Electrified tandem trailer axles?

Hyliion's Phill Aufdencame showed off Hyllion's intelligent electric drive axle system at the 2016 American Trucking Associations (ATA) annual convention in Las Vegas. Engineers at Carnegie Mellon originally developed this electrified trailer axle package.

Aufdencame noted that Hyliion's hybrid electric axle package takes about an hour to install and weighs about 500 lbs. The company's testing indicates that this hybrid electric axle can save about $15,600 per year per tractor-trailer in fuel costs.

In the middle of the trailer's tandem axle array is the lithium battery package. The batteries can also be used as an auxiliary power unit (APU), providing up to 20 hours of "hotel load" power to truck drivers.

The Hyliion lithium batteries "capture" and store axle energy when the tractor-trailer travels downhill or applies the brakes. That energy is then re-applied when extra horsepower is needed, lessening fuel consumption by the tractor-trailer's diesel engine.

By shifting some of a tandem trailer axle's "mechanical stress" onto the Hyliion system, brake pads can last longer. That provides further cost savings as trailers are typically kept in active service for 10 to 15 years in trucking, Hyliion noted.

The electric motor powering the Hyliion system is tucked underneath the axle chassis and positioned between the two axles.

Hyliion connect its axle to a switch box so it could demonstrate how the electrically-powered "intelligent" axle functioned.

Hyliion brought a tractor-trailer demonstration vehicle to the show with the trailer equipped with tis electrified axle package, In this setup, the trailer features wide-base tires.

A view underneath the trailer at what a "real-world" deployment of the Hyliion system would look like.