TACA Conveyor - Winter 2007 - (Page 10) to develop the technologies, the cost of each diesel truck with the new engine will probably increase by about $5,000. There’s good news on other fronts, however. “We have made some improvements to engine efficiency, so our engine is actually more efficient today than it was in 2006, and fuel economy is equal to or a little bit better than it was last year,” says Ellison. “Our customers are actually telling us that the new engines are improved from the last generation. Drivers feel there’s more power, and that they’re more responsive,” adds Powers. Nor do operators have to worry about exhaust temperatures. “With our systems, at least, the heat generated at any given time is no higher than the maximum exhaust heat that the exhaust system and the engine would have seen previously,” says Powers. Most of the OEMS are using a diffuser device after the end of the particulate filter to bring in outside air and mix it into the exhaust, cooling it before it leaves the pipe. Training of truck operators should not be too difficult. The main problem may be trying to get drivers to leave the new regeneration switch on the dashboard untouched (in the automatic position). The switch is there because some facilities, like oil loading sites, don’t want trucks to go into regeneration on their property because of the extreme heat of the process. This is a legitimate reason to use the switch, but sometimes operators will turn it off and forget to turn it back on again once they’ve left the site. Other drivers may press the button without realizing what they’re doing, and only discover there’s a problem when the light on the dashboard indicates the DPF is clogged. A plus for the environment and for the industry Although the diesel truck engine industry has made amazing strides in curbing pollutants, it still has a major hurdle ahead. By January 1, 2010, the EPA will require much tighter controls on nitrous oxide emissions from diesel truck engines. Manufacturers are already working on their solutions to this requirement. In the meantime, however, the new engines with the DPF filters will make a significant contribution to the health of the environment without causing truck owners and operators undue stress. “The good news is that in talking to customers we have found that [the adoption of the engines] has been less traumatic than they feared,” says Powers. “Because of the work of some very smart people, we figured out a way for this to be fairly trouble free and not require diesel operators to do anything different except for the filter cleaning every so often.” “It’s amazingly beneficial to public – good for everybody,” adds Ellison. “There’s been a lot of wringing of hands in the industry, but in the end they developed engines that clean up the emissions by much higher than 90 percent of what they used to be.” 10 TACA Conveyor • Winter 2007 http://www.rainforrent.com
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