Walmart Unveils Turbine-Powered WAVE Concept Truck 242
cartechboy writes "It's no secret that semi trucks use a lot of fuel. Moving that amount of mass along at highway speeds takes a lot of power. But Walmart might have just unveiled the semi truck of the future with its WAVE concept truck. This crazy looking semi features an aerodynamic cab and looks like no other truck on the road. The driver sits in the center of the cab and the steering wheel is flanked by LCD screens instead of conventional gauges. The WAVE concept is powered by a range-extended electric powertrain consisting of a Capstone micro-turbine and an electric motor. To reduce weight the entire truck including the trailer is made of carbon fiber. The 53-foot side panels on the trailer are said to be the first single pieces of carbon fiber that large ever produced. The result? A trailer that weighs around 4,000 pounds less than a conventional one. While Walmart says it has no plans to produce the WAVE concept, one has to wonder if this is a look at what semis of the future will be like."
Single largest CFRP panels? (Score:5, Funny)
Someone better tell Airbus that their 59ft panels on the A350XWB are somehow shorter than Wal-Marts 53ft panels...
Re:BREAKING: Canada attacks Russia (Score:3, Funny)
Do you know why I know this news is fake? You spoke of Canadian troop transport ships and amphibious vehicles in the plural form.
Re:only $4 million for 6% weight reduction (Score:3, Funny)
Your bad at math aren't you?
Math kettle, meet the spelling pot. There is also a grammatical ladle missing somewhere....
Re:oops (Score:4, Funny)
Strange thing, drivers don't work so well when it's cold either. That's why truck cabs are generally heated when it's cold out.
I'm from a place where, before glow plugs, if you turned off your truck during the winter it wasn't starting again until June, so the drivers would just leave their trucks idling all night while they slept. If you were smart you'd shove some cardboard in front of the radiator on your car (or truck) to block the airflow so that you'd actually get warm air out of the heater, and avoid that driver/LCD screen freezing problem.