GOTHENBURG, Sweden It may pain us to admit it, but the Europeans are far ahead of us when it comes to adopting certain truck technologies that have the potential to transform the industry for the better. Take, for example, automated mechanical transmissions (AMTs). Volvo Group, manufacturer of the highly touted I Shift AMT is finally enjoying some well deserved market acceptance in North America, where close to 45% of trucks sold with Volvo power are now being spec with the transmission.
Still, it a far cry from Volvo homeland Sweden and other parts of Europe where practically every new truck is spec with an automated gearbox. Certain sectors of the North American trucking industry, as well, are slower to embrace automated transmissions.
There a widely held perception that automated transmissions are intended exclusively for Nike LeBron 11 on highway trucking, and that there no place in the bush, the pit, or any other off road destination for anything other than a stick shift.
That not so, according to Volvo, which recently invited a group of North American trade journalists to Sweden to see that over there, the I Shift is being put through its paces in the toughest duty cycles one can imagine. And so began a little Swedish adventure historical perspective
The roots of Volvo I Shift can be traced as far back as the 1980s, when a group of engineering graduates sat down to contemplate ways of automating the shifting of a manual transmission, Sven Erik Tibb informed us during a briefing at Volvo headquarters in Gothenburg.
The I Shift project was formally launched in 1997 with the first generation unveiled in 2001, making this the 10 year anniversary for the product. The benefits of an AMT are obvious: it requires less skill to operate than a manual transmission; allows drivers to keep two hands on the wheel and focus on their surroundings; and sophisticated programming enables it to shift at the optimum rpm every time, often improving fuel mileage.
The first generation I Shift was constructed completely from scratch and features a proprietary Volvo can that transmits data between the engine and gearbox. Because both the engine and transmission software was written by Volvo, have all the information we need to make the right decisions, said Anders Eriksson, software design engineer. The two most powerful microcontrollers on the entire truck were located in the transmission, which allowed Volvo to essentially give the transmission supreme control over the engine in contrast to the historical order of things.
transmission is master of the system, Eriksson said. controls the engine. driver interface is remarkably simple. Two types of shifters are available; a basic and premium version. Drivers simply put the truck into the desired gear and go, much like in a passenger car. However, key to gaining the trust of experienced truckers, Volvo has incorporated a mode that allows the driver to override Air Jordan 2011 the I Shift as long as it won incur any harm as a result.
While the I Shift is making inroads in the linehaul sector of Air Jordan Fusion 5 the North American trucking industry, you won find many in vocational trucks where manual gearboxes are still the norm and torque converter style automatics compete with AMTs for the remaining space.
Surprisingly though, the I Shift can be ordered with a number of features designed specifically for vocational operators. A function, for instance, provides the ability to rock a stuck vehicle back and forth, simply by pumping the accelerator rather than manually switching between forward and reverse gears. It works well in situations where a truck is stuck in the mud and its wheels are spinning, Eriksson explained. When the Rock Free feature isn enough to free the vehicle of mud or clay, a Starting feature allows a driver to rev the engine as high as 1,300 rpm in the lowest gear and then by pressing the minus ( ) button, dump the clutch and use the momentum to pull free.
not that hard on the truck, but it wonderful to have as an emergency feature when stuck in deep clay, chimed in Ed Saxman, Volvo Trucks powertrain product manager.
Also available is Possible Downshift, ideal when approaching a long grade. Drivers can increase engine speed in advance of reaching the hill, press the minus button, put the shifter into Manual mode and then the transmission will complete one large downshift (instead of multiple downshifts), allowing the driver to run the entire hill in one gear without any further shifting.
Finally, there the Upshift function, which is also useful on hills and in poor traction situations. Drivers can push the minus button to prevent upshifting and can delay a downshift by pushing the plus (+) button while the engine rpm is low.
In addition to these vocational minded options, one of the smartest capabilities of the transmission may be EcoRoll, which decouples the engine from the transmission on gradual downhill grades, allowing the truck to coast along without consuming fuel. About 50% of European customers are now spec EcoRoll, which is equally useful among Canada rolling hills. The engine returns to normal operation as soon as the brake or throttle is applied.
Another neat feature is Driving Mode, which allows drivers to creep along using the idle governor, adjusting speed by using the plus or minus buttons on the shifter and alternating between the lower six gears without applying the gas.
Collectively, these options amount to what is a very sophisticated piece of equipment. The full capabilities of the I Shift require a high level of integration between engine and transmission, which is why the I Shift is available only on trucks spec with Volvo engines. Still, despite all the technological wizardry that went into the design of the transmission, it is having trouble finding a home in the more rigorous of applications. Not in Sweden, however.
During my visit to Sweden, an assortment of Volvo cabover trucks in a variety of configurations were made available for test drives, first on the track at the Volvo Trucks Demonstration Centre and later along a 120 kilometre route between Gothenburg and, well, the middle of nowhere.
From there, we were to meet up with some real life Swedish loggers, who have been spec Volvo D13 engines with the I Shift for operation in a pretty harsh off road environment. When choosing from the available trucks, I naturally gravitated towards the longest, heaviest, highest horsepower of them all: a FH16 750 and yes, the 750 represents horsepower.
Believe it or not, in Europe there an insatiable appetite and apparently a practical need for a 750 hp engine, according to Carl Axel Hedstrom, who in charge of customer activities in Gothenburg.
He told me the 750, which is currently in pre production with the commercial rollout slated for February, is ideal for applications with gross combination weights of 40 tonnes (88,000 lbs) or more, especially in the hillier regions of Scandinavia.
However, you be na to think Volvo rivalry with Scania wasn a consideration when launching the 750. The bitter Swedish rivals have taken turns upstaging one another in an ongoing battle of horsepower. Volvo FH16 750 is the decided winner for now offering greater horsepower than has ever been offered in a European commercial truck.
But is it possible to get good fuel mileage when managing 750 horses and a staggering 2,600 lb. ft. of torque? Hedstrom says so: of the hill climbing capacity, it doesn gear down, it just keeps in the higher gear, which is fuel efficient, he told me.
Before you get too excited, it unlikely the 750 will ever make its way to North American shores. Fo
r starters, it not EPA2010 compliant. While the FH16 750 uses selective catalytic reduction (SCR), it doesn add exhaust gas recirculation to the mix, falling short of North American emissions requirements.
Aside from that, introducing a 750 horse monster would buck the North America wide trend towards smaller displacement, 13 litre engines; Volvo bread and butter.
Still, I wasn about to Air Jordan 20s pass on the opportunity to drive the beast.
The timber truck I drove grossed 60 tonnes (132,000 lbs). The truck Air Jordan 2s was loaded with three stacks of three metre logs; one on the truck itself and two on the drawbar trailer that rounded out the combination.
Interestingly, while popular opinion is that AMTs are limited to lower gross combination weights and mainstream applications, the 750 cannot be ordered with anything but the I Shift. Frankly, Volvo doesn trust the average driver to be able to handle such high power and torque on their own.
you are not careful, when you go off the clutch, you put all the torque from the engine straight down into the wheels and you will spin the wheels and use the fuel in an inefficient way, Hedstrom explained. is easier for us to handle the strong engine torque through the I Shift than through a manual transmission. that to say nothing of the number of clutches an average driver would burn through if using a manual transmission. The fact the I Shift is a must have on a 750 hp/2,600 lb. ft. engine says a lot about the capabilities of the transmission.
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