UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Five years of effort by a partnership of international corporations and universities organized by Volvo have led to the Volvo SuperTruck, a vehicle that achieved an 88 percent improvement in overall efficiency. Penn State engineers were part of this SuperTruck team, and focused on advanced combustion strategies and engine simulation.
Volvo was one of four truck manufacturers chosen by the U.S. Department of Energy's SuperTruck Program to improve the freight efficiency of Class 8 heavy trucks and design the next-generation engines that can reach ultra-high fuel-efficiency goals. Daimler Trucks North America, Cummins & Peterbilt and Navistar are the other three companies working on the DOE's SuperTruck Program.
"The order-of-magnitude efficiency leap achieved by our SuperTruck is a testament to the outstanding work done by our team and our partners," said Pascal Amar, senior project manager, Volvo Groups Truck Technology and principal investigator for this project. "We started by rethinking everything, and we discovered that with every layer you peel back, you uncover new opportunities."