{"id":7712,"date":"2017-08-25T15:35:49","date_gmt":"2017-08-25T14:35:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=7712"},"modified":"2017-08-25T15:35:49","modified_gmt":"2017-08-25T14:35:49","slug":"truck-platoon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=7712","title":{"rendered":"Truck platoon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Road_train_(6)\"<\/a>This morning the UK government announced they were trialling a “truck platoon”.\u00a0 A truck platoon is a convey of (at the moment) semi-autonomous trucks.\u00a0 Up to three I believe.\u00a0 This is the first time I’ve heard of this idea, as it was this week its the first time that I have heard of motorways fitted with overhead wires so that trucks with pantographs can use electricity for part of their trip.\u00a0 This is happening in Germany and is being trialled on some autobahns.\u00a0 Each truck platoon is controlled by one driver by wifi.<\/p>\n

This idea has been trialled<\/a> in other parts of the world.\u00a0 It being sold as partly being good for the environment.\u00a0 But is it?\u00a0 Its a little known fact but trucks have appalling economy.\u00a0 Even diesel powered trucks cannot manage as much as 10mpg (usually about 7 in the EU and about 5 in the US).\u00a0 There are two possible reasons why driving in close convoys as a truck platoon might help fuel economy.\u00a0 The first is that they all will drive at a consistent speed.\u00a0 The second is that driving close to another vehicle reduces drag.\u00a0 Cyclists like Chris Froome utilise this effect in the Tour de France.\u00a0 I can see both reasons for improvements in economy as being valid. \u00a0 I think the effect will be marginal.\u00a0 However I think the real reason is to get autonomous vehicles on our roads.\u00a0 This will wipe out a whole sector of jobs and despite having being driven in a car with\u00a0semi-autonomous cruise control I’m not sure I’m happy about driverless trucks on our roads.\u00a0 If you want major\u00a0 improvements in fuel economy then you need to look elsewhere in the trucks’ design.<\/p>\n

Neil<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This morning the UK government announced they were trialling a “truck platoon”.\u00a0 A truck platoon is a convey of (at the moment) semi-autonomous trucks.\u00a0 Up to three I believe.\u00a0 This is the first time I’ve heard of this idea, as … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,1],"tags":[201,220],"class_list":["post-7712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-transport","category-uncategorized","tag-transport","tag-trucks"],"yoast_head":"\nTruck platoon - The oil lamp - shining God's light on peak oil<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=7712\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=7712\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=7712\",\"name\":\"Truck platoon - 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