VANS
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AERODYNAMICS
AIR CONDITIONING
Luton vans are an excellent way of maximising available space. The only drawback is that the large flat front creates significant drag and reduces fuel economy. Ecotek makes a dome which improves aerodynamics. The question is, by how much? Ecotek wasn't entirely sure, but judging from CM's test any lack of confidence is totally unfounded.
It was all going to be so simple. Waiting for us at MIRA would be two virtually identical Transit vans; one a conventional flat-fronted Luton, the other a Luton with Ecotek's dome front—Super Slick as some bright spark called it. The idea was to drive them back to back for a day and then check the fuel tanks. Hardly lab conditions but good enough to prove a point— except that one Transit had about three miles on the clock while the other was coming to the end of its useful life. So much for plan A.
Plan B was going to involve one van, but with said dome added overnight. Again, not the most scientific of procedures but enough to prove a point—except that the Transit was brand new so the first day with the van wearing its conventional hat was mainly an exercise in running a vehicle in (and the difference between a run-in Transit and a new Transit is considerable). Unsurprisingly, the second day's van with Ecotek head gear was a clear winner in terms of fuel economy. Eventually we did a rerun without the dome and were somewhat startled by the result.
a-otek's own trials, which are carried out on a rolling road to show the difference between the rolling resistance of the two vans, came up with a result of around 14%. But the company, rather pessimistically, said it would be satisfied with a result of 10% improvement.
The Ecotek Luton was in fact a startling 14.4% more fuel efficient than the conventional van. It took some effort to obtain this figure but in the end it's one we trust. Although the van was tested on different days the route was exactly the same (which goes without saying) and we were lucky with the weather. There was no rain and very little wind on both occasions.
We were also interested to see how the two would perform in other areas; notably noise and straight line acceleration.
The dome made absolutely no difference on the noise meter, which was slightly disappointing, but there was a discrepancy between the acceleration times. The Ecotek was a couple of seconds faster on both the 0-50 and the 30-50mph runs. Over the route this translated to an average speed of 50.6mph compared with 45.4mph for the conventional van.
• HILL CUMBS The other performance consideration is on hill climbs where the dome works at optimum effectiveness as the van is running at the speed limit. In this instance the Ecotek was seven seconds quicker up our timed run of just over a minute.
So it would seem the Super Slick isn't something to fit only for high mileage box vans. Delivery times are reduced and anything that decreases fuel consumption wins our vote if only for environmental reasons.
But for the strict economist here's how the sums add up. If we take an average diesel price of 64p a litre, the conventional Luton costs £14.98 to cover 100 miles whereas the Ecotek Luton costs £12.83 to do the same mileage. Now the dome costs £280 (C329 including VAT) so the operator has to do just over 15,000 miles to recoup the initial outlay—which is less than a year's driving for even the most static of operators.
Li Charles Young THE ROUTE After the track tests we turned left out of MIRA and filled up at the first fuel station. We then doubled back and weighed the van at MIRA before continuing along CM's tipper route. We stayed on the A452 after Balsall Common, past Kenilworth Castle then picked up the A429 towards Coventry. From there we went right onto the A45 then left on the A46 towards Leicester. From there we picked up the M69 then the MI to J23 where we turned around, measured the hill climb to the second "slow trucks" sign, and retraced the M69 and A5 to the original Fuel station. The full distance was 102.7 miles. HOW TO BE SUPER SLICK Ecotek's Super Slick Luton Front comes in lour sizes: Lk1 3, 4, 5 and 6, which cover the UK's box van market. Our model was LM 3. They all cost £280 (exVAT) including delivery and can be assembled by any bodybuilder while the box van is being fitted. This should take two people one hour's labour.
Contact Ecotek on 01953850633.