MAN has come up with an aerodynamic truck design, the Concept S, which it says will cut fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by 25 per cent.
The streamlined semitrailer tractor differs radically from today’s typically cube-shaped trucks, and, said MAN, was rigorously adjusted in the wind tunnel to achieve extremely low wind resistance, corresponding to that of a modern passenger limousine.
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The design study from MAN being shown for the first time at the IAA exhibition in Hanover.
“Thanks solely to its aerodynamic form, the MAN Concept S – with an appropriately modified trailer – uses up to 25 per cent less fuel than a comparable, conventional 40-tonne semitrailer tractor. This is the equivalent of a reduction in CO2 emissions of 25 per cent.”
However, MAN said that to realise the efficiency potential of the Concept S, tractors and trailers would have to become longer if they were to provide the accustomed amount of interior space and loading volume.
Even so, it said, changes to the road infrastructure for this purpose would not be necessary.