Since urea will be part of the operating cost, don't you think fleets will allow its purchase on a fuel card? Common sense tells me yes. If the truck doesn't roll, money isn't being made to make the payment. Sure, there will be another learning curve, but face it, Cummins can't possibly produce enough engines for everybody.

 

So is there any way to treat the stuff so it wont freeze?? If not the block heater better have a circulator pump to keep that tank from freezing if you are parked in the yard. Is it even effective after it has been thru a freeze thaw cycle??

 

Common sense isn't though. Trucking companies may or may not allow drivers to add it in on the fuel cards or they may say "we'll handle it at service times."

The bottom line is that it is another fluid that has to be maintained and we all know that everyone is perfect with the fluids that they have to maintain now riiiight?

Mallo

 

the cummins engine is not the answer to the emission problem, i work on 26 of them in a fleet and we've put 9 egrs on in less than a year and am sure that more will be failing before this year is out

 

I think your missing a vital piece of information. OTR trucks will need to be filled far more often than at service intervals. Pass. cars and p/u trucks will probably go the distance, but not OTR and medium duty trucks. Fleets will have to allow the purchase of urea on their fuel cards, no ifs, ands, or buts.

 

Our system will have an in-tank electric heater that's tied into the block heater circuit. Block heaters are optional. Freezing doesn't hurt the solution. It will start to break down in extreme heat though.

 

I forgot to answer your 3rd question. Urea is classified as non-toxic, therefore, it is harmless to humans and the environment. It is corrosive to metal however. Urea is liquid nitrogen, a common agriculture grade fertilizer. Urea is used as a livestock feed additive and as an additive in cigarettes to inhance flavor. It' also used in almost all teeth whitening products not to mention as a runway de-icer. As you can see, it's already available to the general public in one way or another.

 

Wasn't urea a component used in the Oklahoma City bombing?

 

I use to work at a Cat dealership when the ACERT engines came out. C-12 and C-10 which were before the C11 and C13, and those were not the easiest so adjust valves anyway. C15 with ACERT only added one more step in the valve adjust process and took me maybe 15 extra minutes over a older 3406E or C15 non ACERT engine. It is just like anything when you do it enough times it becomes easy.

The EPA has really screwed up all diesel engine, period.

As for there use of EGE, Cat use to say they did not have it, which was a marketing thing, as it has been posted before they achieved EGR by adding a electro-hydraulic valve to open the intake to allow exhaust back into the intake to be used by another cylinder on the intake stroke. This is a much better system than external EGR valves used by other engine makes that can stick, clog and cause other engine problems.

Bottom line, all of this emission garbage has wrecked once good engines. It makes no sense to me to take engines that use more fuel, cost more, have more problems, had more gimmicks to improve emissions that add to the cost of operate. Sure the engine puts out less emissions than slightly older engines but burn more fuel, which in turn puts out more emissions into the air, plus with ULSD fuel the refineries have to refine the fuel more to get the sulfur out which has lowered the BTU's in the fuel which makes it less efficient than fuel in the past and puts out more smoke at the refineries to do so. This last paragraph is my opinion so take it for what it is worth.

Jeff

 

Large fleets may or may not allow the purchase of urea on the fuel card; the Schneiders, the Swifts, the Werners, the JB-Hunts... But they comprise only about 15% of the total trucks on the road. 75% of the national fleet is comprised of fleets of 5 trucks or less. (the remaining 10% is "medium fleets".) That 75% will be 50/50 on buying additives; many of them have the unfortunate situation where their drivers will buy "stuff" on the fuel card and sell it (to make up for "payroll errors") to generate personal cash. That's why the cards are limited to fuel-only. Some allow oil to be purchased, but the way Trendar is set up, oil is a different merchandise category than is "additives"; thus "oil" can be purchased, but "additives" cannot. (been there, watched that while in line to get my fuel ticket.)

The Big Guys have sufficient terminals around the country so that any given truck is in a terminal at least once a month (for one reason or another), so they may also lock out "additives" on the fuel card, just because they have replenishment options elsewhere (and will rather bulk-purchase urea to keep costs down).

As for trucks not rolling, generating revenue and making their lease payments, that's much more an issue for an owner/operator. Drive by Swift's or Schneider's yard there in Atlanta, and count the dozens of trucks sitting idle in the parking lot.

Yes, there will be an "adjustment curve" for owners of 2010-spec engines. I just wonder which will be longer: the adjustment curve, or the driver's patience.

-blaine

 

Ammonium Nitrate is derived from a byproduct of urea production.

 

Yeah it is easy to say now that you would never fill a urea tank out of pocket, but come the day that your job depends on it, I am sure you and your industry co-workers will be filling the tank.

 

There are hundreds of trucking jobs available at the drop of a hat. The day my job depends on spending MY pocket money to keep the COMPANY'S truck running is the day I look for another job.

(Been there, played the "your job depends on it" game. Walked the same day. I'm not so unemployable that I'd EVER beg for a job.)

-blaine

 

You can bet that with fuel prices rising at rapid rates and no signs at going down in the future that the trucking industry will become much leaner in the future. I am sure as the number of trucks on the road shrinks there will be someone happy to take your job.

 

I don't think the number of trucks on the road are going to go down.
Perhaps the smaller Co.'s will go out of business, but then that's what the bigger fleets want - less competition.