Trailer Lightweighting

Demonstrated a new lightweight deck which allows for increased payload for weight limited operation.
Identified which operations could benefit from lightweighting.

Double deck trailers in grocery haulage and ‘walking-floor’ trailers in bulk haulage are two operations that can benefit significantly from lightweighting.
A weight saving of 1,000 – 2,000 kg can be achieved on a 13.6 m single deck box trailer through a combination of lightweighting measures:

Component	Weight Saving (kg)
Optimised chassis beams	200 – 900
Lightweight sandwich sidewalls	300 – 500
Lightweight sandwich deck	100 – 200
Glass fibre running gear	250
Carbon fibre wheels	150
TOTAL	1,000 – 2,000

% fuel saving

A weight saving of 1,000 – 2,000 kg would allow an additional 3 – 6 roll cages to be carried.

Each additional roll cage corresponds to a 1.5% improvement in fuel consumption for a 13.6 m single deck trailer.

% CO₂e Saving

% Carbon saving is equal to the fuel saving.

Cost of implementation

Raw material cost of a lightweight deck is approx. two times greater than for standard hardwood deck.

Implementation strategy

Applying lightweight composite materials to trailer subcomponents such as decking and side walls can be implemented in short time frames for a minimal increase in cost.
For a long-term solution, more radical changes will be needed to drastically reduce empty trailer weight.
Holistic lightweight composite trailers will become increasingly viable as greater emphasis is placed on energy consumption of the road freight industry.

Galos, J. (2014). Design of a Lightweight Road Freight Semi-Trailer. European Transport Conference. Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany, 29 September
Galos, J., et al. (2014), ‘Reducing the Energy Consumption of Heavy Goods Vehicles through the Application of Lightweight Trailers: Fleet Case Studies.’ sub to Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment.
Galos, J., et al. (2014). Design of a Lightweight Heavy Goods Vehicle Trailer. Proceedings of European Transport Conference