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A relative is a long-haul trucker. The issue is weight and reliability. There are maximum weight limits, which is why you see a lot of aluminum truck trailers

A relative is a long-haul trucker. The issue is weight and reliability. There are maximum weight limits, which is why you see a lot of aluminum truck trailers - they weigh less. This will add to weight. Plus it must be reliable, any repair issues eat into the time when the truck could be on the road earning its keep. FWIW this relative has boycotted California and the Northeast states (anything farther into New England than PA); they are too truck-unfriendly from his point of view (troopers hand out tickets for minor infractions strictly for revenue purposes, not many good truck stops). He trucks from PA to TX and back. Not mentioned is that there is also a push to replace the small diesel engines that run the refrigeration unit on "reefer" trailers, yet another expense and a worry in terms of reliability (if the unit fails, the entire shipment can be spoiled).

pasbesoin 16y ago
Has anything practical come of other recent "innovation stories"? I recall reading a few years ago about hydrogen injection from electrolyzed water -- supposedly, it was already commercialized and being deployed -- including as a relatively inexpensive, after-market retrofit -- at least in limited measure. Also, a team at UW in Madison has been cranking out interesting engine design revisions, including IIRC one or more employing supplemental gasoline injection to improve burn efficiency (a small amount of gasoline, allowing a small tank's worth to last... several weeks, IIRC). These stories crop up, and then seemingly fade away. Are fleets actually seeing any of this, yet -- if you or your relative have any perspective on this? If not, sorry to trouble you -- hope you don't mind the question.
- patrickgzill 16y ago
  Not a problem. I have not heard of any of these technologies being used in the field. The only thing I have seen in diesel tech is a pressurized fuel system which is only an incremental improvement. Truckers are very conservative in their upgrades, remember that a truck has to haul up to 120,000 lbs (total weight), and has to last for anywhere between 500K and 1 million miles between significant rebuilds of any major piece such as transmission, engine, etc. On top of that, there is a patchwork of taxes, Federal regulations, etc. that change on a yearly basis. And trucking is very competitive and cut-throat, basically a low-margin business to be in. Low margins mean cost-cutting and no experimentation, so no one will test these new ideas unless they are paid to do so. (Each 18-wheeler used full time pays fuel and excise taxes of approximately $20K just for the fuel and taxes alone, not including the income taxes paid by the driver and the taxes on profits by the corporate owner; so there are lots of fixed costs to cover before anyone makes any money.)

pasbesoin 16y ago

Has anything practical come of other recent "innovation stories"? I recall reading a few years ago about hydrogen injection from electrolyzed water -- supposedly, it was already commercialized and being deployed -- including as a relatively inexpensive, after-market retrofit -- at least in limited measure. Also, a team at UW in Madison has been cranking out interesting engine design revisions, including IIRC one or more employing supplemental gasoline injection to improve burn efficiency (a small amount of gasoline, allowing a small tank's worth to last... several weeks, IIRC). These stories crop up, and then seemingly fade away. Are fleets actually seeing any of this, yet -- if you or your relative have any perspective on this? If not, sorry to trouble you -- hope you don't mind the question.

patrickgzill 16y ago
Not a problem. I have not heard of any of these technologies being used in the field. The only thing I have seen in diesel tech is a pressurized fuel system which is only an incremental improvement. Truckers are very conservative in their upgrades, remember that a truck has to haul up to 120,000 lbs (total weight), and has to last for anywhere between 500K and 1 million miles between significant rebuilds of any major piece such as transmission, engine, etc. On top of that, there is a patchwork of taxes, Federal regulations, etc. that change on a yearly basis. And trucking is very competitive and cut-throat, basically a low-margin business to be in. Low margins mean cost-cutting and no experimentation, so no one will test these new ideas unless they are paid to do so. (Each 18-wheeler used full time pays fuel and excise taxes of approximately $20K just for the fuel and taxes alone, not including the income taxes paid by the driver and the taxes on profits by the corporate owner; so there are lots of fixed costs to cover before anyone makes any money.)