distribution and conversion to electricity,

DT, I’ve only seen cab-over rigs in Japan. Guessing it’s because you couldn’t navigate Japans narrow surface streets in a Peterbilt.

North America and Australia seem to be the only places where drivers favor what are called "conventional cab" tractors. Especially for city deliveries where you are in and out of the truck many times a day cabovers are a lot more difficult to get in and out of. They don't ride nearly as well and because of the wonky shift linkage they require more arm muscle to shift.

I have driven both kinds of tractors delivering gas to tiny, tight little gas stations where you have to maneuver between the pump islands and station building to line up with the fill holes. A conventional cab with what is called a "set back front axle" can turn as tightly as any cabover. What drives the different designs I think are axle weight laws in the US and Europe, which are very different. European rigs would have too much weight on the tractor axles for what are called "Federal Bridge Laws", laws that determine how many kg per square meter are allowable on the nation's roadways and highway bridges. A single drive axle can only carry 20,000 lbs while dual axles can carry 34,000 lbs. A front axle is limited to 12,500 lbs. A typical European or Asian style tractor with a single drive axle and short wheel base cabover design will get shut down in the scales for being overweight on the drive axle. Even where you position the fifth wheel over the drive axles matters. I got popped once in the scales for being overweight on the drive axles even though the total weight was under the maximum. I had to slide the fifth wheel forward a few teeth to move the weight off the drive axles to the steering axle or the Chippie would not have let me proceed. Even still I got an $85 overweight ticket for my efforts.

These are pretty aerodynamic:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Transportplan_Mercedes-BenzActros%28cropped%29.jpg

https://www.walter-leasing.com/-/m/resize?width=1800&height=1200&quality=70&fit=scale-down&image=/image/watermark/63872

https://www.volvotrucks.com/content/dam/volvo-trucks/markets/master/home/trucks/volvo-fh/volvo-fh-specifications/volvo-fh-specifications-cabs.jpg

Tesla CEO Elon Musk calls hydrogen "the most dumb thing I could possibly imagine for energy storage." And he is right. Daimler and Toyota should really stop focusing on hydrogen.

Forgive me if I question the genius of a man who tanks his companies and fires and rehires people over Twitter.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk calls hydrogen "the most dumb thing I could possibly imagine for energy storage." And he is right. Daimler and Toyota should really stop focusing on hydrogen.

Elon Musk has tunnel vision. All he is thinking about are cars and maybe trucks in an urban environment. Battery electric vehicles might be a good solution in that limited environment. For the rest of us battery electric makes less sense than hydrogen power.

The global maritime industry is going forward as rapidly as possible adapting existing big (meaning five stories tall, 100,000 shaft horsepower) low speed diesel engines to run on hydrogen, ammonia or mixtures of these. There are other projects seeking to build hydrogen fuel cell powered electric propulsion in the same horsepower class for maritime use. I would like to see how Mr. Musk proposes to power ships across the worlds oceans by fuels other than hydrogen or maybe ammonia. How does Mr. Musk propose to power aircraft if we move away from fossil fuels? I would like to know how Mr. Musk proposes to power railroads across the vast open stretches of the US, Canada or Australia? Same question for residents of distant rural outposts like Caliente or Ely Nevada that have long, bitter cold winters and are far from any city, well beyond the winter battery range of a major city when you factor in having to drive slowly on chains in the winter snow. There are a lot of applications where battery electric doesn't work and hydrogen may be the better solution to power transportation.

Sounds good, reality is they're consolidating and way behind in clean tech. Together they can transition to battery-based trucking more efficiently.

Pepsi CFO in most recent earnings call stated, New Tesla Commercial Trucks will reduce our carbon footprint +90%, reduce operating costs approx. 70% and trucks' expected service life 2 to 3x longer. We believe we can recoup full investment in each truck in approx. 2 years.

Consolidation coming soon in Japanese automotive too!