Sustainable Timber Transport—Economic Aspects of Aerodynamic Reconfiguration

Erik Johannes, Petter Ekman, Maria Huge-Brodin and Matts Karlsson
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Erik Johannes: Division of Applied Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics, Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping 581 83, Sweden
Petter Ekman: Division of Applied Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics, Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping 581 83, Sweden
Maria Huge-Brodin: Division of Logistics and Quality Development, Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping 581 83, Sweden
Matts Karlsson: Division of Applied Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics, Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping 581 83, Sweden

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 6, 1-18

Abstract: There is a need to reduce fuel consumption, and thereby reduce CO 2 -emissions in all parts of the transport sector. It is also well known that aerodynamic resistance affects the fuel consumption in a major way. By improving the aerodynamics of the vehicles, the fuel consumption will also decrease. A special type of transportation is that of timber, which is performed by specialized trucks with few alternative uses. This paper follows up on earlier papers concerning Swedish timber trucks where aerodynamic improvements for timber trucks were tested. By mapping the entire fleet of timber trucks in Sweden and investigating reduced fuel consumption of 2–10%, financial calculations were performed on how these improvements would affect the transport costs. Certain parameters are investigated, such as investment cost, extra changeover time and weight of installments. By combining these results with the mapping of the fleet, it can be seen under which circumstances these improvements would be sustainable. The results show that it is possible through aerodynamics to lower the transportation costs and make an investment plausible, with changeover time being the most important parameter. They also show that certain criteria for a reduced transportation cost already exist within the vehicle fleet today.

Keywords: timber trucks; fuel consumption; aerodynamic design; financial consequences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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