The Shell Lubricants’ Starship concept tractor-trailer, which achieved nearly 9 mpg while carrying roughly 20 tons of cargo last year during a cross-country trek, will be hitting the road again next year with some improvements gleaned from last year’s run.
Bob Mainwaring, Shell Lubricants technology manager and the technology lead for Starship, said the company plans to make the truck more aerodynamic and to overhaul its drivetrain, among other changes. Mainwaring spoke earlier this month at a Shell Lubricants press event in Barcelona, Spain.
“There were things on version one that we weren’t too happy with,” Mainwaring said. “Some of the aerodynamic bits could work better than they did so we’re refining those. We’re in discussion at the moment about the best combination of engine and transmission to use.”
The original Starship was developed from 2014 through 2018. Notable aerodynamic features were designed by AirFlow, while Cummins provided a prototype 6-cylinder X15 engine that was mated to an 18-speed Eaton AMT transmission with a custom calibrated Transmission Electronic Control Unit (TECU).
“I think that’s been rather refined now so the integration through its electronic control unit with the transmission system that we propose to use has gained refinement there,” Mainwaring said. “(There will be) modification to a more efficient transmission which happens to be a lighter transmission as well that will let us get more goods in for a lower truck weight.”
Adaptive cruise control proved to be a challenging goal that didn’t pan out as planned during last year’s 2,410-mile trip chiefly made on Interstate 10 from San Diego, Calif. to Jacksonville, Fla.
“You can imagine the challenge of setting up things like adaptive cruise control—which some of these trucks have—on a truck that’s as novel as that was really rather ambitious for us,” Mainwaring said. “We didn’t make that work as well as we had hoped. So for 2020 we want that to be in place again.”
