Wal-Mart Says This Is The Delivery Truck Of The Future

April 14, 2014 Leave a comment

Wal-Mart Says This Is The Delivery Truck Of The Future

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BENJAMIN ZHANG TRANSPORTATION  MAR. 29, 2014, 5:16 AM

Wal-Mart has unveiled a new prototype for a delivery truck it says will significantly reduce its delivery fleet’s emissions.

Walmart, whose fleet includes 6,500 trucks, 55,000 trailers and employs 7,000 drivers, announced in 2005 that it intended to double fleet efficiency by 2015. According to the company, fleet efficiency has increased by 84% since that announcement.

The Walmart Advanced Vehicle Experience, or WAVE, is the company’s latest step towards that goal.

While no official fuel economy figures have been provided, it is expected that the truck’s light weight construction, hybrid turbine drivetrain and advanced aerodynamics will provide significant savings. It was developed in conjunction with Peterbilt, Capstone Turbine, and Great Dane Trailer.

More than anything for Wal-Mart, the WAVE is a means to shake up the way things are done in the trucking industry. “It may never actually make it to the road, but it will allow us to test new technologies and new approaches,” Walmart president and CEO Doug McMillon told Wired.

Here are just some of the groundbreaking features found in the WAVE:

1. Aerodynamics

Designed in conjunction with Peterbilt, the WAVE’s svelte shape gives it a 20% reduction in aerodynamic drag over Walmart’s current fleet of Peterbilt Model 386 trucks. According to Bill Kahn, Manager of Advanced Concepts at Peterbilt, the 20% reduction in drag equates to a 10% increase in fuel economy.

2. Turbine Power

The WAVE’s revolutionary microturbine, developed by Capstone Turbine, is capable of running on natural gas and other fuels all the while producing virtually no emissions. As a result, the microturbine does not require the exhaust scrubbers and chemical treatments that conventional diesel engines use. The microturbine operates using air bearing technology and air cooling which allows the truck to forego the need for heavy lubrication and liquid cooling systems.

3. Hybrid Technology

The WAVE’s advance hybrid drive system is programmed to find the most efficient balance between its turbine and electric drivetrains. The hybrid system functions in 3 modes: charge mode, electric vehicle mode and hybrid electric mode. The truck will select the most efficient mode automatically or via manual inputs from the driver.

4. Advanced Cockpit

The centerpiece of the WAVE’s tapered front end is its central seating position. The design, which borrows its aesthetics from open-wheel racing, affords the driver greater visibility. The futuristic cockpit also features fully customizable digital displays, a fold out bed and sliding driver’s door.

5. Trailer

The WAVE’s trailer attachment, manufactured by Great Dane Trailers, incorporates a slew of innovative design elements. Most notably the one-piece 53 foot long carbon fiber panels that make up the trailer’s roof and sidewalls. The trailer’s carbon fiber construction makes it more 4000 lbs lighter than a conventional unit.

 

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Kee Koon Boon (“KB”) is the co-founder and director of HERO Investment Management which provides specialized fund management and investment advisory services to the ARCHEA Asia HERO Innovators Fund (www.heroinnovator.com), the only Asian SMID-cap tech-focused fund in the industry. KB is an internationally featured investor rooted in the principles of value investing for over a decade as a fund manager and analyst in the Asian capital markets who started his career at a boutique hedge fund in Singapore where he was with the firm since 2002 and was also part of the core investment committee in significantly outperforming the index in the 10-year-plus-old flagship Asian fund. He was also the portfolio manager for Asia-Pacific equities at Korea’s largest mutual fund company. Prior to setting up the H.E.R.O. Innovators Fund, KB was the Chief Investment Officer & CEO of a Singapore Registered Fund Management Company (RFMC) where he is responsible for listed Asian equity investments. KB had taught accounting at the Singapore Management University (SMU) as a faculty member and also pioneered the 15-week course on Accounting Fraud in Asia as an official module at SMU. KB remains grateful and honored to be invited by Singapore’s financial regulator Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to present to their top management team about implementing a world’s first fact-based forward-looking fraud detection framework to bring about benefits for the capital markets in Singapore and for the public and investment community. KB also served the community in sharing his insights in writing articles about value investing and corporate governance in the media that include Business Times, Straits Times, Jakarta Post, Manual of Ideas, Investopedia, TedXWallStreet. He had also presented in top investment, banking and finance conferences in America, Italy, Sydney, Cape Town, HK, China. He has trained CEOs, entrepreneurs, CFOs, management executives in business strategy & business model innovation in Singapore, HK and China.

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