Scania V8 can become even cleaner: MD

WHILE electric- and hydrogen-powered trucks will no doubt provide a greener future for the transportation industry in due course, Scania Australia managing director, Manfred Streit, believes more can be done now to improve the efficiency and cleanliness of existing diesel engine technology.

Speaking to GoAuto in Melbourne recently, Mr Streit said Scania’s recent updates to its Super V8-powered range is proof that improvements are there to be made.

Substantially updated at the end of 2021, the eight-cylinder engine range achieved generational improvements in fuel consumption of eight per cent for long haulage customers. The Euro 6 compliant range offers outputs ranging from 530 to 770hp - and peak torque of up to 3700Nm - with two even offered with BioDiesel capabilities.

“Electrification is part of our future solution, but we also have to look at what we have now, and how to reduce that footprint in parallel,” Mr Streit told GoAuto.

“We cannot just rely on electrification, especially in Australia. That’s why we developed our new Super powertrain to get CO2 emissions down to a new level, which we have achieved with this new product in an internal combustion V8 engine.

“The V8 sounds like it should be a high fuel consumption engine, but it’s not. It actually offers better fuel consumption than any other V8 we’ve had. It produces more power, too, which makes it kind of perfect for heavy haulage operations, or in Australia, for big road trains.”

While not ruling out the benefits electrification and hydrogen power can bring to the industry – and indeed the environment – Mr Streit said it was important that the technologies continued to be developed in unison to provide the best and cleanest possible solutions for all sectors of the road transport industry.

He said current development of the Scania V8 shows that even more can be achieved in terms of efficiency, hinting that the life of diesel-powered trucks – including those with eight-cylinder engines – is far from coming to an end.

“There is definitely more potential available, and that is what is needed. It is part of our philosophy that we will not wait until everything is fine, but we will continue to work to make what we have better, cleaner, better for the customer, continue to reduce fuel consumption, continue to reduce CO2 and other emissions,” he said.

“With diesel technology at the moment, it is possible to get another eight or 10 per cent improvement, depending on the field of operation of course, which is very important for those customers and those markets who cannot yet use an electrified powertrain.”

When asked how much longer Scania saw its V8 engine continuing to provide such a solution, Mr Streit said the engineering advancements he was privy to showed it was possible cleaner diesel engines would remain available for a decade or more.

“The V8 is being developed and optimised even further, and the technology that is available to us to help reduce fuel consumption and emissions is continually improving. This is very important to our customers because the engine suits their needs and provides the efficiency they need as well,” he explained.

“The engine is durable and incredibly strong and, in hilly terrain, it can help a driver to reach the destination 20 or 30 minutes earlier than some of our competitors, while using even less fuel. It also has benefits from the point of view of making the job quicker, safer and with less fatigue.

“For all these reasons, I think when you look ahead 10 years or possibly more than a decade from now, we will still have it (the V8 engine). I don’t see anything else appearing in that timeframe – on the scale required – that is a suitable substitute.

“We are also teaming that engine with ever-improving gearboxes and axles, so we’re getting far better mileage than comparable large capacity six-cylinder engines that other manufacturers are producing.”