Potter Logistics
Award-winning Potter Logistics has achieved a dramatic improvement in fuel efficiency after equipping a Mercedes-Benz Actros which had already been on the road for more than two years, with the manufacturer’s ground-breaking Predictive Powertrain Control system.
The truck is double-shifted and the average returns for its day driver have shot up from 9.2 to 10 mpg – in the first week of November he recorded a stunning ‘best yet’ figure of 10.6 mpg!
PPC is an innovative cruise control that employs digital 3D mapping and GPS data to scan the road ahead. Armed with this topographical information it manages gear changes and vehicle speed, making full use of the truck’s EcoRoll function to restrict diesel consumption and CO2 emissions.
By also applying engine braking at every opportunity the system reduces component wear and tear, while drivers are less stressed and safer because it leaves them free to concentrate fully on the road ahead.
The fuel-saving potential of Predictive Powertrain Control, which covers 99% of all UK motorways and 97% of major roads, is well-proven, as it has been optionally available on new vehicles since 2013. However, provided the vehicle has a Mercedes PowerShift 3 automated transmission it can now be installed on Actros, Antos and Arocs models that have already been in operation – Potter Logistics is one of the first to take advantage of this recently introduced ‘retrofit’ opportunity.
Winner of the coveted Motor Transport Haulier of the Year trophy for 2015, the family-owned company is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its founding by Executive Chairman Derrick Potter. Potter Logistics operates from six locations across the North and Midlands. Its fleet of 31 tractor units and a dozen 26-tonne rigids is dominated by Mercedes-Benz vehicles acquired from Northside Truck & Van; the same Dealer also supplied a pair of diesel-electric FUSO Canter Eco Hybrids used by Potter in its historic home city of York.
PPC can deliver fuel efficiency savings on any operation but is most effective in hilly terrain. Potter is trialling the technology on an Actros 2545 with 330 kW (449 hp) 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.
Fleet Manager Colin Bamford said: “This vehicle is worked hard, clocking up some 4,000 km per week on some challenging routes. Following discussions with Northside we decided it offered the best opportunity to gauge PPC’s effectiveness.
“The system was fitted nearly two months ago and on the evidence of what we’ve seen so far it looks really good. 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.”
Mr Bamford said that if replicated by the night driver, the 0.8 mpg saved by experienced day driver Mike Potter in raising his average returns from 9.2 to 10 mpg (before he posted his spectacular 10.6) would equate to an annual reduction of £4,342 in diesel and AdBlue costs for the vehicle.
A Predictive Powertrain Control system costs less than £1,200 to retrofit, this including a day’s Mercedes-Benz driver training. “On this basis we’d recoup the outlay in a little over three-and-a-half months,” he continued. “The Predictive Powertrain Control trial was high on the agenda at our latest Board meeting and unsurprisingly, given the figures, the consensus was highly favourable.”
All of Potter Logistics’ Actros tractor units are fitted with Mercedes-Benz FleetBoard telematics hardware – this allows operators to monitor the mpg performance of their drivers, with scores weighted to reflect the ‘degree of difficulty’ of different routes. Mike Potter was ‘mid-table’ on the Potter drivers’ league prior to the installation of his PPC system and the instruction he received, along with night-shift colleague Colin Beck, from the driver-trainers at Mercedes-Benz Trucks’ Wentworth Park complex, near Barnsley; he is now right up at the top.
“In nearly 25 years of driving I’ve attended a number of courses run by different manufacturers and this was definitely the best,” he recalled. “Predictive Powertrain Control is ingenious and clearly very effective in making smooth changes, one or two gears at a time, rather than jumping more gears than it needs and over-revving the engine.
“But the training is also 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.
“The driver is always in command, but I just switch on the cruise control then leave the truck to do its business. She’s fantastic!”
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