The system, which cost £1,200 to fit including training, is already delivering fuel benefits and, says the operator, is expected to pay for itself in less than four months.
Potter is trialling the technology on a two-year-old Actros 2545 with 449bhp straight-six engine. The truck is based at a depot in Ripon and typically spends its days delivering packaged chemicals in and around North Yorkshire and Lancashire.
Each night it pulls a double-deck trailer from Ripon to Middlesbrough then Heysham and back.
Average returns for its day driver have risen from 9.2 to 10 mpg – in the first week of November, the vehicle achieved a record figure of 10.6 mpg.
PPC is a cruise control system that uses digital 3D mapping and GPS data to scan the road ahead. With this topographical information, the system manages gear changes and vehicle speed, using the truck’s EcoRoll function to restrict diesel consumption and CO2 emissions.
“The system was fitted nearly two months ago and, on the evidence so far, it looks really good,” says Potter's fleet manager Colin Bamford.
“We’re not able to make an accurate comparison for the night shift yet, because the truck has not always had the same driver, but the improvement in mpg performance during the day has been really impressive.”
Bamford says that if the average 0.8 mpg improvement on the day shift is replicated by the night driver, this will result in savings of £4,342 in diesel and AdBlue costs. “On this basis, we’d recoup the outlay in a little over three and a half months,” he adds.
Day driver Mike Potter says: “The training is invaluable because the system sometimes works in a way that runs counter to what you’d expect. For example, it might hold a gear when your natural inclination would be to change down – climbing a hill in 10th with 900 revs on will be alien to some drivers, but it works.
“Likewise, it can feel strange when the truck stops accelerating before it gets to the brow, but it does so because it’s planned ahead and knows it has enough momentum to roll over the top.”
PPC has been offered as an option on new vehicles since 2013. It can now be installed as a retrofit option on Actros, Antos and Arocs models, provided the vehicle has a PowerShift 3 automated transmission.