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Comment by mradek | Hacker News Reader

Do you think it’s because they’re using diesel?

In my layman pov… A diesel engine can take the least aerodynamically shaped body and move it at 60 mph for 1k miles no problem. As an American, I guess it’s just natural to me that if it can move, then it should move with glory!!

Edit: my bad I didn’t properly read your post

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~All trucks, except for electric ones, are diesel, and have been for a long time.

The one I linked is all electric.

Wowza!! Ok I checked out the link. My bad for not reading ur post properly.

Yikes 100-250 mile range.

Probably fine for what it is.

The range only needs to cover the period between mandated brakes. Everything over that is wasted weight, as the weight of the cargo and the weight of the truck share a weight budget.

Yeah the range between mandated breaks is way over 100 miles. In the UK it is 45 minutes after 4.5 hours driving, so about 270 miles. But you need to account for the likelihood that there isn't a charger at the break stop. On the other hand the Volvo trucks in this article apparently have a similar range and they're selling so I guess it's worth the hassle.

> In the UK it is 45 minutes after 4.5 hours driving, so about 270 miles.

Trucks/lorries drive lots of places other than UK motorways, and they are not doing 60mph down the A4.

> The range only needs to cover the period between mandated brakes.

I was confused there for a second until I realized you meant "breaks."

That’s technically true, I suppose, but dishonest since you imply that those numbers are large enough to max out driving time. You wouldn’t be able to drive to your first mandatory 30 minute break with that range.

If youre doing 56mph, as you would be in the EU, then you can drive for 4.5hrs and cover 250miles before your first mandated break.

So it almost seems optimised for the mandated break timing.

On average truck journeys in europe are only 72 miles anyway so...

> On average truck journeys in europe are only 72 miles anyway so...

That’s astonishing. I’d be curious to see the median and mode distances compared between the U.S. and E.U.

Many journeys will be from the distribution center to the supermarket or similar, or even multiple supermarkets, which would really bring down the average.

I don’t think using a diesel engine would make the fuel efficiency losses from having bad aerodynamics any better

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