January 2013, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Tom Berg
CORRECTED -- Volvo Trucks executives knew full well what a group of its customers would say about experiences with modern engines, but invited them to speak to press reporters anyway. Then the Volvo people explained what they're doing to alleviate service problems that customers have also experienced
Tags: Engine Smarts, Volvo, Dealers, Engines, Diagnostics
November 2012, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Tom Berg
The idea of Cummins parts in a Caterpillar machine seems odd, but the shrinking world of industry consolidation will result in the use of Cummins-sourced selective catalytic reduction equipment on the Navistar-supplied diesels in Cat vocational trucks
Tags: Engine Smarts
October 2012, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Tom Berg
Several years ago, Paul Wion, corporate fleet supervisor at Lewis Tree Service in upstate New York, got up during a Shop Talk session at a TMC meeting to describe a fix for diesel particulate filters that were plugging up in the field
Tags: Engine Smarts
September 2012, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Tom Berg
HANOVER, Germany -- "We're ready for Euro 6," declared Tom Linebarger, the pleasant, polite and straight-talking CEO of Cummins Inc., in leading off his press conference during the IAA show in Hanover last week
Tags: Engine Smarts
September 2012, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Engine Smarts
Just how clean is the latest clean diesel technology? Put it this way: A study by the University of California-Riverside found commercially cooked hamburgers emit more particulate matter than diesel trucks meeting EPA 2007 and EPA 2010 emissions standards. The UC-Riverside study was funded by the South Coast Air Quality Management District and the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District
Tags: Engine Smarts
August 2012, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Engine Smarts Commentary Tom Berg, Senior Editor
Who'd-a-thunk that mile-per-gallon numbers would be important to macho owners of pickup trucks? You can thank spiking prices of gasoline, even before Hurricane Isaac finishes making a wake in Louisiana
Tags: Engine Smarts
July 2012, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Engine Smarts commentary Rolf Lockwood, Contributing Editor
Unless you've been on holiday in some remote spot without access even to carrier pigeons or smoke signals, you'll know by now that Navistar International announced on July 6 that it was giving up on "advanced EGR" as its sole engine emissions technology
Tags: Engine Smarts
July 2012, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Engine Smarts column Tom Berg, Senior Editor
"Why buy new when you can reuse something that still has value?" That's the mantra at Detroit Reman, which has been remanufacturing engines and engine parts since 1966. And after touring its western plant at Tooele, Utah, one comes away wonderin
Tags: Engine Smarts
July 2012, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Engine Smarts column Truckinginfo Staff
One of the key factors limiting the use of compressed natural gas in trucks has been the question of range. A commercial vehicle body and trailer manufacturer based in Germany may have a solution -- putting extra CNG tanks on the trailer
Tags: Engine Smarts
June 2012, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Engine Smarts Tom Berg, Senior Editor
A band wagon powered by natural gas seems to have begun rolling, but most of those aboard talk about brand-new heavy trucks with special gas-burning engines. Why not convert existing trucks and engines to use cheap and clean-burning gas
Tags: Engine Smarts
June 2012, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By EngineSmarts column Tom Berg, Senior Editor
Prices paid at the pump for natural gas by truck operators won't rise much even if gas's basic price doubles, said an executive with Clean Energy, a company now setting up retail NG filling stations and selling the fuel
Tags: Engine Smarts
May 2012, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Engine Smarts Commentary Tom Berg, Senior Editor
Natural gas! Almost everything's natural gas! That was my impression while walking through the displays at the Alternative Clean Transportation Expo in early May at the Long Beach Convention Center. Suppliers were offering all sorts of equipment and services connected to this fuel that's so much in the news
Tags: Engine Smarts
May 2012, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Engine Smarts Rolf Lockwood, Contributing Editor
Volvo just told the world about its LNG engine coming in 2014 at a recent press gathering in Miami Beach and discussed the future of DME fuel - that's dimethyl ether - in North America
Tags: Engine Smarts
May 2012, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Engine Smarts Rolf Lockwood, Contributing Editor
As we head into summer vacation season, it's worth noting that hybrids are being used in a somewhat unexpected place - California's Yosemite National Park
Tags: Engine Smarts
May 2012, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Engine Smarts Tom Berg, Senior Editor
A chrome-plated exhaust stack emits a muted whoosh as this truck's turbine engine spins at tens of thousands of RPMs, drawing the curious among attendees at this ride-and-drive event in downtown Long Beach, Calif.
Tags: Engine Smarts
May 2012, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Engine Smarts Tom Berg, Senior Editor
Suppliers of alternative fuels and the equipment that burns them must cooperate to move America toward energy self-sufficiency and economic growth, says retired U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark
Tags: Engine Smarts
May 2012, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Rolf Lockwood, Contributing Editor
Bet you didn't celebrate National Biodiesel Day, did you? March 18 if you were wondering
Tags: Engine Smarts
April 2012, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Engine Smarts column Rolf Lockwood, Contributing Editor
Three weeks after the Mid-America Trucking Show, while I munch on very small, very rich chocolate eggs that were left on my desk by some generous rabbit, I find myself at the keyboard pondering a few things I learned and heard in Louisville. And one in particular
Tags: Engine Smarts
April 2012, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Engine Smarts Rolf Lockwood, Contributing Editor
Very quietly, Cummins Turbo Technologies offered a glimpse of its advanced waste-heat expander prototype at the Mid-America Trucking Show recently
Tags: Engine Smarts
March 2012, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By "Engine Smarts" Oliver B. Patton, Washington Editor
From a seminar on sustainable transportation at the Sweden House in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, a glimpse over the horizon, such as a camless engine and turning waste into fuel
Tags: Engine Smarts
March 2012, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Tom Berg, Senior Editor
Detroit's Big Three light-truck builders are embracing compressed natural gas, if not as the dominant fuel of the future then as a major alternative to gasoline and diesel
Tags: Engine Smarts
February 2012, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Engine Smarts column Tom Berg, Senior Editor
Some clean diesels of the 2000s have been disruptively unreliable and most are discouragingly expensive, but performance has improved as manufacturers try hard to fix them, said fleet executives at last week's annual meeting of the Technology & Maintenance Council
Tags: Engine Smarts
February 2012, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Engine Smarts commentary Tom Berg, Senior Editor
Does it make sense for a truck builder to limit customers' engine choices to just one line of products? It does if the engines are its own, because it makes more money.
That is among the assertions made by Navistar International Corp.'s top executives to stock market researchers during the company's annual Analysts Day Feb. 1 at its shining and sprawling new headquarters in Lisle, Ill., west of Chicago.
Tags: Engine Smarts
January 2012, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Engine Smarts Deborah Lockridge, Editor in Chief
So far, the new engines built to meet the Environmental Protection Agency's 2010 emissions mandate are performing far better than their EPA-2007 predecessors. That was the consensus of this year's nominees for the American Truck Dealers/Heavy Duty Trucking Truck Dealer of the Year
Tags: Engine Smarts
January 2012, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Engine Smarts column Tom Berg, Senior Editor
"Tall" gearing and a large engine are giving an expedited freight hauler the high fuel economy he sought, even if most factory engineers won't approve his spec'ing requests
Tags: Engine Smarts
January 2012, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Engine Smarts column Tom Berg, Senior Editor
The engine of the future is probably the one under the hood or cab of your current truck
Tags: Engine Smarts
December 2011, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Engine Smarts Tom Berg, Senior Editor
The other day, a remodeling contractor was working at the next-door neighbors' house and I eyeballed the two trucks that he sent his workers and supplies in
Tags: Engine Smarts
December 2011, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Engine Smarts column Tom Berg, Senior Editor
Our Engine Smarts item and November HDT column on complaints about 2002-2010 diesels ("What's Happening with Engines?") hit a proverbial nerve, because we got a healthy amount of reader response
Tags: Engine Smarts
November 2011, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Tom Berg, Senior Editor
Hybrid drive systems usually have to be part of a new car or truck, and usually they're expensive. But XL Hybrids of Boston is coming up with one that can be installed on new or existing vehicles at a moderate cost
Tags: Engine Smarts
October 2011, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Engine Smarts Rolf Lockwood, Editor at Large
Some U.S. biofuel mandates can't be reached, according to a new report from the National Research Council. At least not without major technological innovations or policy changes
Tags: Engine Smarts
October 2011, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Engine Smarts Tom Berg, Senior Editor
What's going on with the latest diesels? The answer depends on who's doing the talking
Tags: Engine Smarts
August 2011, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Tom Berg, Senior Editor
2010-model diesels are running well and turning in better fuel economy than their EPA-'07-spec predecessors, according to reports we've heard at industry meetings and in conversations with fleet managers
Tags: Engine Smarts
August 2011, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Tom Berg, Senior Editor
How does the fuel-fed regeneration of diesel particulate filters affect overall fuel economy?
Tags: Engine Smarts
July 2011, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By "Engine Smarts" Tom Berg, Senior Editor
To many customers, reliability and durability are as important as pulling ability. They should look at an engine's "B" rating
Tags: Engine Smarts
July 2011, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By "Engine Smarts" Rolf Lockwood, Editor at Large
Just over a week ago I 'penned' a brief column on the European launch of Volvo's new 'MethaneDiesel' FM tractor. It needs a little expansion
Tags: Engine Smarts
June 2011, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Commentary Rolf Lockwood, Editor at Large
Volvo Trucks in Sweden is about to be the first to market a methane-powered truck for long-haul operations in Europe
Tags: Engine Smarts
June 2011, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By "Engine Smarts" Tom Berg, Senior Editor
Earlier this year, we wrote about the OPOC engine from EcoMotors. Since then, we've discovered another opposed-piston engine, from Achates Power in San Diego
Tags: Engine Smarts
May 2011, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Commentary Rolf Lockwood, Editor at Large
Amidst endless chatter about electric power and even fuel cells, the good old internal combustion engine clearly isn't going away any time soon
Tags: Engine Smarts
April 2011, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Commentary Rolf Lockwood, Editor at Large
You may not know that Navistar owns a subsidiary company called
PurePower Technologies, formed last year, which has just announced the purchase of the Eaton Corporation's aftertreatment business. And it says the solid-ammonia dosing technology developed by a small Danish compan
Tags: Engine Smarts
April 2011, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Deborah Lockridge, Editor in Chief
The five nominees for the American Truck Dealers/Heavy Duty Trucking Truck Dealer of the Year report that new engines meeting the 2010 emissions standards so far seem to be causing fewer problems than their 2002/04 and 2007 counterparts, and that support from the manufacturer is significantly improved
Tags: Engine Smarts
March 2011, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Deborah Lockridge, Editor in Chief
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Noting that fuel economy will be key to competitiveness among engine makers in the next decade, Cummins says real-world data has confirmed that its EPA-2010 spec ISX15 engine delivers 6 percent fuel economy improvement over its 2009 product. Some customers could see even better results thanks to "significant calibration improvements
Tags: Engine Smarts
February 2011, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Commentary Rolf Lockwood, Editor at Large
You'll be hearing a lot about the 'OPOC' engine in the next little while, and maybe for a long time to come.
Tags: Engine Smarts
January 2011, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Commentary Rolf Lockwood, Editor at Large
By way of a brief introduction to this first of several Engine Smarts columns to come, let me start by admitting to a lifelong fascination with the hardware of trucking
Tags: Engine Smarts
December 2010, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Commentary Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor
"We're experts in cooling. It's not that we wanted to become experts, but that is what it has taken," said Ramin Younessi, Navistar's vice president of powertrain and strategy. He was talking of the development of the cooling systems to support the 12.4-liter MaxxForce 1
Tags: Engine Smarts
November 2010, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Commentary Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor
A recent request for help with understanding different emissions technologies to reach the Tier 4 Interim and Final off-highway emissions rules reopened the cooled EGR vs. SCR debate for me
Tags: Engine Smarts
October 2010, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Commentary Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor
At the recent bi-annual Hannover, Germany, trucking show -- more specifically, the 63rd IAA -- there were so many show exhibits that a dedicated journalist could spend the entire 10 days hunting for meaningful news
Tags: Engine Smarts
September 2010, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Commentary Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor
On a recent visit to Woodland Park, Colo., -based Sturman Industries, I was privileged to view the first beginnings of Eddie Sturman's crank-free internal combustion engine
Tags: Engine Smarts
September 2010, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Commentary Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor
There is an upside to EPA's 2010 emissions regulations.
Tags: Engine Smarts
August 2010, TruckingInfo.com - Feature
By Commentary Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor
An easily-missed announcement of a joint development program between Cummins and a start-up, VanDyne SuperTurbo, points the way to a future technology that could result in as much as 7 percent fuel savings for heavy trucks
Tags: Engine Smarts