VOLVO INTRODUCES CANADIAN MARKET TO NEW ENGINES, ENHANCED I-SHIFT

TORONTO, Ont. — Volvo Trucks introduced the Canadian market to its 2017 engines and enhanced I-Shift automated manual transmission today at Truck World.

But Goran Nyberg, president of Volvo Trucks North America, first took the opportunity to comment on what was the company’s strongest year ever in North America. It shipped out a record 38,849 trucks in 2015 and achieved an all-time market share high of 16.3% in Canada.

Volvo power was spec’d in 92.6% of Volvo trucks and the I-Shift automated manual transmission achieved 82.7% market penetration. The XE package featuring downspeeding reached a 27.6% penetration rate.

“We have been taking the lead in development of fully integrated powertrains,” Nyberg said.

John Moore, product marketing manager with Volvo, introduced the company’s 2017 engine line, which will offer fuel savings of between 2.2% and 6.5%.

Enhancements include a new common rail fuel system and wave piston design, which reduces soot accumulation. Volvo is also increasing the compression ratio from 16:1 to 17:1. The D11 will offer a 2.2% fuel economy improvement, Moore said, and will see power increased to 425 hp. Production will begin in January 2017.

The D13 will provide 2.5% better fuel economy thanks to the same enhancements seen in the D11. It will be available with an extra 100 lb.-ft. of torque for better performance in the hills, Moore noted.

Also new will be a D13 with turbocompounding. This will capture previously wasted exhaust heat and convert it into usable power. Turbocompounding will bring peak torque down to about 950 rpm and allow further downspeeding, Moore noted, delivering a 6.5% fuel economy gain. This engine will cruise at 1,050 rpm, Moore said, allowing for a 2.47 rear axle ratio.

Volvo is also moving to a single-box aftertreatment system, which is 17 lbs ligher than today’s design and occupies 12 inches less frame rail space.

Allison Athey, product marketing manager, transmissions, announced new crawler gears for the I-Shift, which she said will allow improved low-speed operation. The crawler gears will allow the truck to be driven as slow as 0.6 mph, great for applications such as curb-pouring. The I-Shift can now be spec’ed for heavy-haul applications with gross ratings of up to 220,000 lbs.

Also new is I-See, a GPS feature that reads and memorizes hill characteristics and then, in the future, optimizes the gear selection and even speeds up the truck in advance of the hill to more efficiently climb it. I-See can memorize up to 4,500 hills.
April 14, 2016
by James Menzies
http://www.trucknews.com/equipment/volvo-introduces-canadian-market-to-new-engines-enhanced-i-shift/1003071567/