They have an added advantage of stopping cyclists getting sucked under the trailer. They ideally stretch from the tractor unit’s drive wheels to the trailers rear axles. Side fairings channel air down the side of the trailer rather than underneath where it gets all turbulent as it passes over the chassis and axles. Moulded bumpers control airflow underneath the cab and integrate the lights so that they are aerodynamic Trailer side fairings Obviously, some air still needs to go into the grille for engine cooling, but this can be managed by the manufacturer who will create a grille of optimum size.
This is why we see a lot of line-haul trucks with fairly low bumpers. Because the truck’s sides are smoother, it’s better for the airflow. Moulded bumpers help channel air down the side of the cab rather than letting it pass underneath where it becomes turbulent on the underside of the truck where the chassis and axles are. Even though the refrigeration unit on the front of the trailer is slightly rounded, this would be much more aerodynamic with a roof deflector Moulded bumpers The truck on the left also has a lower front bumper for better air deflection (see below). The truck on the right has no cab aero and presents a large flat slab of the box body to the headwind, while the truck on the right has a contoured fairing that deflects air both over and to the side of the box body. In this truck, the fairing can be lowered when it’s not towing the trailer, and this improves aerodynamics. Roof-mounted cab deflector, sun visor, deep angled bumper and low trailer improve economy. Using a cab roof fairing deflects the air up from the windscreen and onto the top of the trailer or body. If your trailer or box body is taller than your cab, it presents a big flat area to the wind. Aerodynamic add-ons for trucks Cab roof fairings In the above diagram from Nokian, we can see that the trailer tyres use around 57% of the fuel consumption compared to the front tyres at 16%. It’s important to know exactly what type of driving you will be doing so that you can specify the correct tyre. On appropriate journeys, tyres with a low rolling resistance can save up to 2 litres per 100km driven. You can find out how to drive a truck economically here in our ultimate guide. When you’re using tens of thousands of litres of diesel a year, chopping a few percent off these figures starts to add up. Not only is pushing all that air out of the way a huge job for the engine, but it has to turn all those wheels on the road – this is the rolling resistance and represents around 13% of fuel use. Compare this to a car which is usually around 0.3. Approximately 20% of fuel consumption is used overcoming air resistance because trucks are huge and shaped like bricks and have a coefficient of drag approaching 1. Transport companies have to research their options for fuel economy.
Most of the training is the road rules, safe loading and ensuring your compliance with logbook work time requirements (try our logbook and work time course). When you first learn to drive a truck there’s little if any, attention paid to how much fuel saving you can make using aerodynamic aids. It has the added benefit of reducing the environmental impact of trucking by burning less diesel. To keep a competitive edge many trucking companies turn to aerodynamic add-ons for their tractor and trailer units to help improve fuel economy.
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