The vehicle, operating from Go-Ahead’s Stockwell depot, was retrofitted with the xFE transmission hardware and FuelSense 2.0 software for the trial, which started in August last year. Since then, it has covered 36,000 miles and has recorded improvements of up to 7.13%, and an average across seasons of 4.37%.
The tests have been conducted by the operator and the bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis (ADL). The results reveal that if Go-Ahead retrofitted xFE and FuelSense 2.0 to each of the 14 buses in that depot equipped with an Allison T 2100 transmission, it could cut fuel costs by £28,000 and save more than 27,000kg of CO2 per year.
ADL is now recommending that its customers that use Allison transmissions consider upgrading to the xFE and FuelSense 2.0 – the work can be done in various locations, but operators should contact ADL in the first instance.
Richard Harrington, Go-Ahead London’s engineering director, describes it as a “realistic and rigorous” trial, adding: “We were interested to see how, through configuration of the transmission software, operators can choose their own balance between fuel economy and performance, and we were impressed by the fuel savings.”
xFE incorporates a newly designed torque converter lock-up clutch, enabling first gear lock-up at low speeds coupled with FuelSense 2.0 technology, making the T 2100 xFE ideally suited for transit and city buses.
The FuelSense 2.0 software features Neutral at Stop and coast, coupled with DynActive Shifting which uses a real-time learning algorithm to find the ideal balance of fuel consumption and performance.