Shell Starship 2.0 to Embark on Cross-Country Trek
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Shell Lubricants is planning a second cross-country journey in May to showcase fuel-efficient truck technologies, the company announced April 14.
The Houston-based company is hoping to build on the lessons learned from its Shell Starship trip that occurred in 2018. Shell Starship 2.0 will be tested along the same route as the first run, starting in San Diego and ending in Jacksonville, Fla.
The North American Council for Freight Efficiency will monitor and verify the results, as it did in 2018.
What is freight ton efficiency?
This will be the primary metric used to gauge Shell Starship 2.0 on its second cross-country run. The measure combines the weight of cargo being moved with the amount of fuel consumed.
The new truck features a new chassis and drivetrain, along with new safety and fuel-efficient upgrades.
“Shell Starship 2.0 will feature technologies that have advanced since its inception and is built to stimulate discussion and drive the conversation around trucking efficiency and carbon reduction,” Jeff Priborsky, global marketing manager of the on-highway fleet sector, said in a statement. “We have taken a number of technologies and have drawn them together in a single design.”
Priborsky
Shell Lubricants hopes to not only showcase fuel-efficient technologies but also evaluate which of them can best lead to carbon reduction in road transport.
Shell Starship 2.0 is expected to carry a 40,000-pound payload, or 10,000 more pounds than the Shell Starship carried in 2018. At the time, the truck attained a 178.4 ton-miles per gallon. Shell Lubricants said that was a nearly 248% improvement over the average in North America. The truck also achieved 8.94 mpg on its run versus the U.S. Class 8 average of 6.4 mpg.
The Shell team is looking to improve those figures during its second cross-country trip. Shell Starship 2.0 conducted regional testing earlier this year. — Transport Topics
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