I drive a 430 Actros, On Saturday just gone i ran back with another British Driver with a 610 FH16. On the flat, from the Swiss Border at St.Louis up to Brumath Peage, i was thinking “Whats all the fuss about, its not that special” as our speeds on the flat were identical. However, After the Peage the hills start, well i had managed to get the jump on him at the Peage, and approaching Saverne Bank, i must have been the best side of a Kilometre ahead of him. I had 14t of Tyres on, he was running with 23t of Groupage. By the top of Saverne he was a good 400yrds in front of me. I topped the hill, needing to go down 1 1/2 gears, he only needed to split half a gear. This situation was repeated on every hill all the way up to Lux, then onto Namur until the motorway flattens out a bit.
He reckons that its getting mid to high 8’s week in week out doing only Swiss., which is better than mine(Mine is getting 8.4 regularly on the same routes)
In the right hands, a big power truck can be a major asset to a company in terms of fuel, journey times and image, but in the wrong hands, it can be a disaster waiting to happen!
daveb0789:
i think that type of bus has electric motors only and the battery is charged by a constant revving diesel engine. The engine does not directly drive the vehicle.
There are two types of hybrid buses, ‘series’ and ‘parallel’. In one the engine solely charges the batteries and that is all, all motion comes from the electric motor. On the other the engine also helps with the drive when full oomph is needed such as when pulling away. I dont know for definite which is which although I suspect ‘parallel’ is the one where the engine helps out. Those where the engine just charges the battery are the ones where it’s a small motor (2-3 litres) but running at full whack all the time.
BuzzardBoy:
I drive a 430 Actros, On Saturday just gone i ran back with another British Driver with a 610 FH16. On the flat, from the Swiss Border at St.Louis up to Brumath Peage, i was thinking “Whats all the fuss about, its not that special” as our speeds on the flat were identical. However, After the Peage the hills start, well i had managed to get the jump on him at the Peage, and approaching Saverne Bank, i must have been the best side of a Kilometre ahead of him. I had 14t of Tyres on, he was running with 23t of Groupage. By the top of Saverne he was a good 400yrds in front of me. I topped the hill, needing to go down 1 1/2 gears, he only needed to split half a gear. This situation was repeated on every hill all the way up to Lux, then onto Namur until the motorway flattens out a bit.
He reckons that its getting mid to high 8’s week in week out doing only Swiss., which is better than mine(Mine is getting 8.4 regularly on the same routes)
In the right hands, a big power truck can be a major asset to a company in terms of fuel, journey times and image, but in the wrong hands, it can be a disaster waiting to happen!
When youre due a change of truck i can guess what youll ask for
Remember driving for Panasonic about 10 years ago and they had 270 scania’s, there was a 340 but it was only ever used by one full time bloke.
Everyone was green with envy
Driveroneuk:
There must be a change over point where the power becomes more than what’s needed & therefor consumes fuel unecessarily.
I used to drive a Scania 480 V8 topliner and that used to use LOTS. I thnk it actually wieghed more than a standard topliner because of all the V8 badges
Robertthegreat:
why do Americans have V8 motors in cars big liters low RPM result low MPG relaxed driving automatic trans look what happening with trucks now
Because they can.
With fuel prices at tuppence h’penny a gallen they can also afford to
run a ford lightning 5.4 ltr 420hp cruises at 80mph 23-25mpg try doing that in aL200 or navara.there is just no substitute for power if driven right.
