[Archived]

Interesting.

Dropping the empty weight of the trailer 4,000# should make a big difference. But what is the cost of the a 53′ carbon fiber van? As the cost of carbon fiber technology and manufacturing continues to come down, we will find carbon fiber in more and more applications.

Not much detail on the power train. Sounds like a micro turbine runs a generator and an electric motor propels the truck.

What I find puzzling about the economics of trucking and rail roading is that the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) was proven a decade or more ago, is used around the world, the US has had a surplus of natural gas for years, CNG is much cleaner than diesel, CNG doesn’t require DEF or costly emmisions systems, and the US has a great distribution pipeline for natural gas … but only recently has CNG caught on as a viable fuel for trucks. Until the recent drop in the cost of diesel, the cost of CNG at the pump was about half of diesel.

I wonder when Prevost will debute a coach with a carbon fiber chassis, With the micro turbine to propel the bus, we wouldn’t need a generator in our coaches the turbine and its generator could power the house side and the batteries. The video said the microturbine runs on a variety of fuels. If it runs well on bull shit, some of the PC members could go for years without refueling conventionally.

Maybe Tom’s next coach will have carbon fiber slides and a microturbine engine.

[Bernie]

My neighbor drives UPS doubles and his trucks use CNG.

He has no issues with it as a fuel from his perspective as a driver, but his runs and his fuel volume are such that if he runs out of fuel due to conditions beyond his control he is screwed. He has to be towed because he cannot get refueled on the road such as when he was caught in a stopped traffic situation on the interstate due to snow and icy road conditions. He had to have heat in the truck, but he also had to preserve the fuel he had remaining.

CNG will require infrastructure to be more readily available to prevent problems such as he encountered.

I think what we need is for the government weenies to quit tightening and tightening and tightening emissions standards driving up the cost of compliance with the current return on invesment now so small as to be meaningless to the environment.

[Dick]

Jon’s neighbor probably drives a single fuel (or dedicated) CNG powered trucks. There are also engine that uses a combination of CNG and diesel (typically higher horsepower, over 375) and when the CNG runs out, they can run on diesel only which of course is more readily available.

The dedicated CNG truck shouldn’t need to be towed when out of CNG. Another CNG truck with a strong or full load of CNG should be able to have its CNG tank hooked to the tank of the empty truck and “share” its CNG with the empty truck until the empty truck has enough CNG to get to a CNG fueling location.

The CNG infrastructure is getting stronger and stronger every day. More and more regional and national transportation fueling companies are adding CNG on a regular basis.

One subtle benefit of CNG is that CNG is delivered to the refueling station via existing underground pipelines and not via tankers on the highways and streets.

Jon … ask your neighbor to visit his truck. I’d be interested to hear your comments on the “noise” and “smell” of a CNG truck versus a diesel truck.

[Corey]

I will ask him because as a 30 plus year UPS driver he has driven them all and he knows his stuff.