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Wal-Mart showcased its futuristic truck Wednesday at the Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS) in Louisville, Ky., a month after the world got its first glimpse during a video aired at retailer’s sustainability milestone meeting in Bentonville.
The Wal-Mart truck prototype is a tractor-trailer combination that looks like a sports car married an aerodynamic train. The companies working on the project over the past two decades believe the concept truck is the future for sustainable logistics. The WAVE is the result of collaboration between the retailer and Peterbilt, ROUSH, Great Dane and Capstone Turbine.
In 2005, Walmart, one of the nation’s largest private fleet operators, announced its goal to double fleet efficiency by 2015. Walmart trucks log millions of miles every year, so when it comes to sustainability and fleet efficiency, the goal is simple: deliver more merchandise while driving fewer miles on the most efficient equipment. As of last year, the company had achievedan 84 percent improvement in fleet efficiency over its 2005 baseline.
“Walmart is continually looking for innovative ways to increase our efficiencies and reduce our fleet’s emissions,” said Tracy Rosser, senior vice president of transportation at Walmart. “The Walmart Advanced Vehicle Experience is a bold step in transportation technologies that, although not on the road in its current form, will serve as a learning platform for the future that will accelerate our progress toward our goals.”
Innovation is key to improvement, and the project aims to demonstrate a wide range of cutting edge technologies and designs Walmart is considering in an effort to improve the overall fuel efficiency of its fleet and lower the company’s carbon footprint. Although the prototype currently runs on diesel, its turbine is fuel neutral and can run on compressed or liquid natural gas, biofuels or other fuels.
The prototype is the result of collaboration between Walmart and many vendors, including Peterbilt, Roush Engineering, Great Dane Trailers and Capstone Turbine. Almost every component on this vehicle is cutting edge and showcases innovations of the future that will drive increased efficiencies.
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