The North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) issued a Confidence Report for Trailer Aerodynamic Devices in 2016. This report confirmed our talking point that when side guards are mass produced we can expect to see a decrease in manufacturing costs.
The cost of trailer side skirts have decreased substantially over the past 3-5 years. Current costs for trailer aerodynamic technologies – particularly side skirts – have decreased significantly in recent years, due to far more market entrants driving cost competition and much higher deployment volumes reducing cost per unit. From the interview responses, it is estimated that costs for side skirts have dropped roughly 70% compared to cost estimates that were compiled as part of the 2010 National Academy of Sciences study that investigated fuel efficiency technologies for commercial vehicles. CONFIDENCE REPORT: TRAILER AERODYNAMIC DEVICES
Also, see a more recent report from September 2020: NACFE updates two of its existing confidence reports
Current cost of an aftermarket side guard system, AngelWing, is approximately $2,895. If the cost were to drop 70%, that would bring the cost down to $869/side guard system.
