Suez (formerly Sita UK) approached six major European truck manufacturers before selecting the truck from Heil Farid, which offered the only front-loading vehicle with a fully automatic transmission – Allison Transmission’s 4500 model.
The first of these new vehicles – a four-axle Scania Euro 6 8x4 32-tonne vehicle – is on Heil Farid’s stand at RWM, the European event for resource efficiency and waste management solutions, taking place at the NEC in Birmingham (15-17 September).
Allison Transmission’s 4000 Series range is designed to make heavy-duty vehicles operate smoothly and efficiently, offering close- or wide-ratio gearing and up to seven speeds, including two overdrive ratios and a second reverse gear. The 4500 model is rated up to 2102 Nm gross input torque and 500bhp.
“A fully automatic front-end loader was vital for us because of the high amount of close-quarter manoeuvring our refuse trucks have to do, with lots of shunting backwards and forwards, typically making 50 to 60 trade waste collections during each 16-hour day,” said Brian Juffs, general fleet manager at SUEZ.
Another major consideration was reducing the environmental impact of its fleet, says Juffs. “With these new vehicles operating at the heavier end of our fleet profile (32 tonnes gvw), the Allison transmissions deliver significant benefits in improved fuel efficiency and reduced emissions as a result of the advanced electronic control system.”
Allison fully automatic transmissions use a patented torque converter instead of dry clutch, meaning that the clutch repairs and replacements required by manual and automated manual transmissions are eliminated.