Several years ago, after driving a truck for 25 years, Barry Andersen decided to leave the industry and pursue research — mud flap research.

As a driver he had gotten fed up with the heavy water spray created by some traditional mud flaps. He viewed them as a safety hazard to everyday four-wheel drivers, and so he did something no one else had done: He made a mud flap with holes.

Sales were poor to begin with, but when diesel hit $4 a gallon Mr. Andersen found himself and his new mud flaps in the middle of an industry frenzy over aerodynamics. These porous mud flaps, coined eco-flaps, could improve a trucks fuel efficiency by 1.7 to 4 percent, he said.

“Right now, I can’t make enough,” he said.

In an industry where companies spend millions of dollars on fuel each week and are desperate to stay afloat amid rising costs, fuel efficiency isn’t just an idea, it’s a religion.

Without knowing when and if fuel prices will return to — cross your fingers — $3, trucking companies have put their hope in the gizmos and innovative technology of the future, which may reduce wind resistance, cut idling time and give them a financial edge.

Local executives are commiting big bucks into researching new equipment that could trim their costs. Every penny counts and every percentage-point improvement matters, executives say.

“Any kind of testing is focuses around anything you can do to squeeze out better fuel economy,” said Joey Hogan, senior executive vice president of Covenant Transport.

Marty Fletcher, director of on-board technology at U.S. Xpress, said his trucking company is testing several pieces of equipment that combined could improve the fuel efficiency of trucks by 9 to 10 percent.

Truck cab extenders, which function like wings on sides of the truck cab, are being used to reduce the air that gets trapped between a tractor and trailer and creates resistance, he said.

U.S. Xpress is also using some metal skirts that cover the space between the ground and the trailer between wheels and keeps air from causing pull underneath the trailer, he said.

The UTC SimCenter is testing Mr. Andersen’s eco-flaps for U.S. Xpress as well, Mr. Fletcher said.

“The biggest thing a tractor trailer has to overcome is wind,” he said.

Covenant is looking at similar equipment to improve fuel efficiency and new engines and truck models, said Mr. Hogan.

Truck builders have come a long way from building tractors with flat square lines that create wind resistence to using sloped hoods and windows, said Mr. Fletcher. The trucks of the future will look even more futuristic, he said.

“They will look like space ships with no points of resistance,” he said.

Instead of 18 wheels, trucking companies may transition to wide-faced tires that replace two tires with one larger tire. Wide-faced tires alone can improve fuel efficiency by 6 to 8 percent, Mr. Fletcher said.

Along with tweaking trucks physical appearance for improved aerodynamics, companies are serious about reducing the time their drivers idle their trucks when they aren’t driving. Oftentimes, truckers idle to stay warm or cool at night, but one hours of sitting can eat up one gallon of diesel fuel.

Different forms of Auxiliary Power Units, which can cool the inside of a truck cab without the engine running, are being tested at Covenant and U.S. Xpress to reduce the cost of idling.

U.S. Xpress is also researching evaporative cooler technology, which cool a trucks insides by building a block of ice using battery power and then blowing air across the ice into the truck’s cab, said Mr. Fletcher.

Mr. Hogan said Covenant has APUs in 500 trucks and that studying the performance and cost savings of APUs are important because of their price.

A single can cost several thousand dollars, he said.

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