Meet the HST (Highly Sophisticated Transporter), a large, green semi truck
Highly Sophisticated Transporter (HST) - Click above for a high-res image gallery
As companies like Ford know, eliminating semi truck miles from the supply chain has a noticeable greening effect. But what if those trucks were electric powered with a diesel range extender and solar panels built in? Oh, and what if they were much larger than current trucks and able to carry 65 tons worth of stuff? Why, if you had all that - along with regenerative brakes and an aerodynamic design - then you'd have Kenyan designer Kioko Muthui's Highly Sophisticated Transporter (HST).
Designed as a "vision for future long-distance road haulage" (see, not all dreams are dead), the HST "would feature extraordinary fuel efficiency, a significantly improved driving experience, a higher level of active and passive safety, and enhanced environmental and infrastructural considerations." As a thought experiment, it's quite cool. Plus, the renderings show the HST to be a Daimler product. Cool.
For more information, check out
UPDATE: We got an email from Muthui that informed us that the images we used were out of date. Muthui wrote:
The images in your gallery, as well as the link to a PDF file, are related to an older concept, and not of the 65-tonne version described in your post. The new version is a more developed undertaking and would be of greater interest to your readers. The following link will provide you with the relevant images and overview. Additionally, the HST is a personal project and is not endorsed by Daimler AG.
[Source: TreeHugger]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tohe 5:13PM (6/13/2009)
The HST would be cooler and more efficient if its roof was arched, that way its solar panels would be able to squeeze more energy out of the sun and the truck improve its aerodynamics. Over all it is a good concept and holds a lot of promise.
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cheleball 6:11PM (6/13/2009)
Considering how long the rail transport industry has been using diesel electric, I'm a bit surprised that it's failed to catch on with the road transport industry. Here's hoping they catch on eventually...
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3PeaceSweet 6:15PM (6/13/2009)
Interesting, perhaps you could adapt the air-air refueling which the airforce uses to do on move charging from a unit such as this to a smaller passenger electric vehicle.
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paulwesterberg 6:26PM (6/13/2009)
Electrified rail transport is greener and cuts down on the number huge heavy trucks destroying our roads.
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Chris M 6:47PM (6/13/2009)
Yes, which makes it baffling as to why the railroad companies aren't busy electrifying most of their lines. The potential savings could be enormous.
One reason why rail isn't used more is that it serves a limited number of major industrial firms, and is not available to many smaller businesses and retail outlets. That means the freight would have to be transferred from rail to trucks for the final few miles, or worse, truck to rail to truck. The additional transfer handling increases costs.
If you have a good solution to that "final mile" problem, then by all means tell the rail companies, and maybe they'd listen.
paulwesterberg 11:05AM (6/15/2009)
Small business freight needs to partner with a company like UPS which could handle last mile transport with standardized shipping containers. UPS has computerized their operations to map efficient delivery routes so they understand efficient logistics. I don't think rail companies have the expertise to do this by themselves.
jpm 7:20PM (6/13/2009)
looks so aerodynamic...
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DasBoese 11:39PM (6/13/2009)
Unfortunately, aerodynamics don't care about looks.
Kirk 12:41PM (6/14/2009)
The front end is not aerodynamic at all. It looks flat to me.
Flat is NOT aerodynamic.
Unless the pictures don't portray the exact shape of the front end,
they can sure make it MORE aerodynamic with some front end tweaking.
~D. 8:04PM (6/13/2009)
I've been wanting to see something like this for a long time, as this will be a greater boon to savings than passenger vehicles, and alot easier to implement. Although this is not a new concept, as Luigi Colani has been designing vehicles just like this for years. When one considers the fact that it is an industry where shaving costs aggregates to huge figures in dollars, I am baffled why vehicles like this are still in the concept stage.
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DasBoese 11:37PM (6/13/2009)
Colani's designs are largely just that: design exercises. As is this, which is evident by a number of unnecessary design features that are clearly just there for the looks.
Despite what you may believe, modern trucks are actually fairly efficient machines. Aerodynamics can be very surprising sometimes, something that looks smooth and rounded isn't necessarily better than a "boxy" shape.
contact 10:19PM (6/13/2009)
hahaha, no one has pointed out that this design can't go over a curb. not every road is flat....especially not where I live.
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DasBoese 11:30PM (6/13/2009)
Chris M,
intermodal transport via truck and rail is widely used in Europe, not as widely as it should, but we're working on it. Transfering containers between truck and rail car is a matter of minutes at a modern metropolitan rail transport hub. Of course such a facility requires a substantial up front investment which is kinda hard to justify in the current economic climate.
Now, granted, our rail network is largely electrified, that is one less thing we had to worry about.
By the way, the city of Dresden where I lived until last year is running an interesting pilot project. They transport parts to the Volkswagen factory in the city via the public tram network, using custom freight modules built on refurbished running gear from decomissioned passenger tram cars.
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Hans 4:22AM (6/14/2009)
Fascinating ideas. Couple of flaws:
a) Why only 2x220kw electric engines? Granted it won't need more to operate, but the regenerative *braking* power would be significantly better. Suppose you have 16 tons to bring to a halt...
b) Why not use in-wheel disk engines - Michelin ActiveWheel, PML Flightlink; there's ready-to-market technology and you could drive every wheel on the truck - no drive shafts, all-wheel vehicle control. Talk to Fisker (Karma S) if you like to know more..
c) There's too much complexity in operating the computer. In hectic traffic, you shouldn't have to take your eyes off the road ever. Innovation can't mess with safety.
So, does the author of the design read blogs like these...?
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Kioko Muthui 2:47PM (6/16/2009)
Absolutely!
Hans 3:46PM (6/16/2009)
Glad to know that ;-) In that case, I'll take the opportunity to thank you for the great ideas. Really hope, it'll be the next king of the road, despite the strong financial back current these days. Keep 'em coming...
Don 1:42PM (6/14/2009)
The bigger benefit would be trucks were equipped with a combination of proximity sensors and Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dedicated_Short_Range_Communications ) transponders which allow them to travel as more tightly packed platoons, trucks able to travel extremely closely together under automatic control and with drastically lowered Cd and improved economy .... essentially as trains with greater degrees of freedom.
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Andrew 5:54AM (6/15/2009)
Isn't that what railroads are for?
In a country as big and smart as the US. You'd think it would be possible to design an efficient integrated road/rail network.
Wonder what would it take to get 80% of the population within 100 miles of a rail head.
John Rowell 12:56PM (6/14/2009)
Cool concept, but it might never see production. It would be fairly easy, on the other hand, to retrofit current trucks by adding a hybrid drivetrain and solar panels on the trailer...
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letstakeawalk 6:01PM (6/16/2009)
very cool
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