Excon is Asia’s third largest exhibition for construction equipment and is therefore an important place for Scania to be in order to reach target groups within the mining and construction segment. About 30,000 people visited the exhibition for business purposes.
 
Scania’s truck was placed in a central position at the exhibition and therefore received good exposure. Many visitors got the chance to try it out and could obtain information about the different functions such as Scania Opticruise. The response was positive.
 
 

Scania’s heavy-duty mining tipper model P 380 was launched in the Indian market during EXCON 2007 together with Larsen & Toubro (L&T). L&T has successfully established Scania’s mining trucks in the Indian mining industry and since the launch more than 600 P 380 mining trucks have been supplied to various highly satisfied customers in the construction and mining sectors.
 
After four years in India, Scania sees other openings in the on-road segment for buses and coaches and for heavy transport services. 

Scania Commercial Vehicles India was formed in 2011 in order to market Scania trucks, buses and engines in India. To shorten the lead times to the customers, Scania Commercial Vehicles India is currently in the process of establishing an assembly unit in Bangalore.
 
Scania’s presence in the country complements L&T’s product range in the construction and mining sectors, and Scania customers will benefit from a larger range of models, shorter delivery times and enhanced service support.

A Scania R 420 equipped with Opticruise came out on top when German truck magazine Trucker recently tested automated gearboxes.

Four journalists from Germany, Italy and Spain test-drove five trucks with automated gearboxes along a 120 kilometre route.

The test route included motorways, curvy country roads, hills, roundabouts and junctions – perfect for evaluating automated gearboxes since every lap required many gearchanges. The automated gearboxes were graded according to the following criteria: ease-of-handling, automatic functions, add-on functions and special stages.

Opticruise in a nut-shell (according to the test team): Very good gear-changing strategy; optimal integration of downhill speed control; laid out for active driving; programmable starting gear; good clutch control.

The five trucks tested came from five manufacturers: DAF, Iveco, Mercedes, Scania and Volvo. This, in fact, meant four different systems were analysed: ZF AS-Tronic (DAF and Iveco), Mercedes Powershift, Scania Opticruise and Volvo I-shift. With the exception of Scania Opticruise, all were purpose-designed automated gearboxes.

The table below shows the test team’s positive and negative comments on each of the automated gearboxes.

“A three percent saving will lower fuel cost by close to EUR 1,500 per vehicle each year,” writes Hamish Bennett, product manager at Scania.

It is possible to save fuel by choosing a faster rear axle ratio, thus lowering the number of engine revs per minute at cruising speed. If the propshaft needs to rotate fewer times to cover a given stretch of road, energy losses in the powertrain will be correspondingly less. And so will fuel consumption.

Aside from propelling the vehicle and its cargo, a truck engine must also overcome resistance in the powertrain, such as friction and other losses. It also has to drive all auxiliary systems, for example the alternator and water pump. At cruising speed on flat ground, this is about 15 percent of total losses, also including air and rolling resistance.

Today an overall gear ratio of 3.08 is common, which means that the propshaft must rotate 3.08 times in order for the rear wheels to rotate once. If we choose a ratio of 2.59, this lowers the number of engine revs at a given speed. In top gear at a cruising speed of 89 kilometres per hour, it means approximately 200 fewer revs per minute.

This reduces fuel consumption by three percent or more − in some applications by up to ten percent. In long-haulage, an annual mileage of 150,000 km is not uncommon. Assuming an average fuel consumption of slightly above 30 litres per 100 km and a typical diesel price of more than EUR 1 per litre, a three percent saving will lower fuel cost by close to EUR 15,000 per vehicle each year. That level is not possible in all transport applications, but for a haulier with many trucks, this adds up to major savings.

New Scania Opticruise enables economy gearing for cruising down to 1,020 r/min.

So what needs to be done to implement such a change in practice? Above all, two things: Choosing a different rear axle ratio, and persuading drivers to accept a slightly different driving experience. In some markets this is already standard on long-haul trucks, for example in Great Britain, Poland and Spain. Elsewhere this trend has only just begun. It is naturally impossible to lump together all transport applications and to uncritically choose a specification that lowers engine revs in an entire fleet of vehicles. When the engine frequently needs to operate at maximum output due to hilly terrain, or when a vehicle often carries the maximum permitted payload, there may be reason not to choose a faster rear axle ratio. The fuel savings are less, and perhaps the vehicle owner wants to prioritise gradeability in top gear or other characteristics. When we choose a ratio of 2.59 instead of 3.08, many people believe this makes a truck feel less powerful. But the gearbox takes care of this difference in rear axle ratio, and with automated gearchanging, the driver can relax. This means that using a 2.59 rear axle ratio, a vehicle may even have more power at the wheels since it is operating in a lower gear.

A vehicle that normally maintains a cruising speed of 89 km/h on a typical European highway is using only a fraction of its maximum engine output. An engine with the most common output of 440 hp often uses thirty percent of maximum output on flat routes. Here operators can save fuel by maintaining lower engine revs, and this applies to between eighty and ninety percent of road transport in Europe.

For a driver, using lower engine revs means a quieter cab. It also means that the driving experience may be different, since taking maximum advantage of a new rear axle ratio requires that the vehicle be equipped with the Scania Opticruise automated gearchanging system. The vehicle also moves a bit faster when manoeuvring at terminals, but drivers soon become accustomed to this.

Hill climbing ability in top gear at cruising speed is admittedly somewhat lower. One noticeable difference is that the Scania Opticruise downshifts sooner up-hill. But this in itself is no disadvantage as an early downshift can result in higher speed in the hills. It is transport time that counts, and this does not increase with the new specification.
Powertrain specifications are increasingly important, and in many cases hauliers can no longer specify vehicles in the conventional way. It is necessary to optimise the powertrain for each user’s transport task, thereby minimising the environmental impact and the fuel bill.

Some hauliers also save a lot of money by applying a policy of 85 or even 80 km/h cruising speeds. Major savings are possible due to both lower engine revs and less air resistance at slower speeds.

Significant savings

Engine revs at cruising speed (per minute) - Engine revs per hour

• 1,300 - 78,000
• 1,100 - 66,000

Difference 12,000 revs for the same stretch of road

Fuel savings 3–10 percent (depending on application)

The final round of the world’s largest truck driver competition and training event is getting closer. On 8-9 October, 18 young drivers from all over Europe will compete for the first prize, a Scania R-series truck.

Manoeuvring a distribution truck
During the competition, the finalists will have to show their mastery of two different truck models. On the competition’s first day, they must be able to manoeuvre a Scania P 230 DB4×2MNB distribution truck, equipped with the new Scania Opticruise automatic gear-changing system, as close to a loading ramp as possible. The length of the truck is approximately 9.5 metres, and the total weight is 10 tonnes.

Fuel-efficient driving
On the competition’s second day, Scania R 480 LA4×2 Highline trucks will be used for the fuel-efficient driving and manoeuvring parts of the competition. These trucks will be equipped with Scania Driver Support , Scania Opticruise and other driver support systems such as lane departure warning (LDW) and adaptive cruise control (ACC). For the fuel-efficient driving part of the competition, the total weight of the truck and trailer will be 40 tonnes, whereas the trailer will be empty during the manoeuvring parts.

Supporting road safety
Scania Driver Support is a real-time support system that coaches the driver with hints and feedback. This innovation helps the driver maintain the skills obtained during driver training, focusing on key factors that heavily influence safety and fuel-economy.

Truck of the year
The Scania R 480  is part of the new Scania R-series range, which was awarded Truck of the Year 2010.

What are you most proud of in the new Scania Opticruise?

What was the hardest part of the development process?
“Many things, but perhaps mainly the new electrohydraulic clutch actuator, which is based on completely new technology. Thanks to a dedicated project team, we resolved this and all the other challenges.”

How does the new Scania Opticruise affect a driver’s working day?
“We now offer a fully automated system, alongside a system that retains the clutch pedal. Drivers and operators can choose according to preference. The new Scania Opticruise has greatly enhanced functionality. The driver never needs to think about gear selection, but can focus on the road. The new gearchanging strategy provides greater comfort, thanks to its underlying logic, which is so much smarter than what was used previously.”

Related content

Visit the new Scania R-series website
View new Scania R-series videos at Youtube

“Evidence has shown that drivers drive more calmly and consistently with Opticruise” Mikael Hanson, head of transmission software at Scania.

Reduced wear and tear on the vehicle, better fuel efficiency and increased driver safety all add up to a winning technology – Scania Opticruise.

It is a well-known fact that wear and tear increases in a vehicle when there are many different drivers. Some drivers ride the clutch while others hammer the gearshift into place.

Enter Scania Opticruise, a patented technology launched in 1995 that functions as an automated gearchanging system for manual gearboxes. Compared with a conventional automatic gearbox, the efficiency is higher with a mechanical gearbox. Opticruise selects the gear that provides optimum fuel economy. The technology has been found to save up to 10 percent of fuel for an untrained driver.

Because Opticruise changes gears the same way every time, wear and tear is inimised. Opticruise also saves the clutch by choosing the correct start gear.
“Evidence has shown that drivers drive more calmly and consistently with Opticruise,
and this saves fuel, the environment, tyres and brakes and at the same time increases driver safety,” says Mikael Hanson, head of transmission software at Scania.

The function of Scania Opticruise is based on advanced software that adjusts flywheel torque according to speed sensors in the wheels, in the engine and in the gearbox.

The Scania Opticruise control is located on a lever on the steering column, which also controls the Scania Retarder (an auxiliary brake system), if fitted. In automatic mode, Opticruise chooses the best gear. It is simple and always possible to change gears manually with the lever. The clutch pedal is only used during starting and stopping, which reduces the number of clutch operations by 95 percent.

Another benefit of Opticruise is that it does away with the gear lever in the middle of the floor, thereby freeing up space inside the cab. More than 50 percent of Scania trucks sold in Europe have Opticruise.

How Scania Opticruise works

• The function of Scania Opticruise is based on advanced software that adjusts flywheel torque according to speed sensors in the wheels, in the engine and in the gearbox.

• The combined information from each of the sensors reveals information about the mass of the truck and whether it is climbing or descending a hill.

• Through advanced real-time mathematical calculations, Opticruise knows when to ramp down the torque in the engine to zero and disengage the gear with a pneumatic device and then adjust the engine speed for the next gear. The main advantage of Scania Opticruise is that it calculates the most suitable gear to use according to parameters it gets from the sensors in order to deliver maximum energy efficiency.
• With as many as 14 gears on a truck, it often happens that drivers will skip gears and use the accelerator to rev up the engine to a speed fit for the gear they chose. With Opticruise, gear changing is optimised for the best possible fuel consumption.

The way to slow down a moving standard truck in addition to applying the wheel brakes is to shift down and use the engine brake. All trucks have an engine brake, but they are often noisy and therefore less suitable in urban areas. But Scania trucks also have the Scania Retarder, which together with downchanging can be considered a third auxiliary braking system. “Scania Retarder is capable of dealing with 90 percent of all braking on long-haul work, so it substantially increases the service life of the wheel brakes,” says Tomas Selling, a control system development engineer at Scania. Moreover, the cost of downtime, materials and work for changing the linings and brake pads on a tractor and semitrailer means that investing in a Scania Retarder pays for itself within a couple of years.

“Scania Retarder is capable of dealing with 90 percent of all braking on long-haul work...” Tomas Selling, Powertrain Control System Development, Scania

Scania Retarder was launched in 1993. Together with Scania Opticruise (automated gearchanging), the Scania Retarder is able to automatically choose the gear that needs to be engaged in line with the cooling and braking performance required. Both share the same control lever on the steering column. “Scania Retarder is about distributing the braking power in a vehicle to as many different systems as possible so that the brake pads remain as cool as possible and in an emergency can deliver as much as possible,” says Selling. In a Scania truck, the driver has the choice of using the Retarder in fully automatic mode (actuated by the brake pedal) or in a manual mode (actuated by the lever on the steering column). In automatic mode, the brake pedal activates the Retarder, and this action automatically alleviates the disc brakes. But there is a funny thing that happens when using Scania Retarder. “Because a higher safe downhill speed can be maintained, trucks fitted with Scania Retarder can achieve a higher average speed on undulating roads, compared with a truck only equipped with an exhaust brake,” says Selling.

Scania GR875R 8-speed gearbox with Scania retarder and Opticruise.

How Scania Retarder works

Scania Retarder is a hydraulic system that is integrated into the output end of a truck’s gearbox and uses high-pressure oil as a braking medium. Via a gear transmission, the Retarder acts oon the output shaft of the gearbox and thus directly on the propeller shaft. Once the Retarder is applied, it generates a braking force on the propeller shaft corresponding to up to 500 kW, depending on the propeller shaft speed and the applied braking torque. This is about two to three times more braking power than the engine brake delivers. The lever on the steering column controls Retarder braking in five steps with 20 percent increments.

Text: Alexander Farnsworth
Illustration: Semcon Informatic Graphic Solutions
Photo: Carl-Erik Andersson

Odebrecht is Latin America’s largest engineering and construction company.

“This is a very important transaction, not only because it includes many trucks but because it also confirms and strengthens Scania’s position in the construction segment. According to Odebrecht, our trucks meet all their requirements and provide the best overall operating economy,” says Robert Leoncini, Scania Brasil’s sales manager.

Delivery of the trucks has begun and will continue until the end of the year.

All the vehicles are Scania P 420 model three-axle trucks with 420 hp engines. All trucks will be supplied with on-board computers for real-time vehicle monitoring and transport planning. One hundred of the trucks will be equipped with the computer-aided Scania Opticruise gearchanging system. Odebrecht’s choice of Scania Opticruise is based on the company’s own tests, which confirmed the benefits of the system in terms of driveability and efficiency.

Scania will train drivers on the spot at the construction sites where the trucks go into service. The training course will include economical and safe driving techniques that will help reduce both fuel consumption and vehicle wear.

Scania delivers driver training in nearly 40 countries worldwide. Driver training is an investment with a very short repayment period, since drivers can improve fuel economy by an average of about 10 per cent by changing their driving behaviour.

Brazil is the hub of Scania’s Latin American operations, with more than 3,000 employees and with production and central marketing units in São Paulo. Since establishing its Brazilian operations in 1957, Scania has manufactured more than 240,000 vehicles in the country, 200,000 of them trucks. About 40 percent of the heavy trucks on Brazilian roads today carry the Scania brand.

For further information, please contact
Hans-Åke Danielsson, Press Manager, tel. +46 8 553 856 62

Scania is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of trucks and buses for heavy transport applications, and of industrial and marine engines. A growing proportion of the company’s operations consists of products and services in the financial and service sectors, assuring Scania customers of cost-effective transport solutions and maximum uptime. Employing 35,000 people, Scania operates in about 100 countries. Research and development activities are concentrated in Sweden, while production takes place in Europe and South America, with facilities for global interchange of both components and complete vehicles. In 2007, invoiced sales totalled SEK 84.5 billion and the net income amounted to SEK 8.6 billion. More about Scania Group at www.scania.com