Through the DOE project, Navistar was to develop and demonstrate technologies to improve Class 8 truck and trailer aerodynamics, combustion efficiency, waste heat recovery, hybridization, idle reduction, and reduced rolling resistance tires. Day 1 at the 2011 DEER Conference provided the venue for an update.
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Technical Session, Part 1 concluded on Monday with High-Efficiency Engine Technologies at the DEER Conference 2011, and is proof that engine technology development is alive, well and on schedule.
This particular DOE project for Super Truck makes total sense, given the fact that transportation accounts for 28% of all U.S. energy use, and Class 8 trucks consume more than 80% of diesel fuel in the country. So, improving fuel efficiency is seen as a way to reduce consumption and cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
This all started in January, 2010, when Navistar (NYSE: NAV) announced it would receive more than $37 million in federal funding to partner with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to pioneer new fuel efficiency and emissions-reducing technologies for Class 8 trucks.
At that time, Navistar intended to leverage the DOE projects and other company research to develop a new fuel-efficient truck model in five to seven years. It would work with Cummins for the engine. The company even wanted to take the aerodynamic ProStar and take it to the next level.
Today at DEER 2011 in Detroit, Navistar announced it is in the middle of that program which is now a 4-year program. The company is also on schedule to meet the target of 50% BTE for the engine by 2014 and a proposal to meet 55% BTE. That means an increase in heavy-duty truck fuel efficiency as compared with the present 12 percent achieved.
The Navistar presentation today at DEER also stated it is demonstrating a 50% improvement in overall freight efficiency of a combination Tractor-Trailer.
Furthermore, it has defined new criteria to improve truck and trailer aerodynamics, combustion efficiency, waste heat recovery, hybridization, idle reduction, and reduced rolling resistance tires.
One area stood out, though. It is the APU unit that is literally a solid-sate oxide fuel cell to meet power requirements at idle.
For the record, if these vehicle technologies are adopted broadly across the country, experts believe they could save more than 100 million gallons of gasoline and diesel per day, and reduce carbon emissions from on-road vehicles by 20 percent by 2030.
About Navistar
In April 2011, Navistar International Corporation (NYSE: NAV) showed how it has continued its leadership in alternative fueled vehicles with the demonstration of a prototype 2011 International® ProStar®+ powered by a 13-liter MaxxForce® dual fuel engine—diesel and liquefied natural gas (LNG), at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Kentucky.
Navistar International Corporation (NYSE: NAV) is a holding company whose wholly-owned subsidiaries and affiliates produce International(R) brand commercial and military trucks, MaxxForce(R) brand diesel engines, IC Bus(TM) brand school and commercial buses, Monaco RV brands of recreational vehicles, and Workhorse(R) brand chassis for motor homes and step vans.
It also is a private-label designer and manufacturer of diesel engines for the pickup truck, van and SUV markets. The company also provides truck and diesel engine parts and service. Another affiliate offers financing services. Additional information is available at www.Navistar.com.
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About the Reporter: After 39 years in the auto industry as a design engineer, Frank Sherosky now trades stocks, futures and writes articles, books and ebooks like, "Perfecting Corporate Character," "Awaken Your Speculator Mind", and "Millennial World Order" via authorfrank.com. He may be contacted here by email: FrankS@TorqueNews.com and followed in Twitter under @Authorfranks
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