Mixer, dump and concrete product-hauling fleets approach a new era as engine and truck manufacturers clear 2009 inventory and modify models for power and exhaust treatment packages meeting Environmental Protection Agency diesel emissions thresholds effective January 2010
Source: CP staff
Mixer, dump and concrete product-hauling fleets approach a new era as engine and truck manufacturers clear 2009 inventory and modify models for power and exhaust-treatment packages meeting Environmental Protection Agency diesel-emissions thresholds effective January 2010. Producers will find higher price tags on new trucks, reflecting perhaps $7,000-$9,000 in premiums manufacturers attribute to EPA 2010 compliance.
Those shopping new vehicles for the first time since the peak concrete-demand years of 2005-2007 will find a sharply different landscape, marked by truck model changes, brand sunsets, and evolution of engines and exhaust components beyond the diesel particulate filters central to EPA 2007 phase emissions compliance:
- Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) chambers treating post-diesel particulate filter (DPF) exhaust
- Urea or diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) tanks, charging SCR chambers
- Under-step mounting of DEF tanks (driver side) and DPF and/or SCR components (passenger side), or combinations of under cab and back of cab (passenger side) mounting
- Caterpillar Engine Division’s exit from on-highway market
- Discontinuation of widely specified Cummins ISM engine in favor of the EPA 2010-compliant ISX11.9 and new ISL version
- Detroit Diesel’s presence, via the DD13 engine, in mixer- and dump-grade power and torque categories
- Paccar Inc. offering its own MX engine for Kenworth and Peterbilt models
- Navistar Inc. differentiating its EPA 2010 compliance strategy through Advanced Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR), eliminating competitor-deployed SCR components and DEF tanks
- Freightliner addressing a Sterling brand void with its M2 and Concord models, in set-forward and set-back axle configurations
- Moderate fuel-economy improvements with EPA 2010 power compared to earlier generation engines (over-the-road trucking applications have seen 5 percent improved economy; equipment manufacturers see lower percentage for on/off-highway applications)
Shipment of EPA 2010-compliant heavy-duty diesel engines and exhaust treatment systems has reached critical mass, albeit in mainline, over-the-road trucking. For mixers, dumps and other on/off-highway vehicles, the migration to 2010 power has been slower, but figures to step up as the Cummins ISX11.9 has entered full production. Among the handful of early EPA 2010 power adopters are three Texas operators: Nelson Bros. Ready Mix in Lewisville, Texas, running a Mack MP7-powered Granite Axle Back; Kansas Ready Mix, Wichita, operating four Mack MP7-powered Granite Axle Forward bridge formula mixers; and, Cemex, which recently took delivery of a DD13-powered Freightliner M2.