Saving fuel will be top of the agenda for Allison Transmission at the 59th UITP Mobility and City Transport Exhibition next month.
UITP takes place between 10-14 April at Dubai’s World Trade Centre and Allison will showcase its new 2011 transmission upgrades and global range of transmissions for city buses and coaches.
The company says that visitors to the event will learn about Allison’s latest transmission technology features and optimisation packages created for public transport applications – such as Vehicle Acceleration Control (VAC), which it claims reduces fuel consumption by up to 7% and provides prognostics that can further reduce maintenance cost.
Among new transmission upgrades for 2011 will be its enhanced torque converter lockup feature that it has designed to enable the transmission to shift very early into lockup.
The Allison Torqmatic range now features variable modulated main (VMM) which modulates the pressure required in an internal lubrication system to further increase transmission efficiency and improve fuel economy.
On display will be a 2100 cutaway model for school buses, smaller buses, and coaches of up to 13,000 kg GVW. From Allison’s Torqmatic range, there will also be a T280R transmission – designed for buses up to 24,000 kg GVW – and the T525R which is the largest Allison product in this range.
The Indianapolis-based company will also show its high-end North American Bus Series transmission, the B500R, which has been a favourite with the iconic American Greyhound brand on its Prevost X3-45 coaches. Finally, Allison will be exhibiting its two-mode split parallel Allison Hybrid EP system, as used in 178 cities around the world.
“As a global leader with the widest range of fully automatic transmissions for city buses and coaches, Allison is trusted by OEMs and fleet operators to provide an efficient product for every operating environment and duty cycle in public transport, as well as an exceptional level of service from our expanding dealer network,” says Manlio Alvaro, Allison’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa Marketing Manager. “It is timely that this year’s UITP is being held in the Middle East, where imports of buses equipped with Allison transmissions are growing. New BRTs (Bus Rapid Transit) in these markets require transmissions for every bus size, and Allison is unique in that it can supply fully automatic transmissions for mini-buses through to large coaches.”
The company claims field and TUV-certified testing in Europe has proven its VAC system can result in fuel savings of up to 7%. It says it is looking to deliver ways of achieving even better fuel economy for bus fleet and has undertaken further development, resulting in a fresh set of transmission upgrades for the 2011 model year.
“Improving fuel efficiency is about optimising every single detail in the vehicle’s driveline and transmission. We used our recent transmission update programs to address a series of fine efficiency improvements,” added Johan Verheij, application engineering director at Allison Transmission in Europe. “We are exploiting every opportunity to make our product and the vehicle more efficient; every single step and improvement counts as it can quickly total up to an improvement of several percent of fuel saved.”
