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What a brilliant idea:

Tandem Centaur

Brilliant idea! However these things never come to fruition and I can imagine it is a compliance nightmare!

It's a great idea, but is there a big enough market for it? I imagine it is intended to deal with the need for the final stage of deliveries into cities and urban areas to be zero emissions, and I can see it being a quick way to allow deliveries to cover the last stages in EV mode, by hooking one of these up to the fifth wheel. Probably adds no more than ten minutes to a journey and would allow the same tractor and trailer unit to do the whole delivery from a hub to the destination, without the need to transfer the load to a zero emissions truck for the final sector.

I doubt that there would be any compliance issues, TBH, as the interfaces between tractors and trailers are well defined and already include safety critical active components within trailers, under control from the tractor unit. Trailers with steerable axles, as well as normal coupled braking systems are commonplace, so adding electric drive to an intermediate trailer seems simple enough. I can see there being an intermediate market for a setup where trucks pull in to a hub outside a zero emissions area, hook up a rented, fully charged, unit like this, do their final delivery sector in EV mode and then reverse the process on their way back out, with the returned electric unit being charged, ready for the next truck.

It'd be a stop gap at best, though, as sooner or later all trucks are going to be either hybrids or EVs, because there is already a demand for zero emissions trucks in congested areas. Such a stop gap business might last for a decade, but I doubt it'd survive any longer as a viable business model. What really needs to happen is for truck-based long distance logistics to shift back to rail. In terms of energy usage, rail is massively better than road (lower kWh/mile/tonne), and as much of the long distance rail network is electrified, that further reduces emissions. Pity that the massive cuts in the 1960s ripped the heart out of the rail network.

Oldgreybeard wrote: ↑Thu Sep 01, 2022 11:37 am
I doubt that there would be any compliance issues…

Really?

What about vehicle length regulations? Vehicle weight regulations?

That’s just for starters!

Stinsy wrote: ↑Thu Sep 01, 2022 12:16 pm

Oldgreybeard wrote: ↑Thu Sep 01, 2022 11:37 am
I doubt that there would be any compliance issues…

Really?

What about vehicle length regulations? Vehicle weight regulations?

That’s just for starters!

What about them? Wouldn't this solution be used for vehicles that aren't at max weight or max length, much in the same way that the first BEV trucks will probably used for shorter journeys, and the loads that are at volume limited (not max weight), which is about 85% of loads.

The solution shown actually takes a two axle and turns it into a three axle with additional hp and torque, so akin to most heavy haulers in the US operating a 3 axle 'big rig'.

The vast majority of LGVs operate well under weight and length, nine times out of ten they are volume limited, rather than weight limited. If this provides a zero emissions "last few miles" option for all the tens of thousands of trucks delivering food, furniture, domestic and office goods etc, then it would be a definite win, at least until such time as trucks all switch to being EVs.

The thing this does do is show a way forward for large artic units to quickly change battery so no prolonged charging periods - I know people will state the regulatory breaks and rest periods etc but it doesnt always coincide and as for weights and lengths - all Electric powered artic units are going to have to pull less load in future or the lengths will be re-thought or the axle weight re-configured, otherwise how will they every carry the batteries as well as the load ?

Its a great idea with merit and whilst it may not be the way they do it in thirty years time it is definitely a useful option for those people juggling with their current fleet conversion programmes.

Perhaps more than fleet this suits the independent hauliers who probably have everything tied into their tractor unit (financially) and cannot afford a single jump transition.

Moxi

Hi Moxi, just to say that BEV trucks in the EU are to get a weight limit increase, I believe it's going to be ~2tonne.

I don't know if that's enough to offset the net weight gain from the battery (given the much lighter motors, v's the ICE engine, fuel tanks (when full), transmission, intake/exhaust systems etc), but will hopefully cover most of it.

Edit - I think the planned US weight limit increase (for BEV's) is much smaller, something like 1,000 to 2,000lbs.

I can see one big problem with it.

The video shows the truck's diesel driven wheels turning. Thus they are turning the drive shaft and rotating the gearbox all the time. When trucks are towed with the drive wheels on the ground, the drive shaft has to be disconnected to prevent the gearbox rotating. This is necessary as no oil is circulating in the gear box and it would otherwise soon seize up.

That might explain the 90% fuel saving, rather than stating an upto 100% fuel saving, but obviously I'm just guessing.