For tomorrow's trucks, 6.5 mpg won't do

While smarter, more fuel-efficient and electric cars grab the headlines at auto shows, they’re not the only solution for curbing the world’s transport-related energy appetite. Better trucks — and trucking alternatives — are also key to cutting our gasoline and carbon footprints.

Improvements in trucking are important because the sector already consumes a lot of fuel and generates a lot of carbon. And projections indicate that both of those factors — consumption and pollution — will grow dramatically for trucks over the next few decades.

Trucks and trains combined already account for about 27 percent of the globe’s transport-related energy use, with trucking responsible for the lion’s share of that, about 90 percent, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). And worldwide, trucking activity is expected to double between now and 2050.

In the US, large, 18-wheel trucks — also known Class 8 trucks — account for just 4 percent of road traffic … but nearly 20 percent of the nation’s transport-related fuel consumption. Europe has a similar problem: heavy-duty vehicles there generate a full 6 percent of all the continent’s carbon emissions.

Aiming to improve the mileage of 18-wheelers by 50 percent, the US Department of Energy (DOE) is leading four “SuperTruck” development projects with companies like Volvo. Better truck technology that raised average fuel economy from 6.5 miles per gallon to 9.75 miles per gallon would not only reduce the need for imported oil but could save long-haul truckers more than $15,000 a year each in fuel costs, according to the DOE.

(That could have an impact on our shopping bills as well. Truckers’ fuel costs affect the prices we pay for the good they carry, with transport and storage combined accounting for 10 to 15 percent of a product’s cost, according to one estimate.)

Some simple tech fixes to boost truck mileage are already helping to make progress. South Carolina-based SmartTruck, for example, makes an “UnderTray” system of aerodynamic-improving components that are quickly and easily attached to the underside and rear of truck trailers. By reducing the truck’s drag coefficient, the SmartTruck parts can improve highway mileage by 5.5 to 10 percent, the company claims.

Even things as basic as the right tires, tire pressure and alignment can have a significant impact on truck mileage. Optimizing those three things, research by Volvo and Michelin has found, could improve fuel economy and cut carbon emissions by up to 15 percent.

Reducing dependence on trucking altogether is another strategy for cutting fuel use and emissions. The European Commission, for instance, has set a 2050 goal of shifting half of all today’s medium-distance, intercity passenger and freight transport off of roads and onto railways or water.