The U.S.Department of Energy funds Englar's research and is eager to move from scale models to a full-sized prototype truck. Others, such as the American Trucking Associations and makers of sport-utility vehicles, are also eager to see it reach application stage. Obviously, anything you can do to reduce drag would also reduce costs. Trucking companies have already taken steps to improve the aerodynamics of the front of tractors and many of their trailers, too. Adding skirting and airfoils called fairings cuts fuel costs 17 percent, according to Alfred Gordon, safety director with Cocke Brothers Transportation in Savannah.
Many trailers have plastic cones added in front to slice through the air above the truck cab.
The rear end, though, has remained pretty uniform, mostly to fit the standard dimensions of loading docks. Some practical considerations remain, though, such as how to open the cargo doors with the curves Englar is proposing. Hinges run along the edges he wants to put curves on. And the material the curves are made of will have to be durable enough to withstand striking loading docks and yet compact enough to fit in the restricted truck bays at some buildings. Englar admits he has to solve all those problems, too, which is one reason his innovations aren't already on every trailer today.