Big economy gains claimed by latest Allison software

Allison Transmission reports that independent operator trials of its FuelSense 2.0 software have shown fuel savings of up to 12%. The trials were carried out by the French local authority Métropole d'Aix-Marseille-Provence on four Renault Range D 4x2 RCVs. The trucks, part its 160-vehicle all-Allison RCV fleet, were monitored over an 18 month period, travelling an average of 745 miles per month on domestic refuse collection. The authority has calculated that the trial saved around five tonnes of CO2 emissions with no loss of performance. As a result, it has installed the software, which employs a new intelligent algorithm that continuously adjusts gear changes taking into account factors such as vehicle weight, road gradient or the frequency of stops and starts, on a further 24 vehicles.

Métropole d'Aix-Marseille-Provence’s maintenance manager, Stanislas Kogut-Kubiak, said “The price of fuel encourages us to study all possible solutions to reduce our consumption. We did not expect such savings from this test: 12% is more than significant! And the feedback we have from drivers is very positive; the vehicles have maintained their usual performance.”

Closer to home, following a six-month trial on two Mercedes-Benz Econic RCVs which produced an 8.85% fuel saving, Fife Council has installed FuelSense 2.0 on another 11 existing Econics and ordered a further 11 new vehicles with the software installed.

Urging UK operators to upgrade their trucks mid-lifecycle, Allison manager Nathan Wilson, explained “We estimate that approximately 7,000 Euro-6 Dennis Eagle, DAF, Mercedes-Benz and Renault Trucks vehicles registered between 2014 and 2018 in the UK could benefit from an upgrade to FuelSense 2.0. Together, this would reduce carbon emissions by 27,000 tonnes per year. The aftermarket retrofit upgrade procedure takes just one hour per software update per vehicle, for a minimal cost. The result is that diesel vehicles that can drive cleaner straight away, generating significantly reduced emissions and lower fuel bills.”