As the automotive industry continues to push for improved emissions, Allison Transmission has announced its latest technology for its 1000 series and 2000 series xFE, meaning medium-duty buses and trucks can use even less fuel.
Despite having the same space claim as previous the models, thanks to a redesigned torque converter damper – coupled with the FuelSense 2.0 Max package – the fully automatic bus and truck transmissions have demonstrated fuel economy improvements up to 7% when compared with baseline models.
The new damper enables first range lock-up, which means there is significantly more lock-up operation during lower engine speeds to further improve fuel economy. Additionally, the xFE transmissions are compatible with alternative fuel engines.
“Other than our electric hybrid products, xFE models represent the very best fuel economy technology we offer,” said John Coll, senior vice president of global marketing at Allison Transmission. “Our goal with this expansion of the xFE portfolio is to also now achieve the best fuel economy from an automatic transmission in smaller, medium-duty buses and trucks.”
“The new design works to achieve enhanced fuel economy in stop-start dense, low-average-speed duty cycles,” said Coll. “Transit and city buses are the ideal candidates for this technology and that’s why we’ve remained focused on those applications.”