August 26, 2015 Vol. 12 No. 17

It’s an interesting irony, and a frustrating one: in the never-ending quest to make trucks more environmentally friendly, they’ve been made heavier. We’re talking hundreds of pounds in emissions-related hardware. And thus they were rendered less in tune with government emissions goals because they used more fuel on the basis of weight alone, let alone the increased thirstiness of their cleaner engines.

And now we have the present greenhouse-gas emissions and fuel-economy mandates that, in effect, will simply reverse those previous trends — and, yes, go one better.

One of the strategies in building trucks for this new era of relative efficiency will be to make them lighter. Yet you can also expect to see more elaborate fairings, which will add a pound or three. And with trailers about to be in the mandate mix, look for more elaborate skirting and other aerodynamic tricks. Meaning more weight again.

The engineers have a challenge ahead of them.

LIGHTWEIGHTING IS ALREADY A TREND, especially in the car world, as it’s become increasingly central in efforts to meet mandated fuel-economy performance.

I’ve seen this called  a “revolution in materials and processes” as manufacturers test this innovation and that, throwing first-tier component suppliers into a tizzy trying to keep up. Both the U.S. and Canadian governments are funding lightweighting research with millions of dollars. And I’ve been shocked to realize how many lightweighting conferences there are, like dozens a year.

Last year we saw one result of all this, Ford’s 2015 F-150 pickup. Fully 97% of the truck’s body is aluminum, which sits atop a new high-strength-steel frame that’s said to be stronger than ever. And how much weight is saved? About 700 lb out of a 5000-lb truck, some 14%. Not bad.

But is any of this actually new? Well, not really, at least not in our world of big trucks and long trailers. Bulk haulers, who always gross out first, have this down to a science.

And it was in the late 1930s that Leland James, then president of  Consolidated Freightways in Portland, OR, wanted truck makers to build truck components with lightweight aluminum instead of traditional steel. None of them bit on the idea, so he hired some engineers and built the trucks himself, later through the Freightways Manufacturing Company in Salt Lake City. It changed its name to Freightliner Corporation in 1942. Those first cabover trucks were both light and durable, and pretty much an instant success.