Cat Trucks has received confirmation its C15 heavy duty truck engine complies with the latest Australian regulations
By Gary Worrall | December 12, 2011
Virtually 12 months after the introduction of ADR 80/03 emission rules, Cat Trucks has received confirmation its C15 heavy duty truck engine complies with the latest Australian regulations.
Cat Trucks Managing Director Bill Fulton confirmed the certification at a press conference in Sydney last week, where he also outlined Cat Trucks’ future plans for the Australian market.
Describing the previous 12 months as being a “dog year” where he feels he has aged seven years, Fulton says the sales process has been “slower than we would have liked” as the company worked to get customers “off the fence”.
With 125 completed sales to the end of November, Fulton says the business is gaining pace and the confirmation of emission compliance will help in the long term.
Despite this, national sales manager Jeff Tyzack says having stock of ADR 80/02-compliant trucks has not been all bad, as a number of customers wanting new trucks were not confident of making the move to ADR 80/03.
While there are still plenty of unsold trucks in the holding area at Tullamarine in Victoria, it is not certain if these trucks will be retro-fitted with the necessary diesel particulate filter (DPF) to bring them up to the current rules.
As well as the potential for the emission change, Tyzack says engineering staff in Tullamarine have been kept busy with requests for dual exhausts and Eaton UltraShift Plus automated manual transmissions.
Tyzack says manufacturers must ensure modifications are certified, such as the exhausts requiring noise tests, which were only carried out initially on trucks with a single exhaust.
West Australian engine specialists Orbital Corporation worked with Cat Trucks to certify the C15, with the development programme run in Australia.
“Our goal was to assure that the emissions changes required by ADR 80/03 would not result in a fuel penalty under normal driving conditions,” a project manager for Orbital Corporation, Terran Barber, says.
“After analysing a range of available technologies, the team determined that by adding an additional DPF and a crankcase breather, as well as making some calibration changes, the C15 engine would meet the ADR 80/03 requirements with no fuel consumption penalty under the speeds and loads that are normal in the Australian market.”
Fulton confirmed the decision to withdraw from the engine market was a strategic one, despite persistent rumours the vaunted ACERT engine technology had turned into a white elephant and could not be developed to meet EPA 07 or ADR 80/03 standards.
Instead, Fulton says the move allowed Cat to partner with Navistar to develop a truck brand with Cat as the engine supplier.
News that the CT13 engine is earmarked for the next generation CT610 sees Navistar building both the truck and the engine, with specialists such as Eaton providing the rest of the running gear.
While the next product destined for Australia will be a model to compete in the road train and heavy haul segments, it will fall short of the updated 685 horsepower Mack Super Liner and Titan in the power stakes, with the Cummins ISX 600 horsepower engine the top offering from Cat.
Fulton says there is a cab-over model in development for South American markets, but this will not be headed to Australia initially despite his desire to compete in this market.
“We need a cab over for this market, but our next development for Australia will be a heavy duty or severe duty bonneted truck with optional BBC measurements and different suspensions, we want road trains before we get a cab-over on-highway truck,” Fulton says.