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There are lots of ways to improve the FE of a pickup truck. Putting hybrid propulsion is going to be a challenge, since getting stuck could easily burn out an electric motor. :eek: More ideas:

Cylinder deactivation
"With load/Without load" option. Trucks are geared to haul stuff. Have an option to gear it for a passenger load and 2WD.
Lower the ground clearance on most models
Have a sloping cover that goes from the cab to the tailgate to improve the aerodynmics when there is nothing hauled
Make the front-end less blunt.

Chevy is already doing cylinder deactivation on the Tahoe and I imagine they'll try to roll it out to the full product line the longer that gas prices stay high like they are. Variable ground clearance could actually be integrated pretty easily since many high-end trucks have self-leveling suspension at the rear already, designed to keep the vehicle in the proper suspension range regardless of payload. Now put those same air springs up front and put a switch in the cab marked "Highway - General - Clearance" and have it adjust from 5" to 6.5" to 8" of ground clearance and you've got a winner. As for the front end, I'm pretty sure it's irrelevant. The Lexus LS and Infiniti G35 have very blunt looking front ends and both have 0.28 Cd.

The bed cover is a known major issue. I've seen one study of a sloping bed cover that cut the Cd from something like 0.45 to 0.36. Unfortunately, what they didn't measure was lift. Trucks are light in the back end already. Now dial that thing up to 80-90mph (typical for Interstate 10 in the west) and you have a recipe for disaster. Smarter would just be a quality tonnau cover since that same study showed it dropping to something like 0.40 with just a hard cover over the bed.

It will be interesting to see if the new CAFE rules and sustained years of high fuel costs will result in any or all of the above becoming standard equipment within the next 5-10 years.

Hi Chuck and Brandon:

___I am of the opinion that if the manufacturers place relatively Fuel efficient ICE’s in the darn things to begin with, we would all be better off. I would love to see how a cylinder deactivation scheme and/or especially an Atkinson intake would work with the Ranger’s 2.3 but it would not be good for hauling a horse trailer at 70 + mph across the sate. That being said, very few actually need to be driving 4 to 7 + L ICE based large P/U’s.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

My idea of this FE pickup is cylinders deactivate and the gearing changes when it's just commuting - converts to load gear and all cylinders when it's got a heavy load.

That being said, very few actually need to be driving 4 to 7 + L ICE based large P/U’s.
Chevy actually has an available 8.1 liter, 330hp V8 in the Silverado 2500 and Dodge will sell you an 8.3 liter V10 in their Ram SRT-10. 7 liters is apparently for lesser men, nowadays.

Hi Brandon:

___Those large displacement ICE’s sure don’t make any sense today, do they :(

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Would this work? :)

http://www.evworld.com/view.cfm?section=article&storyid=774