POWER, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER

January 28, 2009 Vol. 5, No. 2

Last time out I told you that the Maxxforce 15 engine that Navistar International announced to analysts a couple of weeks ago was in fact a Caterpillar C15. It was speculation on my part but I wasn’t really out on much of a limb and it’s since been confirmed, though neither company is saying much at all. It remains to be seen whether Cat builds it for Navistar, or whether the truck maker builds it under licence in one of its existing plants. The formal announcement will come at the Mid-America Trucking Show in March.

It’s also been confirmed to my satisfaction, though by no means officially, that Cummins 15-liter engines won’t be seen in International trucks after 2010. That was perhaps inevitable after the Indiana engine-maker decided last year to go with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) as its 2010 emissions technology. Navistar remains a staunch -- and voluble -- supporter of advanced EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) and was left scrambling to find a non-SCR solution for big-bore engines after the Cummins switcheroo. Or suffer the indignity of praising EGR on its smaller motors while selling big ones with SCR. With an arrangement already in the works for other sorts of co-operation, Cat was a natural place for Navistar to turn.

What also remains to be seen, though I’ll guess, is whether the Cat/Maxxforce 15 retains ACERT emissions technology. Quite a few reports suggest that latter-day ACERT engines have posed operational problems, but it was always a compromise solution anyway. Since the vast majority of Cat’s engine build was for non-truck applications, the engine couldn’t be optimized for both on-highway and off-highway use because what works, in emissions terms, for a low-speed engine with no ram air doesn’t work for a high-speed engine hurtling down the Interstate at 70 mph.

So my guess is that Navistar will scrap ACERT and use a more conventional solution already developed for its smaller diesels. The larger capacity changes many things in the EGR equation, so there’s lots of engineering work to be done. And I expect that’s why we won’t see this engine until 2011 at the earliest, quite possibly later. In the meantime, International buyers will have to settle for the Maxxforce 13. A perfectly capable engine, I’m sure, but maybe not big enough for everyone.

Big-bore 15-liter motors have about 20% of the U.S. market, more like 30% in Canada.

Oh, before I leave this topic, my friend Dave McKenna at Mack alerted me to a gaffe in the January 14th edition of this newsletter in which I mistakenly referred to nitrous oxide as one of the noxious emissions from diesel engines. It’s nitrogen oxide, of course, otherwise known as NOx. Nitrous oxide is laughing gas, and its moniker is N2O. I do this all the time for some reason. Sorry, folks.

AND ON THE HYBRID FRONT, A CLEAN FIRST IN VICTORIA, where R&B Trucking has what’s being called the only refrigerated delivery truck powered by diesel-electric hybrid means on the continent. The company, run by Paul Cunnington, is a delivery agent for Clark Freightways. It has 28 trucks on the road, this one being the only hybrid.

Cunnington’s class 7 Freightliner M2e 106 straight truck uses a small Cummins engine and the ubiquitous Eaton hybrid propulsion system. It also has an interesting electric refrigeration unit powered by the hybrid system, eliminating the need for a second diesel engine. That makes it the cleanest refrigerated urban delivery vehicle currently in operation, and it’s expected to save the company as much as 35% in fuel costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 20 tonnes a year.

That all-electric reefer unit is made by Aura Systems (www.aurasystems.com) of California, which is predominantly a maker of mobile-power electric generators, often for military use. More recently involved in truck refrigeration after the acquisition of Global Refrigeration, it makes the ‘Oasis’ midrange truck unit as seen on the R&B vehicle. Intended to run electrically off a PTO-driven generator, it was modified in this case to get power from the hybrid system. And it probably has a big future in either form.

Introduced last September, with capacities of 15,000-20,000 BTU/hr, it’s on the road in more than 100 trucks so far. Aura says Penske, Ryder, Idealease, and smaller regional leasing companies have agreed to provide a leasing option for this system for select customers. Coming noise and emission regulations will very likely make this sort of product very popular. Aura conservatively estimates shipping over 700 systems in 2009 and 2000-plus in 2010.

The company says it will also introduce a trailer system in the first half of this year, with BTU/hr ratings in the 45,000-60,000 range. It’ll require the use of a single-circuit 16 kW power system, which the company already makes for the U.S. Navy. Aura figures on shipping only 300 trailer refrigeration systems this year, but “significant numbers” in 2010.

Going back to the R&B hybrid truck, its birth is part of the Fraser Basin Council’s Green Fleets BC program, which provides support to trucking companies to help them move towards environmentally friendly practices and technologies. The provincial government is supporting Green Fleets BC, a key component of its Air Action Plan, with $330,000 for the Fraser Basin Council’s hybrid truck incentive program, which contributes as much as $20,000 per vehicle to help cover the price difference between a hybrid and a conventional truck.

“We’re proud to take a leadership role in this area,” says R&B’s Cunnington. “With the long-term cost of diesel rising, we’re looking forward to seeing a big drop in our fuel bill. We’re also excited to be doing our part for the environment.”

In return for assistance in purchasing the truck, R&B Trucking will collect and share operational data and driver feedback with other Green Fleets BC participants. This information will assist other fleet operators across BC to determine which green technologies can best help them trim operating costs.

My hat’s off to both Mr. Cunnington and the B.C. government, not to mention the Fraser Basin Council, for being on the cutting edge. We need many more incentive programs like this in Canada. Many more.

“We congratulate R&B Trucking for being the first urban delivery fleet to bring this combination of technologies to North America,” said David Marshall Executive Director for the Fraser Basin Council. The data we generate with R&B will show urban delivery companies that there are financial benefits to going green.”

For more information on the Fraser Basin Council’s GreenFleets program, look at www.greenfleets.bc. Have a peek as well at www.fraserbasin.bc.ca.

STICKING WITH HYBRIDS, KUDOS TO COKE TOO, which announced last week that it plans to deploy another 185 hybrid electric trucks across the United States and Canada in 2009. When they’re all on the road, Coca-Cola Enterprises will have 327 hybrid electric delivery trucks, the largest such fleet in North America.

The company has 142 hybrids running now, most of which are 12-bay class 7 box trucks. This latest announcement launched a new, larger hybrid electric tractor-trailer rig (55,000 lb GVW), which is Coca-Cola’s standard bulk delivery unit. The hybrid uses about 30% less fuel and produces about 30% fewer emissions than standard tractors. It uses electric power instead of gas when traveling at speeds below 30 mph. The Kenworth tractors use Eaton hybrid technology and Cummins engines.

CCE has deployed some of its 142 hybrid electric trucks in a couple of Canadian cities, namely Toronto and Vancouver. Some of the new crop will also be used there this year, as well as Montreal.

Have a look at www.cokecce.com.

R&B Trucking notwithstanding, it’s likely that in the current recession we’ll have to depend on large companies such as Coca-Cola and the likes of UPS and Wal-Mart to push the hybrid truck commercialization process forward. They’re hurting too, of course, but their deep pockets mean that the adoption of new technology won’t depend on government grants and incentives. There are certainly operating cost advantages to going the hybrid way, and they’re very clear, but the up-front price is a big pill for ordinary mortals to swallow. All of which is to say again, hats off to Victoria’s R&B Trucking. And its patron saint, Wilson Pickett. Or is that Aretha Franklin?

BRIEFLY, A MILESTONE AT PETERBILT, which built its 300,000th truck at the Denton, Texas factory last month. It was an aerodynamic Model 387.

Peterbilt Denton’s first truck rolled off the assembly line in August of 1980 – a white Model 359. Today, all seven of the company’s heavy-duty truck models are manufactured at the plant.

AND ONCE AGAIN A REMINDER about a few upcoming events. First off, there’s the TMC annual meeting and show in Orlando running February 8-12. I’ll be sending my next Product Watch newsletter from there. Then it’s the Work Truck Show beside the NTEA annual convention in Chicago, March 4-6. Followed by the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, March 19-21. And then there’s our very own ExpoCam 2009 show in Montreal a month later, April 16-18 (www.expocam.ca).

See you there. Everywhere.

This newsletter is published every two weeks. It's a heads-up notice about what's going on with trucking technology as well as what you can see at www.todaystrucking.com where you'll find in-detail coverage of nearly everything that's new. Plus interesting products that may not have had the 'air play' they deserved within the last few months. Why not subscribe today?

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I should remind you that I don’t endorse any of the products I write about in this e-newsletter, nor do I have the resources to test them. What you’re getting is reasonably well educated opinion based on three decades in trucking. And in the case of the individual product items, I’m presenting simple news from the manufacturer or service provider, with the hyperbole removed and clarification applied.

If you have comments of whatever sort about Product Watch, or maybe a gizmo I should know about, please contact me at rlockwood@newcom.ca.

LIGHTWEIGHT LIFT AXLE

(January 14, 2009) -- Hendrickson trims another 90 lb from its Paralift lift-axle system

T2000 DASH UPDATED

(January 14, 2009) -- Kenworth’s T2000 adds Driver Information Center, GPS, and multiplexed instruments

QUICK-CONNECT BOX

(January 14, 2009) -- Truck-Lite’s quick connection for light/medium trucks and trailers

IMPACT WRENCH, SOCKETS

(January 14, 2009) -- New from Snap-on, 3/8-in. impact wrench and Flank Drive impact swivel sockets