TORONTO – FlowBelow Aero Inc. is bringing its line of tractor-mounted aerodynamic products to Canada, with the signing of Groupe Trans-West as it's first major international customer. FlowBelow Aero announced the deal here at Canada's largest trucking trade show, Truck World.

Trans-West conducted independent, third party fuel efficiency testing of the FlowBelow device through Canada’s PIT Group, third-party transportation technology testing organization. The company conducted simultaneous in-service testing of the product on 20 of its own trucks and found the results were comparable.

"For any fuel-saving technology that we consider, we first look to see if the device has been tested by the PIT Group," said André Boisvert, VP of Technology and Development at Groupe Trans-West. "Since the group had not tested the device before, we coordinated with them to run the test.  We were pleasantly surprised when the fuel savings results from the third party testing we did were aligned with the fuel savings that FlowBelow claimed, which helped to make the decision to retrofit our entire fleet an easy one."

Boisvert explained there were some concerns about winter performance of the devices and some questions about how difficult it might be for drivers to install snow chains with the FlowBelow devices installed.

The testing proved FlowBelow posed no problems when running chains," he told Heavy Duty Trucking. "We also found the undercarriage of the truck had less snow build up that we found on trucks not equipped with the devices. And we found no problems with snow build-up on the fairings themselves. In other words, winter and cold weather proved to be non-issues."

AeroKit’s ability to perform through Canada’s harsh winter climate and to ensure that there were no problems with chains, snow and ice. Based on the fleet-wide adoption of the Tractor AeroKit, Trans-West is expected to save up to 100,000 gallons of diesel per year. 

“Groupe Trans-West is an award winning Canadian fleet and industry leader in fuel efficiency and technology adoption,” said Josh Butler, president of FlowBelow Aero. “We look forward to expanding our presence in Canada."

Trans-West, a SmartWay Transport Partner, also specs auxiliary power units, fuel tank fairings, low rolling resistance tires, trailer side skirts, TrailerTails and automatic tire pressure systems. The company also uses driver speed caps to maximize fuel efficiency.