WORK TRUCK SHOW -- Allison Transmission says a new series of FuelSense fuel-efficiency features can deliver 5% to 15% savings for certain truck applications and 20% for city buses compared to its current base-line fully automatic, “constant power” products.

Freightliner joined Allison’s press conference at the Work Truck Show in Indianapolis to say it will be the first to offer the FuelSense features on its M2-106 medium-duty trucks.

The FuelSense options include electronic calibrations and mechanical improvements that operate the automatic transmissions more efficiently, especially in frequent stop-and-start applications.

They will be available on Allison’s 1000, 2000 and 3000 series transmissions in the second half of this year, and later on the heavy duty 4000 series.

FuelSense features automatically adapt shift schedules and torque, maximizing transmission efficiency based on load, grade and duty cycle, said Michael Headly, Allison’s senior vice president, global marketing, sales and service.

FuelSense features include:

• 5^th Generation smart controls,  acceleration management, and a precision inclinometer;

• EcoCal shift technology to keep engine speed at the most efficient level;

• Dynamic Shift Sensing to automatically sense when low-engine speed shifts can be made; and

• Neutral at Stop to save fuel and reduce emissions when the vehicle is stationary.

Those features are incorporated in part or completely in three levels: basic FuelSense, FuelSense Plus and FuelSense Max, said Lou Gilbert, director of North American marketing and global brand development. 

“Every duty cycle in the world is unique,” he said. “But every unique duty cycle has four components: acceleration, deceleration, cruising and stop.”  

Allison engineers applied controls logic to those situation to make the transmissions behave in the most efficient manner, he said. They achieve the greatest fuel savings in the most demanding stop-and-start applications, which is a city transit bus.   

Fuel savings of 15% were found for city pickup-and-delivery trucks and 5% for a regional-haul tractor. FuelSense features have already been integrated into Allison’s TC10 transmission for heavy road tractors.

Freightliner will offer FuelSense as an option in Allison 2000 and 3000 series transmissions, said Mary Aufdemberg, director of product marketing for Freightliner.

They’ll be available in M2-106 trucks, in some cases with a 220-horsepower, 600-pound-foot rating of Cummins’ ISB6.7 diesel.  

Aside from programming the transmission control unit, FuelSense includes a valve-body changes and a new shift selector, Gilbert said. These can be retrofitted to existing transmissions.

FuelSense options will also be available on Allisons from other truck builders.