Is this the shape of things to come?

Rising fuel prices are forcing truck and trailer developers to come up with improved fuel economy and aerodynamics is an attractive option for designers to work on and has stimulated some interesting design.

Of course, teaching drivers with a heavy right boot to ease off a bit is much more effective but designers prefer something even the worst driver can’t interfere with. This has brought us automated gear boxes and adaptive cruise control, taking control away from the driver and giving it to a computer.

It has also got the guys at UK trailer bulder Don Bur thinking and they have come up with something described as a ‘teardrop’ trailer using the overall trailer shape to reduce the amount of dead air created behind a trailer at cruising speed.

This design is probably optimised for the legal maximum in Europe of 90 kph but something along these lines with a rising A trailer and falling B trailer may be equally effective here in Australia at 100 kph.

So far the new shape has been used by the end customer as a marketing exercise with Marks and Spencers and PC World using the unusual shape to highlight their greeen credentials or serve as a billboard to really catch the eye.