Already an industry leader for tractor-trailer aerodynamic improvements, North American tier 1 supplier FlowBelow has revealed its re-engineered Tractor AeroKit, now with Flex Fairing at this year's American Trucking Association (ATA) conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
Picking up where the first AeroKit, which was launched in 2012, left off, its successor is made with much improved materials and design features, helping it to provide customers with increased durability and optimal operational performance.
The biggest and most significant upgrade is the Flex Fairing, which is made from a rubber alloy thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) resin that's similar to what's used in vehicle bumpers. The fairing is now able to bend and flex when impacted, and will immediately return to its original shape.
Additional enhancements include:
- Improved bracket design, as the previous steel components have been switched to all-aluminum that are not only lighter but also corrosion-resistant. They've also been repositioned for better ground clearance.
- Better fuel savings: the company says that independent testing has shown the new Tractor AeroKit saves fleets $1.26 per mile, or 3.16 gallons of fuel for every 1,000 miles driven.
- The warranty is good for five years/500,000 miles, which is five times longer than the previous, non-flexible kit.
"The Tractor AeroKit with Flex Fairing represents years of collaboration between our engineers, fleet customers and truck OEMs," said Josh Butler, president and CTO of FlowBelow. "We've taken a great product and made it even better, addressing the challenging environments faced by today's fleets in the real world."
The company reiterates that all of its products are made in Austin, Texas.
Testing was a major factor before the market reveal. For example, beginning earlier this year, the upgraded AeroKit underwent extensive field testing consisting of 30 to 50 fleets, ranging from 100 to 600 sleeper cabs. Based on this testing, fleets can save up to 5.88 mpg for every 1,000 miles driven, or 2.4 cents per mile. The company further points out that a fleet of 100 long-haul trucks traveling 12,000 miles per year could save as much as $247,000 annually. This is based on current diesel prices of $3.50 per gallon.
FlowBelow says the new kit is already available on all new KW, P8, Volvo, International, and Freightliner Class 8 long-haulers, and comes standard on base model Freightliner Cascadias and International LTs.
The company told Clean Trucking during its official press conference that there are options for fleets to upgrade from their previous generation kits. The product is not interchangeable with the old one as new brackets and fairing materials are necessary. They also stopped shipping the old flaps to customers.