Global warming is the driver for introduction of CO2 and fuel consumption legislation worldwide. Indian truck manufacturers are facing the introduction of Indian fuel efficiency norms. In the European Union the CO2 emission monitoring phase of the most relevant truck classes was completed in June 2020 by usage of the Vehicle Energy Consumption Calculation TOol VECTO. Indian rule makers are currently considering an adaptation of VECTO for the usage in India, too.
Indian truck market has always been very cost sensitive. Introduction of Bharat Stage VI Phase I has already led to a significant cost increase for emission compliance. Therefore, it will be of vital importance to keep the additional product costs for achievement of future fuel consumption legislation as low as possible as long as the real-world operation will not be promoted by the government.
Especially when focusing on technologies that are needed to satisfy CO2 fleet approaches, a modular transmission family offers interesting possibilities, even with positive effects on gradeability and driving comfort. A transmission family on the base of an AMT (Automated Manual Transmission) allows reproducible engine operation and thus eliminates driver specific impacts on fuel consumption. This is then leading to higher fuel efficiency and a decrease in CO2 emissions. To demonstrate this effect, the comparison of the fuel efficiency values for a 9-speed manual transmission, 12- speed manual transmission and a 12-speed automated manual transmission will be done by a simulation with the official European Union certification tool VECTO.