It looks like Wal-Mart borrowed some design ideas from the kids’ toy aisle for its concept tractor-trailer.
It’s no Transformer, but the Walmart Advanced Vehicle Experience (WAVE) uses leading-edge aerodynamics and a hybrid powertrain to improve energy efficiency of the retailer’s truck fleet and reduce costs.
“Wal-Mart is continually looking for innovative ways to increase our efficiencies and reduce our fleet’s emissions,” said Tracy Rosser, senior vice president of transportation at Wal-Mart. “The Walmart Advanced Vehicle Experience is a bold step in transportation technologies that, although not on the road in its current form, will serve as a learning platform for the future that will accelerate our progress toward our goals.”
The world’s largest retailer unveiled its futuristic truck last week at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky. The prototype is the result of collaboration between Wal-Mart and vendors such as Peterbilt, Roush Engineering, Great Dane Trailers and Capstone Turbine.
It may never make it to the road, but it will allow us to test new technologies and new approaches. I share it because it gives you a sense of how sustainability is helping us see things in new ways, president and CEO Doug McMillon wrote on the company blog.
