Freddie fairing trial shows fuel savings
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By David Wilcox
TRUCK AIR-MANAGEMENT kit supplier Hatcher Components said in-service trials of its revolutionary under-trailer fairing show fuel savings of 3% to 4%.
The prototype fairing was fitted at the end of February to a 13.6m-long curtain-sided trailer operated by Accrington, Lancashire-based Earl Transport (CM 4 April). Shaped like an inverted cab-top fairing, the 1,500mm-long moulding is fixed to the underside of a trailer, immediately behind the kingpin. It can work with or without matching side skirts covering the sideguards and is designed to deflect air away from the underside of the trailer, reducing drag and turbulence caused by axles, suspension and
chassis cross-members. Hatcher Components, which was exhibiting at last week's Commercial Motor Live event at Millbrook, Bedfordshire, had forecast fuel savings of about 3%, stemming from a drag
reduction of 8% to 9%. Hatcher MD Brian Getley said the device, dubbed under trailer Freddie (Fuel Reducing Device) after the company's cab-top fairings for Mercedes Benz trucks, is fulfilling those
expectations. Earl Transport said that the prototype is producing a fuel saving of 3% to 4%, prompting the company to have under-trailer Freddies retrofitted to the other
20 or so trailers in its fleet. "Kuehne + Nagel and DIAL are each trying one," said Getley. "The prototype was in white, but we are doing them in black now, so they match the chassis and you barely
notice them."
Concerns about vulnerability to damage have so far proved unfounded, with Earl Transport's prototype surviving its first six months unscathed, said Getley.
Montracon is the first trailer manufacturer to offer the device as an option on its curtainsiders, box vans and temperaturecontrolled trailers.
The company said track testing at a steady 50mph showed that an under-trailer Freddie cut fuel consumption by 4%.