We drive TNT’s new Euro 6 Scania P450

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Australasian Transport News (ATN) / November 14, 2014

The first fleet delivery of Euro 6 (EPA2010) emissions-level trucks has just taken place down under in Australia.

TNT Australia just received five P450 prime movers that will work double shifts of metro pickup and delivery during the daylight hours and regional freight runs at night.

These Scania units use a 13-litre 6-cylinder that relies on both exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) to reduce emissions.

This engine is touted to be a rather torquey little unit with peak torque at 2,350Nm (1,733lb/ft) from 1,000rpm to 1,300rpm.

The engine is backed by Scania’s Opticruise 14-speed (12+2) automated manual transmission (AMT).

Euro 6 regulations mean that nitrogen oxide needs to be reduced by one fifth from current Euro 5 (EPA2007) levels.

Particulate also needs to be reduced to satisfy Euro 6 as well. In most cases this means that the engine requires a combination of the EGR and SCR.

That said, Scania and Iveco both have Euro 6 compliant engines that use SCR only (no EGR).

EGR gets a bad rap from a lot of operators that have been stung by their association with this technology.

However, in a Euro 6 application the EGR system is working at a much reduced flow rate as the SCR system is chipping in to help as well.

Weight and fuel consumption are a concern for some, yet Scania claims that this Euro 6 engine will equal if not better it’s Euro 5 equivalent.

TNT Australia is no stranger to cleaner and greener technologies boasting one of the biggest hybrid fleets in the country.

"We already run Australia’s largest hybrid truck fleet, and a recent four-year internal study found that our 30 hybrid trucks have emitted 112 fewer tonnes of CO₂ into the atmosphere than comparable diesel-powered trucks over that period," TNT national fleet and equipment manager Kurt Grossrieder says.

"Recently we commissioned another 24 hybrid trucks to further reduce our total output of greenhouse gases while using less fuel, which is a positive step for TNT and the environment."

TNT has also been conducting its own CNG trial with its Canberra-based fleet.

On the eve of these new trucks joining the TNT fleet in Melbourne we had the opportunity to take one for a spin at its typical working weight.

There were a couple of firsts here for us, the first real world drive of a Euro 6 truck on the road and the first time I’d dragged a B-double with Scania’s P-series.

Our bright-orange combination tipped the scales at 46 metric ton gross (101,413lb)), a typical TNT B-double working weight. There were a couple of unique TNT aspects to the truck aside from the colour.

First, the company had specified the low-to-the-ground P cab and, second, the fitment of a very meaty staircase and handrail to the driver’s side of the prime mover chassis.

It’s very clear from just looking at the truck everything has been about making the drivers life safer and easier in a multi trailer drop situation.

The stairs also stop drivers from climbing onto a very hot after-treatment box to gain access to the chassis.

Our test route took us on a return trip from Laverton to Ballarat, a distance of 221 km.

My main interest was in the performance of the engine under load. The 6-cylinder had quite a bit of torque on tap considering its displacement and it held its own climbing the Pentland Hills out of Bacchus Marsh.

I kept the tranny in its standard shift point setting and in rumbled up the grade in 9^th gear 1,300rpm.

The climb out of Pykes Creek also saw the tacho needle glue itself to 1300rpm in 8^th gear. As with much of the Euro product on the market now it’s all about the torque and low revs.

My fuel over the route was 1.83km/l, which isn’t too shabby for a light double on those grades with virtually no kilometres the engine.

The low P cab is great for this kind of round town application. On the whole, the Euro 6 Scania P Series appears to have just what it takes for TNT.

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