For most bus customers, fuel economy is a big deal.
Have You Heard?
For most bus customers, fuel economy is a big deal. While IC Bus and our parent company, Navistar, Inc., will meet 2010 EPA emissions requirements with an in-cylinder solution known as MaxxForce® Advanced EGR, our competitors continue to shout about the potential fuel economy advantages of their 2010 solution, SCR.
Have you heard our competitors claim that urea fluid-based SCR will yield a 5% - 9% fuel economy advantage over Advanced EGR? In addition to that, I have even heard a "best in class fuel economy" claim. In a world where fuel economy is top of mind and diesel prices always in flux, I think it is critical to keep in mind that these claims have not been proven or tested.
Not proven or tested? That's right: the SCR claims of fuel economy advantages over MaxxForce Advanced EGR have not been proven or tested.
How do I know this?
Well, since IC Bus is the only bus manufacturer using an Advanced EGR engine for 2010, we would have had to loan our competitors a MaxxForce Advanced EGR engine for testing this claim. Since we did not do that, it seems this claim is completely unsupported.
Plus, based on SAE fuel economy tests, today's MaxxForce engines already enjoy a fuel economy advantage (by as much as 12.9%) over competitive engines. So competitors have a lot of ground to make up with their coming 2010 engine designs just to get comparable to the fuel economy of today's MaxxForce engines.
For argument's sake, let's imagine SCR buses do have a fuel economy advantage. Bus owners using fluid-based SCR will still have to consider their total cost of operations increase which will include urea fluid purchase (currently at $4/gallon, Diesel Fuel News, 6/15/09), handling, storage, maintenance, as well as driver and service technician training. All of this hassle should be taken into account when considering any potential (and yet unproven) fuel economy advantage.
IC Bus is providing bus customers a 2010 solution that is customer friendly. No hassles. No new driver or service tech training. And with today's MaxxForce engine already enjoying a proven fuel economy advantage, no fuel economy worries.
Regards,
John McKinney
President
IC Bus