Walmart » WAVE

The world's largest food retailer Walmart has revealed its idea of an efficient semi-truck that would cut substantially cut emissions caused by road transportation. Actually, they didn’t stop with the tractor and went on to create a full trailer made out of carbon fiber. Yes, that’s right, the huge panels you see making up the sides of the regular-sized trailer measure 53 feet (16 meters) in length and are by all accounts the biggest of their kind in the world.

Called the WAVE concept, its name stands for Walmart Advanced Vehicle Experiment, and the most striking thing about it is the shape of the cab, as well as the way the interior is set up. The driver gets a perfectly centered view of the road, thanks to the McLaren F1 driving position, with additional information being supplied exclusively via information screen – there are no physical gauges in sight.

Power for the WAVE comes from a “prototype advanced turbine-powered, range-extending series hybrid powertrain (or microturbine-hybrid powertrain) combined with an electric motor and battery storage system.” Purely a concept, the WAVE will not spawn a Walmart-branded truck, at least not officially or any time soon, plus it’s very unlikely that it will be deemed financially viable to make an entire trailer out of carbon, even with the reported weight savings of 4,000 lbs (1,814 kg).