The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) has appointed Horiba MIRA to the new Smart Tire Pressure Optimization System project, which could reduce emissions and increase the fuel efficiency of heavy duty land vehicles.
The project aims to develop and demonstrate a commercially viable automated system that will realize potential fuel savings of up to 8% across the UK HDV land fleet by 2020.
The system will be low cost to install and operate, will feature automatic control to eliminate driver intervention and save the owners and operators of heavy duty vehicles significant costs as well as reducing carbon emissions.
In the first stage of the Rolling Resistance Optimisation System (RROS) project, the organization, which is based at Nuneaton in the UK, will identify and evaluate potential technological solutions suitable for a wide range of heavy duty vehicles, including lorries, construction and agricultural vehicles.
A follow-on project could see the ETI invest an additional £750,000 (US$1.1m) to further develop and demonstrate the most promising technologies.
A set of tires will be produced for a demonstration Caterpillar 725 articulated truck that is being built as part of the ETI’s Heavy Duty Vehicle Efficiency program. The project will encompass all heavy-duty land vehicles that use pneumatic tires.
May 19, 2016
