FPInnovations’ Performance Innovation Transport (PIT) group, a not-for-profit engineering and research group for the North American trucking industry, announced it will hold its first U.S. Energotest at the Continental Truck Tires Uvalde Proving Grounds in Uvalde, Texas, Feb. 3-7.

Energotest events have been held since 2007 at the Transport Canada test track operated by PMG Technologies in Blainville, Quebec, where PIT conducts fuel consumption evaluations of trucks and a range of new and unique systems and devices.

“We use only proven controlled test-track fuel efficiency evaluation procedures to provide the commercial vehicle industry with the information it needs to make sound equipment choices and capital investments," says Yves Provencher, director of PIT.

“We provide independent verification of a technology’s fuel efficiency performance,” Provencher says. “Fleet managers who are early adopters of green technologies attend Energotest to find solutions they can use to transport goods in an environmentally friendly and cost-efficient manner.”

Chris Trajkovski, VP Fleet Maintenance at Bison Transport, notes that using PIT testing allows companies such as his "to focus our efforts on our core competences of managing our fleet operations, and not on testing components or innovations."

“We measure fuel consumption on a track where every possible variable is controlled,” Provencher says. “The result is a fuel saving projection that is highly representative of what a fleet can expect to realize in actual over the road service. While we may test as many as 20 technologies during one week-long Energotest event, each test is completed in one or two consecutive days, which removes uncertainties associated with tests that are performed over several days or even weeks.”

More than 200 technologies and operational practices have been evaluated during Energotest events since 2007. Among them are vehicles, including hybrid trucks, tractor and trailer aerodynamic devices, tires and wheel balancing systems, tarp systems for dump trailers, fuel, oil and gear lube additives, and alignment and tire pressure settings.