THE LOCKWOOD REPORT

BIODIESEL, AND A NEW WESTERN STAR

May 9, 2012 Vol. 8, No. 10

Bet you didn’t celebrate National Biodiesel Day, did you? Yeah, I missed it too. March 18th if you were wondering, and in the U.S. only, of course. If we had a similar Canadian fuel-appreciation day, the only possible choice would be paying homage to Tim Horton's coffee. Not my own fave, I have to say, but clearly the fuel of choice for a lot of Canucks.

But that actually is a significant date, levity aside, namely Rudolph Diesel's birthday, which probably justifies the hoisting of a solid German brew instead of coffee, given how much we owe him. Born in 1858, the poor bugger expired in 1913 after apparently falling -- or was he pushed? -- into the English Channel while travelling by boat from France to Jolly Old. Conspiracy theorists figure the French did it but I suspect they were all stuffing their little Gallic faces with croissants at the time.

In any case, before he met his maker Rudolf built the first diesel engine in 1897 and installed the first one commercially in 1906, a single-cylinder job turning a quick 180 rpm and producing 12 hp in the process (picture below). A stationary engine, it helped produce 110-volt electricity in a Danish sanatorium for tuberculosis sufferers. The beast was in service until 1936.

I mention all this, almost two months after the blessed day, because I've spent much of the last week delving even further into the realm of biodiesel fuel than I've already done over the last few years. And of course I came across the Rudolf Diesel connection because the biodiesel industry claims him as its own. His ground-breaking engine ran on peanut oil, after all, and folks at the U.S. National Biodiesel Board (NBB) are given to loud praise of his foresight.

In a 1912 speech, the NBB reports that Diesel said, “...the use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today, but such oils may become, in the course of time, as important as petroleum and the coal tar products of the present time.”

The thing is, that first diesel was designed to run on just about anything from road kill on up. Powdered coal was one fuel option, but there were many others, though peanuts weren't a bad choice because their oil is energy-rich and the oil yield per acre is pretty high, unlike soybeans, for example.

Old Rudy and his quasi-vegetarian engine aside, I've been skulking around the biodiesel world because I wondered how things were there these days. With the incredible hype surrounding natural gas and its sudden savior-like status, I had to ask if biodiesel still has a place in the transportation world. The shine seems to have gone off hybrids too, and I'll be looking at that situation next.

BIODIESEL HAS INDEED HAD SETBACKS recently, quite apart from being simply overshadowed by natural gas in the public pysche. The NBB is still bemoaning the fact that the U.S. Senate voted down two amendments that would have extended the biodiesel tax incentive through the end of the year. Congress allowed the $1-per-gallon biodiesel incentive to expire on Dec. 31, 2011 despite the fact that it had helped the biodiesel industry achieve record production last year of nearly 1.1 billion gal. That easily beat the 800-million-gallon target required under the EPA's Renewable Fuel Standard, and it compares to a paltry 15 million gallons just 10 years ago. The NBB is still pressing for an extension to prevent a drop in production and potential layoffs amongst the 39,000 people said to be employed in the industry.

Lest you think this is just an American issue, think again. Given how little biodiesel is produced in Canada, much of what we use here is imported from the U.S. And the disappearance of that subsidy has caused a price rise here too, enough so that some fleets have -- perhaps only temporarily -- given up on the biodiesel idea.

Tom O'Neill, energy sales manager at FS Partners in Kitchener, Ont., reports that a B5 biodiesel blend is now a cent or two more expensive than straight diesel. A B20 blend is about 5 cents pricier. That's because the company's fuel source is American.

That price hike has been enough for one of O'Neill's star customers, Koch Farms and Koch Logistics in Earlton, Ont., to stop using FS soybean-based B20 fuel even though there have been other benefits like improved fuel economy.

Norm Koch runs this huge operation, farming 11,000 cash-crop acres along with a grain elevator business and a fleet of a dozen over-the-road trucks. The farm-equipment fleet includes seven combines, a pair of multi-wheeled, 400-hp Case IH Steiger tractors, and more smaller tractors and other equipment than they can count. The Koch fuel bill is obviously not a small one. So when the price of B20 fuel rose by five whole cents, the impetus to switch back to ordinary diesel was strong, to say the least.

Another setback, while it doesn't affect biodiesel, is an indicator of how difficult it is and will continue to be for even well-funded enterprises to bring new fuel-making technologies into the commercial world. In late April Royal Dutch Shell and Ottawa's Iogen Corp. killed a fairly advanced plan to build a cellulosic ethanol plant in Manitoba. Their joint venture, Iogen Energy, aimed to make ethanol -- a gasoline replacement -- from biomass like municipal waste, wood chips, and the  stems of food crops. Usually it's made from corn or sugar cane, a much easier process but one with capacity limits.

An enormous amount of global development effort like this one has been directed at renewable diesel replacements, and they'll continue as the price of fossil fuels rises, but the Shell/Iogen example is a sharp reminder that it won't be an easy financial road. A cellulosic-process plant is about five times more expensive than one required for simply fermenting the sugars in corn. Clearly, at this stage, government subsidies are required.

AND THIS JUST IN: A NEW WESTERN STAR hit the street yesterday, namely a tractor version of the 4700-model truck launched a year ago. Featuring several fifth-wheel options, the 4700 tractor is especially suited to bulk-haul, local delivery, and construction applications.

 

Available in both set-forward and set-back day cab configurations, the 4700 tractor has a "high visibility hood" and a wide variety of wheelbase options. As well as what Western Star calls one of the broadest power offerings in a single truck model. From the lightweight Cummins ISC and ISL engines to the much larger Detroit DD13, you've got ratings from 260 to 470 hp.

Transmission offerings include Allison automatic, Eaton manual, and Eaton UltraShift Plus.

New options for the whole 4700 product line include Hendrickson and Watson Chalin lift axles; new roof fairings and side extenders; and Chalmers rubber-spring suspension.

The 4700 tractor is available to order now.

SPEAKING OF HENDRICKSON, the company has scheduled its next round of technical suspension training, the ninth session of the Hendrickson Vehicle Suspension Institute (HVSI).

Hundreds of technicians from the U.S. and Canada from independent repair facilities, fleets, and OE service dealerships have participated in the past eight instalments. Those sessions took place in Chicago, Canton, Ohio, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, and Los Angeles.

The HVSI program provides technicians as well as parts-and-service personnel with a basic orientation for the recommended installation, service, maintenance and repair procedures for newer models of Hendrickson truck and trailer suspensions.

Two sessions will be held from June 19th through the 22nd at the Universal Technical Institute (UTI) in Exton, Pennsylvania. They'll offer hands-on training covering the Primaax EX vocational truck air suspension and Haulmaax rubber-block truck suspension, plus suspension system performance analysis.

Hendrickson regional service managers and technical support managers conduct the sessions, spread over a day and a half. More sessions are planned in 2012, dates TBA.

For information about the Hendrickson Vehicle Suspension Institute and how to sign up for the upcoming session, call Jose Cabral at 630-910-2836 or contact your local Hendrickson rep.

RYDER OFFERS MORE INFO ON NATURAL GAS by way of its enhanced alternative fuels website with new tools and video training available to customers and fleet owners who want to know more about using natural gas vehicles. Which is to say, just about everybody.

There's an interactive fuel-cost savings calculator, for instance, that allows comparison of fuel costs between diesel- and natural-gas-powered commercial vehicles based on specific driving habits in real time. Fleet managers simply select a few basic metrics – current miles per gallon, local price of diesel and natural gas, and average miles driven per year – and then can instantly see their estimated annual fuel savings.

A searchable refuelling and maintenance station locator function has also been added. By entering a city or zip code, users can find nearby facilities for natural gas fuelling and maintenance, including address and directions, available fuel type (CNG or LNG), fuel pressure, tractor/trailer accessibility, hours of service, and payment options. The tool also offers satellite imagery of facilities, where available, to make it easier to find these sometimes hard-to-identify locations.

For drivers new to natural gas vehicle technology, Ryder now provides two training videos that provide step-by-step instructions for how to safely refuel a CNG- or LNG-powered truck.

In addition to these new tools, the site also offers information about the financial, environmental, and long-term advantages of natural gas, hybrid, and electric vehicle technologies.

Ryder is no stranger to natural gas. It's involved as the fleet partner in a southern California project, the first of its kind to deploy natural gas vehicles into a large commercial truck leasing and rental operation. Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the California Energy Commission, and Ryder, it includes 202 heavy-duty natural-gas vehicles and three strategically located maintenance shops in Rancho Dominguez, Orange, and Fontana. When fully implemented, the project will displace more than 1.5 million gallons of diesel annually with natural gas.

AND THE SHOW REMINDERS... The 59th Electric Utility Fleet Managers Conference will be held June 3-6, 2012 at the Williamsburg Lodge and Conference Center in Williamsburg, Virginia. Bob Lutz, the driving force behind many vehicle advancements in a nearly 50-year career in the automotive industry, will be the guest speaker at the big dinner on Wednesday June 6. Register at www.eufmc.com or call 1-800-261-9530.

On June 21 and 22, it's Green Fleet Expo VII, hosted by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Niagara Region in partnership with the City of Toronto, Fleet Services Division, Electric Mobility Canada and Fleet Challenge Ontario. Day 1 presentations are being webcast live. As the name suggests, you'll learn about the latest developments in low-emission vehicles and equipment being used by Canada's leading green fleets. There's a small trade show and a ride-and-drive. It's at the Four Points by Sheraton in the Niagara region, specifically at 3530 Schmon Parkway in Thorold, Ont.  The  2-day registration fee is $150, 1-day fee is $75, and you can register for the webcast of Day 1 for $35. See www.toronto.ca/fleet/expo.htm

Moving all the way ahead to September 10-12, you may want to attend the fifth International Environmentally Friendly Vehicles Conference in Baltimore, MD. Hosted in the U.S. for the first time, this one is about shaping the market for clean and fuel efficient vehicles. Sponsored by EPA, the U.S. Department of Energy, and Environment Canada, conference supporters include General Motors, Nissan, Auto Alliance, Global Automakers, Truck & Engine Manufacturers Association, Society of Automotive Engineers, the International Council on Clean Transportation and others. Sponsorship opportunities and exhibit space are available. Abstracts for papers and presentations will be accepted until April 30. Visit www.efv2012.com

And if you want to justify a trip to Europe, note that this is a Hannover year. The 64th IAA Commercial Vehicles show will be held from September 20 to 27, 2012 in Hannover, Germany. See www.iaa.de/en/

THIS NEWSLETTER IS PUBLISHED every two weeks. It's a heads-up notice about what's going on with trucking technology. I also write here about interesting products that may not have had the 'air play' they deserved within the last few months.

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 more than three decades in trucking.

If you have comments of whatever sort about the Lockwood Report, or maybe you've tried a gizmo I should know about, please contact me at rolf@newcom.ca

ALIGNMENT STANDS

(May 09, 2012) -- ALS-18 heavy-duty stands from ARI-HETRA

NO MORE CORROSION?

(May 09, 2012) -- Phillips says it has a way to end electrical cable corrosion

CLOUD-BASED MANAGEMENT

(May 09, 2012) -- Descartes unveils new cloud-based version of its management suite

SHORE-POWER KIT

(May 09, 2012) -- From Phillips and Temro comes a shore-power connector kit