The final fueling before the last day of the trip
Day 6 This morning, we prepared for our final stretch of the tour. We left Leeds, AL and traveled on I-20 to I-285 around Atlanta to I-85 and took a mid day break at Peach State Freightliner in Atlanta, GA. Our fine engineering folks took time out of their support/research command center and prepared a grilled lunch for our group participants.
After lunch, we embarked on ourlast leg of the trip. Our final destination stop was in Gastonia, NC at the Freightliner Parts Plant. When we reached our destination, we had completed 356 miles on this day and traveled a total of 2,459 miles on our tour.
My fuel mileage results in the Cascadia Evolution with additional enhancements came in at 9.3 mpg. The new 2014 Cascadia Evolution, pulling a standard trailer finished the trip at 7.7 mpg. While the 2010 Cascadia with a standard trailer also finished the trip with a respectable 7.1 mpg. The results of this test showed that the new 2014 Cascadia Evolution is 7% more efficient than its predecessor.
My take away from this experience was how well you can make a truck perform with an integrated power train designed to work together in perfect harmony.For me, another unexpected result from the test was how much more aerodynamics affect performance than I previously realized. Let me explain… all three trucks were set at 62 mpg cruise speed. Yet, the more aero trucks moved forward several minutes every leg of the trip. You may ask “why is this?”… each time the truck went uphill, the more aero truck would have extra power left over from not simply just pushing air out of the way. Also ,each time the truck went downhill, it would coast out easier and farther than the lesser aero truck.I was amazed at how much difference aerodynamics made, not only in regards to fuel mileage but in distance traveled on the road. I shared this tidbit with some of my driver friends and their response was… “they would have to see it to believe it. I would have agreed with them, however, I did see it for myself.
I wish to thank Daimler Trucks North America for inviting me to participate in this epic journey of maximum fuel efficiency.
Till next time… be safe,
Henry
The finish line at Gastonia, NC