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Volvo, the second-largest truck maker in the world, is convinced it can reduce cab and chassis weight in trucks by at least 20% in the next 10 years.
The Swedish conglomerate believes its designers can create a “super-light” truck on digital computers, on which they can try out hundreds of thousands of small structural design changes. Ultimately, vehicles would contain more composite carbon materials and would be powered by smaller diesel and diesel-electric hybrid powertrains.
The idea is to yield a payload bonus by enabling trucks of conventional dimensions to haul more freight tonnage. Many fleet managers can quantify the monetary value of every extra pound of payload.
When cargoes are so bulky that trucks never get to their allowable weight maximum, a reduction in unladen weight could bring per-vehicle benefits. A truck able to haul the same amount of freight, but weighing less overall, clearly needs less energy to accelerate and tackle upgrades. Less fuel burned means lower exhaust emissions, including carbon dioxide.
Volvo Technology, a sister company to Volvo Truck Corp., is drawing on work by the Volvo Group’s aerospace business, Volvo Aero AB, in redesigning aircraft engine components. The ambitious truck program is headed by Laurent Colpier, director of vehicle research.
Colpier told Transport Topics Publishing Group that the initial focus is on truck cabs, where surplus weight often can be trimmed from the all-steel shells preferred in Europe.
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