Have our trucks got too much power yet?
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...
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4x4ord wrote: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.
Bosch has one in development but not yet in production. It really sounded like well thought out technology until I read the bit about using the electric axle to move the trailer by itself. Uhh, they should figure out the part about a trailer only having wheels on one end, and you need something to support the other end and steer it.
Joking aside, the estimated 4% fuel savings might make it viable in the trucking industry, which generally doesn't seem to be interested in flashy, sexy tech unless it can reduce per-mile operating costs.
