Over a year and a million kilometers' worth of real-world testing has returned impressive results for Spanish company Fersa's "fuel efficient wheel hub," which cuts fuel burn by at least 3% and saves operators around US$3,500 per truck per year.
Logistics companies spend insane amounts of money on fuel each year – it's a huge line item in fleet-wide operational expenses. So quite apart from the environmental benefits, a clever fuel efficiency measure in this sector should have no problem finding eager buyers.
So it's a bit of a head-scratcher that something as fundamental as the wheel hub assembly remains so poorly optimized that Fersa can waltz in with a replacement and immediately chop between 3% and 7.3% off your fuel bills.
And the secret sauce here doesn't look all that outrageous, either; the "FE Wheel Hub" reduces rolling resistance and friction thanks to the following factors:
- "Microgeometric enhancements for optimized surface geometry"
- "Advanced seals and materials"
- "High load capacity," and
- "Optimized premium lubrication technology."
That's... it. Fersa is a bearing company, and it's basically come up with a big, fancy, low-friction, high-load, long-life hub bearing. But it's enough to reduce drivetrain friction by as much as half.
The year-long test, overseen by Mawser and TechnoPark MotorLand, covered the full gamut of urban, rural and long-distance hauling conditions, and the bearings were tested on long-haul, rigid and truck-trailer vehicles.
The minimum fuel saving of 3%, says Fersa, adds up. Assuming 150,000 km (93,200 miles) per truck per year, a baseline fuel total is around 60,000 liters (13,200 gal) of diesel. At Euro-zone prices around €1.80 per liter (US$7.40/gal), these hubs would save operators a minimum of €3,240 (US$3,530) per truck in fuel annually. Multiply that by several hundred rigs in a fleet, and that's a huge OPEX saving.
Sadly, we don't know how quickly they'd pay for themselves at that rate, because Fersi isn't talking about CAPEX yet. We don't yet know how much these hubs will cost, fitted per wheel, or how long they can be expected to last.
Still ... “Every percentage of fuel savings translates into tangible cost reductions at our scale of operations,” comments Carlos Giner, Corporate Director of Transport at Sesé, which runs a fleet of more than 3,000 trucks and which participated in the hub trial. “We are constantly looking for innovative solutions that enhance efficiency and support our sustainability goals without compromising performance.”
It's nice to know there are still rocks to be looked under in such a competitive field, and that a simple bearing upgrade can make such a difference to fuel burn.
Source: Fersa