Walmart Unveils Turbine-Powered WAVE Concept Truck

cartechboy writes "It's no secret that semi trucks use a lot of fuel. Moving that amount of mass along at highway speeds takes a lot of power. But Walmart might have just unveiled the semi truck of the future with its WAVE concept truck. This crazy looking semi features an aerodynamic cab and looks like no other truck on the road. The driver sits in the center of the cab and the steering wheel is flanked by LCD screens instead of conventional gauges. The WAVE concept is powered by a range-extended electric powertrain consisting of a Capstone micro-turbine and an electric motor. To reduce weight the entire truck including the trailer is made of carbon fiber. The 53-foot side panels on the trailer are said to be the first single pieces of carbon fiber that large ever produced. The result? A trailer that weighs around 4,000 pounds less than a conventional one. While Walmart says it has no plans to produce the WAVE concept, one has to wonder if this is a look at what semis of the future will be like."

Comments

Re:Why so many trucks? Why not railroads

[Stormy Dragon]

Railroads have to pay to maintain their tracks based on the wear their cargo trains do to them. Trucks, on the other hand, have the costs of maintaining the road spread onto passenger cars in a way that results in the trucks paying far less than their share of the costs. This results in billions of dollars per year effectively subsidizing truck transport.

Re:Why so many trucks? Why not railroads

[Ichijo]

That's true, and here is proof.

Today, over-the-road heavy trucks pay approximately $14,000 per year in combined fuel and other highway taxes. This amount does not come close to paying for the damage to roads and bridges caused by trucks...one 80,000-pound truck does the same road damage as 9,600 automobiles...

Re:only $4 million for 6% weight reduction

[Anonymous Coward]

And then add the aero changes, which also reduces fuel consumption. Now..... you do realise a truck uses 50 litres of fuel per 100 kms, yes? And a truck usually can do 500,000 kms a year? Even 1% is 2500 litres. Across a fleet like Walmart? Seriously adds up per year. I suspect however the concept has a bigger number than 1% total fuel savings. Good aero on a truck can save up to 10% and that's 25,000 litres.

And if you think it'll cost 4 million in CF IF it comes about, you really have no concept of return of efficency in production.

Oh, and the service life of a truck and trailer are 10 - 15 years at least. The lifetime saving do indeed overcoem the initial cost.

Re:It will have problems in the real world.

[Jarik C-Bol]

I work in a small grocery store, and I assure you, even our delivery trucks don't go back empty. from our small store, at the very least, two bales of cardboard weighing about 500 lbs each go back on, along with dozens of bags of plastic for recycle, pallet size cooler boxes, along with a few stacks of pallets from the previous load. More than once I have seen the driver arrange the load so the all heavy stuff (the paper bales and pallets) where on the left side of the trailer, and the light stuff on the right. When I asked him about it, he told me that the forecast called for crosswinds to be from the left on the way home, and he was arranging the trailer to keep it from tipping. Decent truck drivers know all about wind, and how to compensate for it.