Paccar turns to new wind tunnel to develop more fuel-efficient trucks

[kscarbel2]

Puget Sound Business Journal  /  May 4, 2016

Despite current low global fuel prices Paccar Inc. is pouring research dollars into developing more efficient trucks for the future.

Speaking from Paccar’s Bellevue headquarters, CEO Ron Armstrong said the truck builder is sometimes operating its new $50 million truck test facility around the clock, as it works to improve designs.

Paccar a year ago opened the “climatic chassis dynanometer” near Mount Vernon, a small city north of Seattle. The facility is part wind tunnel, simulating driving at up to 75 miles an hour, but it also can subject test trucks to changes in temperature, air pressure and humidity.

“You can do summer testing, winter testing, mountain testing, valley testing, all in this facility,” Armstrong said. “It really accelerates the development process.”

Paccar is the second-largest truck builder in North America, assembling Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks in North America and Australia, as well as DAF trucks in Europe and Brazil.

The company generated $4.3 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2016, and generated $2 billion in profit on $18.7 billion in sales, during 2015.

Paccar has achieved 77 consecutive years of profit by taking the long view, and the test facility is an example of that, Armstrong said.

“I think fuel prices are bound to go up from this point,” he said. “Fuel efficiency gains are going to continue to be an area of competition to move the needle forward.”

The rationale behind the test facility is to extract data on the interaction among all aspects of truck design, including aerodynamics, rolling resistance, advanced digital systems, and Paccar-built engines, Armstrong said.

“All elements of aerodynamic capability and fuel efficiency are a key focus. A lot of investment will go into that over the 10-year period,” he said. “It’s very dynamic.”

About 300 people work at the Mount Vernon test center, and the new dynanometer is lifting the testing to a higher level, Armstrong said.

“There are very few of those in the world. It’s a really unique asset for us, and one that’s been fully utilized since we commissioned it a year ago,” he said of the facility. “This is a very important tool.”

.

[TeamsterGrrrl]

IIRC, a few decades ago Mack was the only heavy truck maker that had their own full size wind tunnel, and it shown in their products.