During this decade, the constant increase and globalization of passenger car sales has led countries to adopt a common language for the treatment of CO2 and other pollutant emissions. In this regard, the WLTC - World-wide harmonized Light duty Test Cycle - stands as the new global reference cycle for fuel consumption, CO2 and pollutant emissions across the globe.
Regulations keep a constant pressure on CO2 emission reduction leading vehicle manufacturers and component suppliers to modify hardware to ensure compliance. Within this balance, lubricants remain worthwhile contributors to lowering CO2 emission and fuel consumption. Yet with WTLC, new additional lubricant designs are likely to be required to ensure optimized friction due to its new cycle operating conditions, associated powertrain hardware and worldwide product use.
Through friction torque and vehicle test campaigns, NISSAN and TOTAL have conducted a complete study to assess particularly how the Fuel Economy (FE) lubricants originally designed for JC08 (official Japanese driving cycle) or NEDC (New European Driving Cycle) will perform on the new WTLC.
Beyond this initial state of art, the study was designed to quantify the potential of current lubricant industry trends such as the rise of lower viscosity oils, multi-fuel compatible products as well as new industry standards (upcoming ILSAC GF-6 or newly released ACEA C5-16). The final stage of the study was dedicated to explore some of the engine oil formulation levers.