Shell Starship’s impressive fuel efficiency numbers
The truck was jointly developed by Shell gallons of fuel.
Lubricants and AirFlow Truck Co., which was able to achieve an astonishing 178.4
– representing a 248 percent increase over the North American average that sits at 72 ton-miles per gallon today – during its trip from San Diego, California, to Jacksonville, Florida, in the last week of May. In total, the Starship burned 257 June 19, 2018 one to focus on according to Shell executives, as it is a “more relevant statistic for judging the energy intensity associated with moving cargo from point A to point B since it combines the weight of cargo being moved with the amount of fuel consumed.”
By focusing on miles per gallon only, Robert Mainwairing, technology manager for innovation, Shell Lubricants, said, you’re making drivers “go slow, and go light. And that encourages truckers to run empty. The better alternative is freight ton
energy required…so it drives a go slow, go heavy approach.” And that’s exactly how the truck got from point A to point B – slow and heavy.
The truck, loaded with clean reef material, weighed in at 73,000 pounds, with an average speed of just over 50 mph, was decked out in a number of aerodynamic improvements and technologies to help achieve these numbers.
“Our goal with the Starship Initiative is to
challenge how the trucking
further the conversation by working with AirFlow Truck Co. and others,” said Mainwairing. “Through this road trip, we were able to test the Starship truck along with a number of technologies available today to provide insight into what trucking
could consider adopting to help reduce fuel use and emissions as they haul heavy loads.”
The cab itself is a bespoke aerodynamic design made of carbon resistance. The futuristic and streamlined design of the truck was amped up with cameras replacing the side mirrors.
It also sports active grill shutters that open
also played a major role in the fuel economy the truck achieved. In addition to having low rolling resistance, single-wide based tires on
- tion system installed.
The roof of the truck is covered with 5,000-watt solar panels that charge the main 48-volt battery bank on the tractor. The battery powers the cab’s air conditioning and inverter for the 120-volt hotel loads.
Reducing carbon dioxide emissions
According to Shell, if all the trucks in the US reached the overall fuel economy and
would emit 229 million less tons of CO2 into the atmosphere per year, which would correspond to a 60-percent reduction in
Though all of these technologies helped achieve remarkable number, none could be possible, said Shell, if it wasn’t for opera-
Driving the truck across the country was Robert Sliwa, the owner of AirFlow Truck Co.
“A poor driver can negate all the technology in the truck and get poor fuel mileage,” he said.
Overall, Sliwa reached an average of 8.94 mpg with the Starship on his run. The best fuel economy attained in his trip was 10.2 mpg. He said the truck was extremely quiet, most times he couldn’t even hear the engine on his trip, only the tires. His German shepherd, Kayla, joined him for the six-day trip that concluded on May 24.
“Driving the truck is an exercise in concentration,” he added. “The mental aspect of it is not to be underestimated. I was constantly aware of the grades the truck was coming up to and going down. I was doing my own predictive cruise. Really for a truck driver to maintain the best fuel economy he or she can, you have to get feedback from the gauge and anticipate what is coming up.”
The results of the truck were measured by the North American Council for Freight
- cording to Mike Roeth, the executive director of NACFE, the council used two telematics devices and a data logger to verify the results.
And while these results are all Shell could have hoped for, Carlos Maurer, Shell Lubricants Americas president, said this is just the tip of the iceberg for what is achievable tomorrow.
“For me, what is fantastic, is that this truck can be commercialized and on the road today,” he said. “All the products and technologies on the truck are ready to be rolled out. I believe the results today are just the baseline and I believe we will get better as time goes on and continue to make improvements.”