FPInnovations’ Performance Innovation Transport (PIT) group, a not-for-profit engineering and research group for the North American trucking industry, today announced that it has received funding from the Quebec government to initiate a commercial vehicle engine programming project to reduce fuel consumption and emissions. The focus of the project is to provide engine manufacturers with guidance on developing parameters and setting defaults, and to provide fleets with guidance on which parameters to use based on a truck’s application. “All sectors of the road transport industry are affected by the lack of knowledge related to engine optimization,” said Yves Provencher, director of PIT. “There are over 200 configurable parameters available to fleets free of charge to optimize engine performance based on usage, yet over 80 percent of engines sold are specified with the default settings. Millions of dollars and thousands of hours are spent annually on implementing new fuel and emission reducing technologies while something as simple as appropriate engine programming could represent fuel savings of 10 to 15 percent.” The main objective of the PIT Programming Commercial Vehicle Engines to Reduce Fuel Consumption and Emissions project is to develop parameters suitable for various engine applications and to measure and disseminate information on potential fuel savings. The project will help manufacturers and fleets optimize new engines, and the programming parameters developed for targeted applications will be useful when a truck changes vocation. PIT partners in the engine programming project include:
  • Cummins Eastern Canada
  • Cascades Transport Inc. (a PIT fleet member)
  • The Association of Mechanical Inspection Agents of Quebec (a collaboration between Canadian transportation, insurance and environmental agencies to improve and ensure consistency on all garages that perform mechanical and emissions inspections)
  • The Société des Alcools du Québec (a government-run alcohol distributor and a PIT fleet member)
Parameters will be developed for long haul, regional, delivery, refuse, forestry trucks and buses.   "The entire road transport sector will benefit from the PIT group's research on engine programming,” said Pierre Lapointe, president and CEO of FPInnovations. “A direct source of fuel savings is waiting in the wings behind engine programming, and a better understanding of engine programming will help all trucking segments and other industries improve their energy performance."