I've often thought about all the energy being wasted with braking applications and exhaust braking on down grades. It's only a matter of time before our rvs will have electric drive axles to help hold back on the down hill while charging a battery pack so the energy can be used to help push us up the up hill sections of our journey. Instead of having 500 hp under the hood we could get by with a more fuel efficient 300 hp diesel and have another 200 hp available at our trailer axles.

Interesting idea, would seem to have an application for the trucking industry. Sounds expensive though. You would also have to figure that the weight of the system would count againt the amount of available cargo capacity, but maybe the math would work out.

Or just switch to an electtic drivetrain and do the breaking by regeneration the way EV cars do it now. iWorks think within four or 5 years this will start to show itself in a bigger way in the truck world.

ksss wrote:Interesting idea, would seem to have an application for the trucking industry. Sounds expensive though. You would also have to figure that the weight of the system would count againt the amount of available cargo capacity, but maybe the math would work out.Although I haven't seen one in use yet, there are companies manufacturing electric trailer axles for the trucking industry. I believe there is government policy in place that allows the GVWR of the trailer to be raised by the additional axle/battery weight so the payload is not affected.

Nope, not yet. They are more efficient than the old ‘gas guzzlers’ I remember as a child. I also do not believe the production of li-ion batteries is helpful to the environment at all. All energy comes with a price. Nothing is free. The regenerative braking is a cool idea though. Thanks!Jeremiah

A German company has shown an intriguing prototype.Self propelled camperOne big advantage of a driven trailer would be the extra traction available.A big disadvantage is that the drive train wouldn't get used nearly as much as it would in tow vehicle so payback would be much longer. However, if the system makes such that you can pull the trailer with a much smaller vehicle there could be some real advantages in that.

Have our trucks got too much power yet? | Good Sam Community

63 Replies

Bedlam
Moderator
Dec 09, 2019
I think Mazda has a better method:

https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a17171105/mazda-skyactiv-x-how-it-works/
4x4ord
Explorer III
Dec 09, 2019
wilber1 wrote:
4x4ord wrote:
I cant think of an application where two different displacement turbo diesels are offered in the same vehicle but the Honda Accord Sport is available with two different turbo gasoline engines of different displacement and I know the smaller engine is rated to get somewhere around 10 - 15% better fuel economy. It seems to me the Honda engines are both designed to make similar power per liter. In the example I'm talking about .... a 6.7 making 475 horse vs a 5.0 making 300 I would expect a greater spread in the low load fuel economy than in the Hondas case because the 5.0 liter can be designed with a higher compression ratio than the 6.7.

Nissan's variable compression ratio engine does both. Low compression/high boost for power, high compression/low boost for economy.

I hadn't heard of that engine so I was quite interested in finding out more about it. Unfortunately this is what I found out.
4x4ord
Explorer III
Dec 09, 2019
FishOnOne wrote:
rjstractor wrote:
FishOnOne wrote:
FlatBroke wrote:
Too much power

I'm sure the turbos are still good. :E

The driver's shorts, not so much....

LMAO... I didn't think about that one. :B

Wow. I've heard one go through the fan but never have I seen a cat jump out from under the hood like that before.:)
4x4ord
Explorer III
Dec 09, 2019
Oops
FishOnOne
Nomad
Dec 08, 2019
rjstractor wrote:
FishOnOne wrote:
FlatBroke wrote:
Too much power

I'm sure the turbos are still good. :E

The driver's shorts, not so much....

LMAO... I didn't think about that one. :B
rjstractor
Nomad
Dec 08, 2019
FishOnOne wrote:
FlatBroke wrote:
Too much power

I'm sure the turbos are still good. :E

The driver's shorts, not so much....
FishOnOne
Nomad
Dec 08, 2019
FlatBroke wrote:
Too much power

I'm sure the turbos are still good. :E
wilber1
Explorer
Dec 07, 2019
4x4ord wrote:
I cant think of an application where two different displacement turbo diesels are offered in the same vehicle but the Honda Accord Sport is available with two different turbo gasoline engines of different displacement and I know the smaller engine is rated to get somewhere around 10 - 15% better fuel economy. It seems to me the Honda engines are both designed to make similar power per liter. In the example I'm talking about .... a 6.7 making 475 horse vs a 5.0 making 300 I would expect a greater spread in the low load fuel economy than in the Hondas case because the 5.0 liter can be designed with a higher compression ratio than the 6.7.

Nissan's variable compression ratio engine does both. Low compression/high boost for power, high compression/low boost for economy.
FlatBroke
Explorer II
Dec 07, 2019
Too much power
valhalla360
Navigator
Dec 05, 2019
4x4ord wrote:
I cant think of an application where two different displacement turbo diesels are offered in the same vehicle but the Honda Accord Sport is available with two different turbo gasoline engines of different displacement and I know the smaller engine is rated to get somewhere around 10 - 15% better fuel economy. It seems to me the Honda engines are both designed to make similar power per liter. In the example I'm talking about .... a 6.7 making 475 horse vs a 5.0 making 300 I would expect a greater spread in the low load fuel economy than in the Hondas case because the 5.0 liter can be designed with a higher compression ratio than the 6.7.

You see it a lot in boats and assuming you don't use those extra horseys, they difference is typically to small to measure.