The Mid America Truck Show is like SEMA for the trucking industry. It is a massive show where all the companies that makes trucks, engines, components, and accessories for working trucks congregate. Manufacturers like Freightliner, Kenworth, and other others unveil new trucks and innovations at this show like automakers do at international auto shows. This year, there were a couple of big ones. Kenworth unveiled a new line of more aerodynamic and ergonomic trucks and Freightliner took the wraps off of their Revolution Innovation Truck, a concept of what the future of big rigs will look like. It has a lot of neat and interesting features, but we’re a little undecided on the looks.
In terms of the cool gearhead stuff involved with this truck, there’s a neat system where the drive axles actually have an electronic clutching system where, at highway speeds the rear axle disconnects to reduced mechanical drag and increase fuel economy. The transmission is an “automated manual” which we think means that it operates like a traditional manual box without the clutch pedal. The frame rails are actually made of aluminum to save weight, also the fuel tanks were tucked inside the frame rails to better distribute weight and reduced aerodynamic drag from having big tanks hanging off the side of the truck. They list the total capacity of 75 gallons which is fine for short haul local stuff, but would not be so good for long haulers. The engine in the truck is a Detroit Diesel mill called the DD13 and it meets all of the stringent environmental requirements set forth by the government.
On the styling front, there are LED lights up front, handle-less doors, a totally cool wrap around windshield that actually wraps all the way around to the doors. We’re not sure how that would work for ventilation, but it looks neat! The bull nose of the truck is different and we’re not 100% sure that we like it. The LED turn signals that wrap above the headlights are neat and the molded grill and center bar are cool too.
The cab is packed with all kinds of technology like a tablet integrated into the dash, an all LCD display that turns into a screen for the backup camera when the driver shifts into reverse, a steering wheel with all the functionality one would find in a modern luxury car, and a seat that converts into a bunk for the driver. They are calling this a “crossover” cab because it is short like a day-cab truck but has the ability to provide a place for the driver to sleep if he is waiting to be loaded or whatnot. It is not like a sleeper truck with all of those amenities, but it beats the current design of day cabs, in our eyes anyway.
Overall, this truck is interesting. Scroll down to see more photos and video of the big beast that Freightliner just unveiled a few hours ago!
Link: Freightliner Revolution Innovation Truck
Yuck
Double yuk. They tried aluminum frames in the 50’s and 60’s, they didn’t work.
I like it!
I’d take the old bullnose ‘shaker over that pile. Aluminum frames ride nice….until they crack from fatigue(precisely why Pete/KW, Freightliner and others discontinued the option long ago). I’ll pass…..quit screwing around at the Freightliner display, the Peterbilt section is where the action is(and the nicely-dressed ladies are…they had one playing a grand piano the last time I went to the show).
looks bad azz, needs some stripes though.
Actually… I really like it. (I assume that this offers a significant performance advantage by way of reduced drag…?)
It is a little different, but it looks like the truck had serious though into it’s design instead of a big box on wheels to pull stuff.
Yes, the aluminum frame has been tried in the past. I seriously doubt that they are using the same design and alloys though. Technology has come a long way in the past years and this design surely accounted for all of the known issues of the past.
If this gets great mileage I am sure (as seems to have been the goal) I am sure we will see them on the roads before too long!
oh yeah it’s cool in an old school way…
Its cool looking but every once in a while I see some truck with a retro style that looks like its from the 1930’s on the road. Im never close enough to see who the manufacturer is but the grill is long and pointed.
That’s an International Lone Star. The Grille is plastic.
Disposable junk, and ugly.
Well.
Here’s a subject I can comment on with a bit of authority. I drive one of these things for a living you see, not the truck shown here, but a Volvo 780. It has a 6 cylinder 475 hp engine, a 12 speed fully automatic transmission. (Manual style trans with autoshift robotic shifter and no clutch pedal.) We carry about 250 gallons of fuel in 2 tanks.
My wife and I team drive, and we manage 9000 miles in 9 days, then take 5 off and get ready to do it all again. We are in the expedited Team Freight business and the truck rolls for 20 to 22 hours in a 24 hr period.
We leave Vancouver Canada every second Monday and go to Montreal, then down to Arkansas, then empty to Texas, to Calgary, to Winnipeg and back home to the West Coast. Home by Tuesday night the week after leaving most times. If we don’t get back by Wednesday afternoon we aren’t happy.
Frankly, either one of us gives a you-know-what about what the truck we drive looks like. It gets fuelled once a day, washed once a shift, serviced once a month and after 400,000 miles, it goes back to the dealer in trade for a brand new one. It’s a tool we use to do our job. It’s not a fond member of the family, we aren’t the least bit emotionally attached to it.
What we want in a truck is everything that makes our lives on the road safer, easier, more productive and less expensive. Nothing else.
We don’t want chrome, we don’t need extra blinky lights and we don’t care about flashy wheels.
We want a truck that starts, stops and goes. We want a transmission we put in D for Drive and forget all about. I-shift gives us just that. (This lets us concentrate on driving safely, not on trying to shift for fuel economy or for power in the mountains. I can’t shift as well as an I-shift robotic shifter, nobody can, so let the robots do it from now on.) We want disc brakes. (Where are our disc brakes people, they have had them in Europe for 20 years now!) We want reliability and we want a decent ride. We also want a quiet interior while rolling down the road. One of us is almost always sleeping, and we need it quiet!
Give us side view cameras, so we can see cars trying to merge into our truck’s rear wheels, give us built in GPS and Navigation Assist so we can avoid costly re-routing errors. Give us better crash protection for when the worst happens.
Give us a safer truck, a more fuel efficient truck and who gives a *hit about what it looks like.
There are plenty of “classic” cab-overs and conventionals available for viewing and admiring at the truck show. We want a truck that helps us get the job done.
Trucking is all about how much money you have left in your boot at the end of the week, and whether or not you can make your trip next week safely.
That’s the bottom line
Great comment..My thoughts exactly. Give me fuel economy, reliability, safety, ease of use, and not chrome or other stupid things some owners are wasting money on. If this truck could get 9 mpg that would be 50% improvement in fuel economy over my Volvo 610. Translated into $ that would be around $20,000 for me a year. Plus all the conveniences that this truck offers… It’s time for something different on the truck market. And you’re right, Europe is 20 yrs ahead of us here..
YUUUUUUUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As something that is a concept, and not a final production model, it’s interesting. As far as how it looks, I’m sure Freightliner is concentrating on how it performs in the wind tunnel more than how good (or bad) it may look. Their goal is to reduce wind resistance, and improve fuel economy.
Remember not everything from a concept vehicle makes it to a production model
all: listen to Ermott, above. his feature views are right on and this concept is where heavies must go to meet epa’s 50% fuel econ impvmnt in 2017. keep an eye out for 21st century truck partnership’s supertrucks in next couple years, they’ll look like this concept truck (plus sleepers).