Scania sets up own fleet to triaL new developments
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steve.hobsonfarbi.co.uk
SCANIA HAS SET UP a 20-strong linehaul transport fleet — encompassing its own and competitors' vehicles — to test new developments in real-world conditions.
Called Scania Transport Laboratory to reassure customers it is not moving into the haulage business, the division's trucks carry Scania components between plants in Sweden and the Netherlands.
-It is important for us to understand the customer, so we have created a transport company of our own." says Per Hallberg, Scania vice-president for R&D. "It has Scania Euro-5 vehicles and competitor vehicles so we can
benchmark them against each other."
While Scania has invested over 1.5bn Swedish kroner (.1130m) in R&D facilities, Hallberg says the experience gained from running trucks 340,000km a year on the road generates insights that cannot be obtained on the test track.
"We can test developments that we don't want to try out with customers, and we have learned a lot about how to solve problems with SCR and about Euro-6," he says. "It is a very cost-efficient way of testing vehicles."
Scania is already testing Euro-6 engines (with SCR and EGR). and despite the 4% to 6% fuelefficiency penalty of the cleaner exhaust emissions standard. Hallberg believes it can claw these back with improved engine management and injector technology such that overall consumption will be no worse than at Euro-5.
The Transport Laboratory has also highlighted the importance of vehicle set-up and driver behaviour in delivering fuel efficiency, and helping drivers improve performance will he an increasing focus for the Scania.