Chapter 165: Chapter One Hundred and Sixty: The Need for Improvement

After examining the blueprint for a long time, Benz and Disel finally spoke slowly, “Your Highness, this design is indeed feasible.”

“Really? How long does it take to make a prototype of such a car?” Arthur, as expected, nodded and asked with a smile.

The difficulty of trucks compared to cars lies in the good design and engine performance. Now that Arthur has provided the design, and Disel’s engine R&D ability and technology are world-leading, it has created the possibility for the birth of transport trucks.

“It’s hard to say, Your Highness. Because it’s a cargo truck, we need to calculate the weight of the cargo to determine whether our engine can keep the car running smoothly. This situation is different from passenger cars and requires more strict engine requirements.” Benz contemplated for a moment before speaking.

The weight of the load is the obvious difference between passenger cars and cargo trucks.

If we want to develop a cargo truck, the weight of the transported goods mustn’t be too low.

At present, automotive engines worldwide cannot bear excessively heavy goods, which is why cargo trucks have not been born yet.

However, this is not a challenge for Australia. The diesel engine developed by Disel perfectly fills this gap.

In previous tests, Disel’s diesel engine could tow at least five hundred pounds of stuff for over three hours at a constant speed of thirty kilometers.

This has initially met Arthur’s expectations for cargo trucks.

But this does not mean that Disel’s diesel engine has no shortcomings. After long-lasting operation, engine overheating is one of the main causes of failure. How to enable engines to dissipate heat efficiently is one of the urgent problems to be solved for Disel’s diesel engine.

“For the first cargo truck, our requirements don’t have to be too strict. The first cargo truck should have a load capacity of 0.6 to 0.8 tons or more. But it must have stability like cars.” Arthur said with a smile.

Now the research and exploration of cargo trucks are in their initial stages, and Arthur naturally won’t fantasize about inventing giant trucks that can carry several tons of cargo.

For Benz and Disel, being able to invent a truck with a load capacity of more than 0.6 tons and stability similar to cars means initial success.

“In that case, the difficulty of the preliminary R&D work will be greatly reduced. Your Highness, give us three months, and we will produce a prototype according to the blueprint.” Hearing this, Disel heaved a sigh of relief, glanced at Benz, and immediately said.

If developed from scratch, the research and development cycle for cargo trucks would take at least six months or even several years.

However, since the diesel engine to be fitted in the cargo truck has been developed, and there is an initial blueprint, the R&D cycle for the cargo trucks can also be significantly shortened.

Three months is not a long time, especially in terms of developing a new type of car.

Arthur naturally wouldn’t ask for more and nodded, saying, “During your R&D period, the resources of the Ministry of Industry are at your disposal. Although this is just an exploration of cargo trucks, I hope our cargo trucks can also adapt to poor road conditions and must have high stability requirements.”

If passenger cars require performance and safety, then stability is more critical for cargo trucks.

If a truck carrying goods is stranded halfway, it is definitely a troublesome matter to handle.

Moreover, once cargo trucks are successfully developed, they will achieve significant achievements in both civilian and military fields.

Whether it is transporting civilian goods or military strategic supplies and resources, they cannot tolerate goods being stranded on the road due to vehicle breakdowns.

This is an unacceptable problem for vehicle owners, goods owners, and those needing goods, as well as a problem that future cargo trucks must solve.

“Yes, I understand, Your Highness. Please rest assured, our researched and developed cargo trucks will focus on the issue of stability and avoid accidents on the road as much as possible.” Benz promptly responded.

In fact, the Benz Car Factory also attaches great importance to vehicle stability.

The currently marketed Benz One can drive without issues at a consistent speed, lasting at least six hours.

Only requiring the engine to rest after every six hours and cool down to its initial state, the car can hit the road once again.

In comparison to other cars, this has significantly improved the issue of stability. At least, the Benz One’s breakdown time on the road will be far less than that of other cars.

With the research plan for cargo trucks in place, Arthur temporarily had nothing to do at the car factory.

Next, Benz and Disel’s most crucial task is to develop a cargo truck prototype based on the blueprint, and explore improvements for the currently marketed Benz One.

Although the Benz One currently has the highest cost-performance ratio and world-class performance, being content with this performance and configuration will eventually be surpassed by other car factories exploring assembly line production methods.

In history, the Ford Company was like this. Although the Ford Model T had been the highest-selling car worldwide for more than a decade, even occupying more than half of the global market share.

However, because Ford was content with the Model T’s configuration and did not vigorously improve it, other car factories caught up, eventually losing the possibility of becoming the car industry’s dominant leader.

While the impressive sales of 15 million Model T cars worldwide were an insurmountable figure, Ford did indeed languish for a while after the Model T, and subsequent car models did not achieve the same miracle as the Model T.

Arthur also specifically instructed Benz and Disel that no matter how outstanding their achievements, the further exploration and improvement of results are required and should never be abandoned at any time.

Perhaps because Benz and Disel are both pure researchers, they took this very seriously, promising and practicing this commitment in person.

This is what pleases Arthur about them. There is no need to worry about research. Their attitude and seriousness towards research, like the many great scientists of this era, are so pure and great.