Navistar International says third-party testing has proved that its ProStar+ tractor with a 2010-legal MaxxForce 13 diesel is more efficient than two major competitors when both fuel and diesel exhaust fluid are counted.
In "fluid economy" - the sum of fuel plus DEF consumed - the company's vehicle beat similar but bigger-engined tractors from Freightliner and Kenworth, executives said in a webinar for press reporters on July 19.
"The industry will need to review overall fluid consumption, including DEF," said marketing executive Mike Cerilli, because "like fuel, DEF costs money." Navistar contends that it is not fair for competitors to cite only miles per gallon numbers without including the amount of DEF needed to operate their selective catalytic reduction systems. Navistar's MaxxForce diesels control emissions "in-cylinder" with Advanced Exhaust-Gas Recirculation, and need no DEF.
The formal on-road tests earlier this summer in Indiana pitted the MxF 13-powered ProStar+ against a Freightliner Cascadia with a Detroit Diesel DD15 and a Kenworth T660 with a Cummins ISX15. The ProStar+ used 0.9 percent less fluid than the DD 15/Cascadia and 2.5 percent less fluid than the ISX15/T660, said Navistar's director of test and validation, Matt Baus.
Competitor engines' approximately 2 liters of extra displacement could be seen as a fuel-economy disadvantage for them, but all were similar in ratings, making this a fair "performance" comparison, said Jim Hebe, Navistar's senior vice president for North American sales operations. The MaxxForce 13's rating was 430 horsepower/1,550 pounds-feet where the DD15's was 455 hp/1,550 lbs-ft and the ISX15's was 435 hp/1,450 lbs-ft.
Navistar purchased the Freightliner and Kenworth when only the 15-liter engines were available, but they were ordered with driveline specifications that would maximize their economy, Hebe and Baus said in response to reporters' questions. Kenworth and Peterbilt have been strongly promoting the 2010-legal MX-13 diesel produced by their corporate parent, Paccar, and Cummins' 2010 offerings include an 11.9-liter version of the ISX.
Aside from the engines, all tractors had 72- and 73-inch sleepers with available aerodynamic enhancers, and all pulled van trailers ballasted to give each rig a gross combination weight close to 80,000 pounds, Cerilli said. During the test there is a driver and trailer swap at the half-way point, giving the ProStar+ an advantage of a lighter test weight - a function of the non-SCR, smaller-bore MaxxForce diesel. This required it to pull a trailer about 1,000 pounds lighter that its capacity so that heavier 15-liter trucks could still gross under 80,000 pounds after the swap.
Otherwise, procedures were carefully followed: Fuel was carefully weighed, tire pressures checked, and test drivers switched off about halfway through each run.
The test was a TMC/SAE Type IV, run over a 444-mile triangular route within Indiana, beginning and ending at Navistar's technical center in Fort Wayne, executives said during their webinar presentations. The testing agency was the Transportation Research Center, based in East Liberty, Ohio. This is an experienced and respected research organization that has run many and varied tests for government and industry.
Tests were run in June and July, when slight temperature differences perhaps accounted for the difference in the fuel consumed by the "control" ProStar+. In runs against the Cascadia, the ProStar+ consumed 194.4 gallons of fuel against the Cascadia's196.2 gallons of fuel and DEF. Against the T660, ProStar+ used 199 gallons of fuel while the T660 used 204 of fuel plus DEF. Three test results with repeatability within 2 percent have to be achieved for the exacting Type IV on-highway test to be valid.
Navistar will commission further tests comparing the MaxxForce 13 against competitors' products, executives said. For now, the MaxxForce 13 is Navistar's largest heavy-duty diesel, and Hebe and his colleagues are selling it against competitors' 15-liter engines.
The larger MaxxForce 15's development continues, Hebe said, with on-road and fleet testing due later this year and "the launch of full production in the first quarter of 2011."
Story updated 1:15 p.m. EDT July 21 to correct information about the testing procedure.
In "fluid economy" - the sum of fuel plus DEF consumed - the company's vehicle beat similar but bigger-engined tractors from Freightliner and Kenworth, executives said in a webinar for press reporters on July 19.
"The industry will need to review overall fluid consumption, including DEF," said marketing executive Mike Cerilli, because "like fuel, DEF costs money." Navistar contends that it is not fair for competitors to cite only miles per gallon numbers without including the amount of DEF needed to operate their selective catalytic reduction systems. Navistar's MaxxForce diesels control emissions "in-cylinder" with Advanced Exhaust-Gas Recirculation, and need no DEF.
The formal on-road tests earlier this summer in Indiana pitted the MxF 13-powered ProStar+ against a Freightliner Cascadia with a Detroit Diesel DD15 and a Kenworth T660 with a Cummins ISX15. The ProStar+ used 0.9 percent less fluid than the DD 15/Cascadia and 2.5 percent less fluid than the ISX15/T660, said Navistar's director of test and validation, Matt Baus.
Competitor engines' approximately 2 liters of extra displacement could be seen as a fuel-economy disadvantage for them, but all were similar in ratings, making this a fair "performance" comparison, said Jim Hebe, Navistar's senior vice president for North American sales operations. The MaxxForce 13's rating was 430 horsepower/1,550 pounds-feet where the DD15's was 455 hp/1,550 lbs-ft and the ISX15's was 435 hp/1,450 lbs-ft.
Navistar purchased the Freightliner and Kenworth when only the 15-liter engines were available, but they were ordered with driveline specifications that would maximize their economy, Hebe and Baus said in response to reporters' questions. Kenworth and Peterbilt have been strongly promoting the 2010-legal MX-13 diesel produced by their corporate parent, Paccar, and Cummins' 2010 offerings include an 11.9-liter version of the ISX.
Aside from the engines, all tractors had 72- and 73-inch sleepers with available aerodynamic enhancers, and all pulled van trailers ballasted to give each rig a gross combination weight close to 80,000 pounds, Cerilli said. During the test there is a driver and trailer swap at the half-way point, giving the ProStar+ an advantage of a lighter test weight - a function of the non-SCR, smaller-bore MaxxForce diesel. This required it to pull a trailer about 1,000 pounds lighter that its capacity so that heavier 15-liter trucks could still gross under 80,000 pounds after the swap.
Otherwise, procedures were carefully followed: Fuel was carefully weighed, tire pressures checked, and test drivers switched off about halfway through each run.
The test was a TMC/SAE Type IV, run over a 444-mile triangular route within Indiana, beginning and ending at Navistar's technical center in Fort Wayne, executives said during their webinar presentations. The testing agency was the Transportation Research Center, based in East Liberty, Ohio. This is an experienced and respected research organization that has run many and varied tests for government and industry.
Tests were run in June and July, when slight temperature differences perhaps accounted for the difference in the fuel consumed by the "control" ProStar+. In runs against the Cascadia, the ProStar+ consumed 194.4 gallons of fuel against the Cascadia's196.2 gallons of fuel and DEF. Against the T660, ProStar+ used 199 gallons of fuel while the T660 used 204 of fuel plus DEF. Three test results with repeatability within 2 percent have to be achieved for the exacting Type IV on-highway test to be valid.
Navistar will commission further tests comparing the MaxxForce 13 against competitors' products, executives said. For now, the MaxxForce 13 is Navistar's largest heavy-duty diesel, and Hebe and his colleagues are selling it against competitors' 15-liter engines.
The larger MaxxForce 15's development continues, Hebe said, with on-road and fleet testing due later this year and "the launch of full production in the first quarter of 2011."
Story updated 1:15 p.m. EDT July 21 to correct information about the testing procedure.
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