So a couple weeks ago, President Obama's administration instated a law that said by 2016, the average MPG per vehicle will be 35.5 miles per gallon. In doing so, he essentially shot any sort of US designed performance vehicle to hell and guaranteed that all cars and trucks will be hybrids. But something got me thinking, what if cars and trucks weren't the actual problem? What if with today's technology, we could drastically improve our eco-selves while still pleasing the kid inside all of us? Now the reason I was thinking this is slightly irrelevant, but happens to be a fear of quite a few people I know.
Here's the situation: You're driving on the 3rd lane of a freeway, traffic is sparse and you're moving quite swiftly, maybe around 80mph. You see up ahead to your left there's a slight buildup of traffic, so you decide to pass on the right. You smoothly change lanes (putting you in the 4th lane), and slow down as you approach the "pack" of traffic, but you instantly feel claustrophobic. All of a sudden there's a 18-wheeler to your left and entering the freeway is another one on your right. You're now shadowed by 2 big rigs, and being big rigs, they're slightly swerving into your lane, squishing you and making you uncomfortable.
Well, that happened to me the other day, but instead of making me feel uncomfortable, I was actually just staring at those massive gas tanks on the sides of each truck. I couldn't seem to get out of my head that driving 70 mph in a big rig, hauling thousands of pounds of "stuff", wasn't very efficient at all. Looking at both trucks spewing more black "crap" out of their high rise exhaust than this whole pack of cars surrounding them got me thinking, why does everyone care so much about a Prius? That little ugly car of a thing, with it's mini 13" wheels and super high decklid that annoys the crap out of me; why are people putting their names on waitlist for some overpriced Honda civic that even blind people don't like looking at? Well, maybe it's because their eco-minded, and they think that their hybrid powertrains are "saving the Earth", when in reality, creating the batteries in them pollute the Earth more than a normal car would. Or maybe, they're just being misers, trying to get the most miles per gallon possible. But when you think about it, if your Prius gets 45 miles per gallon, and my Honda Accord gets 35, you have a 10 mile per gallon difference. Over the course of 1 year, with a 10,000 mile average, you save about 115 gallons. Now let's be lenient, no let's be UTTERLY RIDICULOUS, and say gas is $5 per gallon. Not even in the great state of California was gas $5 per gallon for 87 octane. That's a $575 difference between your Prius and my Accord per year. But my accord initially cost $10,000 less than your Prius. That means it would take you a little more than 17 years to BREAK EVEN on your Prius compared to my Accord. Oh, and after those 17 years, tell me how many times you had to get your hybrid battery replaced. Is your MPG steadily decreasing? Yeah, that's your battery slowly wearing down.
But that's beside the point, because this post isn't about a Prius vs. Accord, or any other non-hybrid fuel efficient car. No, this post is about those 18-wheeler big rigs. So as I sat there, squashed between 2 of them, I thought, "how can we make big rigs more efficient?" Now why in the hell would we want to do that? Simple, big rigs gain the most from being fuel efficient.
1) They drive on the highway for thousands of miles.
2) Currently, they're completely inefficient and thus have lots of room to grow
3) They're EVERYWHERE.
So here's the plan on making a big rig more fuel efficient. Many of these ideas stem from auto racing, while others are just things I though of when I couldn't sleep. First of all, everyone knows that weight is the biggest enemy of fuel efficiency. Make the vehicle as light as possible and you increase it's fuel efficiency. So first and foremost, a fuel efficient big rig needs to made with strong and lightweight materials, such as aluminum. Second, it needs to be able to cut through the wind with ease, so it must have a low coefficient of drag. All those Freightliner trucks with a giant box in front definitely do NOT have a low cd. Get Pinafarina to start designing some big rigs, they're already doing trains anyway. Third is to throw in a hybrid powertrain. Obviously, with their large size, finding a place to put some batteries won't be an issue, but making big rigs hybrid will be a huge change for fuel efficiency. With its instant torque ability, hybrid big rigs won't need 5 minutes to get to 60 miles per hour anymore. On top of this, these hybrid big rigs will have a regenerative braking system to recharge their batteries. Secondary to this will be the implementation of brake-by-wire systems on the trailers of these big rigs, which will also be outfitted with a regenerative braking and battery systems. This also allows for the elimination of a massive safety problem, jackknifing under hard braking. By implementing brakes in the trailer, when the driver brakes, both trailer brakes and cab brakes can be applied, thus preventing the trailer from overtaking the cab causing a jackknife. The final modification stems directly from Formula 1 racing. In F1, to keep the cars on the ground a such high speeds, numerous aerodynamic wings are attached to the car to increase downforce, but on the underside of the car, little notches and vents are also included, creating pockets of air that have different air pressures (known as venturi tunnels or venturi forces) that also keep the car stuck to the ground. In my modified, fuel efficient big rigs, venturi tunnels will also be used, but not to keep the truck stuck to the ground, thus increasing its downforce and weight at speed, but rather to make the truck lighter, by increasing lift and decreasing the truck's downforce, making the truck lighter and increase its fuel efficiency. Because as we all know, weight is the biggest enemy against fuel efficiency.
Now all of these changes not only pertain to semi-trailer truck (big rigs, 18 wheelers, lorries, whatever you want to call them), but also buses. Imagine, a bus that runs on natural gas and has a hybrid drivetrain. The technology is here today, but who's willing to put it all together?
