Filed under: Green, Hoglund Bus, Hybrid, IC, Mark Your Calendars, Minnesota, Open House, Training
Hoglund Bus would like to invite you to see and drive our new IC Conventional Electric Hybrid. This bus will be in Minnesota, at our Monticello location on 10/7 with a training class scheduled and a ride and drive to follow. The presentation will begin at 1:00 p.m. by Keith Kladder, Marketing Manager, IC Bus. If you are concerned with your carbon footprint or high diesel costs, come find out what our bus has to offer. Lunch will be provided and other exciting things happening, as this is happening during our Open House, call Linda at 763-271-2952 to get registered and find out what else we have to offer.
Filed under: Arboc Spirit of Mobility, Braun, Commercial Buses, Diamond Coach, Espar Heater, Exide, Fleetguard, Glaval, Hankook Tires, Hoglund Bus, Hoglunds, IC, International, Mark Your Calendars, Minnesota, Open House, Parts, Ricon, Training, Trucks, Turtle Top
You’re Invited!!
Hoglund’s Annual Open House – Wednesday, October 7th from 11am to 2pm.
The Open House will be held in our new service bays!
Place a parts order of $100 or more during the Open House and be entered to win 1 of 5 $100 gift cards!
BBQ provided by Diamond Coach
Register to Win - TV, Pressure Washer, Gift Cards, Apparel, Jewelry, and much more!
Vendors that will be attending include:
IC Sales, International, International Finance, Arboc Mobility, Allison, Braun, Carrier, Champion Bus, CMI Fabrics, Collins/Mid Bus, Diamond Coach, Dupont, Espar, Exide, Freedman Seating, Fleetguard, Hoglund Body and Equipment, IC Parts and Service, International Renewed, Authorized Transmission Remanufacturing, Glaval, Haldex/Midland, Hankook Tire, Koroseal, NCS, Pomp’s Tire, Premire Bank, Q-Straint, REI, Ricon, Rosco, SKF, Sure-Lok, Trans/Air Mfg. Co., Translite, Truck Utilities Mfg. Co., Turtle Top, Ventech and more!
Training Seminars:
11:00 – 12:00 Parts Catalog Online*
12:00 – 1:00 IC Hybrid Technology
1:00 – 2:00 Hands-On Training with Doug Yager (Tech Helpline Specialist)
1:00 – 2:00 Navistar Financial
* Attend and enter to win a Nintendo Wii Bundle
Call to register at 763-295-5119
Here is some pictures of a recent Commercial Bus delivery we did recently. This went to the Western Iowa Community College in Council Bluffs, IA. We hope they are enjoying their new bus!
Marketplace rhetoric has insinuated that the use of credits somehow makes a manufacturer non-compliant. In some isolated conversations, customers have questioned whether the use of credits meets the standard. But the ARB letter inarguably confirms and accepts the approach on which we have been working with the EPA since 2004.
In the attached letter to our parent company, Navistar, Inc., ARB acknowledged that engines that use averaging, banking and trading (ABT) provisions comply with the 2010 emissions requirements. ARB added that engine families both using credits and creating credits are compliant and receive “an Executive Order making them legal for sale.” Furthermore, our 2010 engines are considered Best Available Control Technology requiring no retrofitting and are essentially on equal footing with those at 0.20 g/bhp-hr of NOx.
We think this affirmation by ARB will resolve any doubts about the acceptability of credits for meeting emissions requirements. IC Bus is the only bus manufacturer who can meet 2010 emissions with an in-cylinder solution because we planned ahead for it. We have worked tirelessly to give our customers a solution that takes the burden of 2010 compliance off their shoulders.
We are incredibly confident in our 2010 emissions solution. And thanks to this letter from ARB, we think our customers will be, too.
Click here to view the letter.
Regards,
John McKinney
President, IC Bus
Filed under: IC
WAKARUSA, IN – Hundreds of Navistar employees welcomed President Barack Obama to its Wakarusa, Ind., manufacturing facility to celebrate the award of a $39 million federal grant to develop and build all-electric delivery vehicles and bring jobs to the Elkhart County, Ind., communities.Through this U.S. Department of Energy grant, Navistar intends to build 400 all-electric vehicles in 2010 and expects that within a couple of years to be producing several thousand vehicles annually. Navistar anticipates hiring additional workers immediately as it ramps up production of the all-electric delivery vehicle. As volumes increase and the market grows, the company estimates opportunities for several hundred more people in the Elkhart area. The grant application calls for the creation of up to 700 jobs, which includes Navistar employees and suppliers. “The all-electric delivery vehicle is a concrete example of what business and government can do when we work together,” said Dan Ustian, Navistar chairman, president and chief executive officer. “The future is now with this electric vehicle. In fact, we already have interested customers, including some of the most respected names in the industry.” Navistar is in the process of finalizing a joint venture with Modec Ltd. of the United Kingdom to produce and sell electric Class 2c-3 commercial vehicles in North, Central and South America. This zero emission all-electric delivery vehicle would primarily be used by drivers for local deliveries where stop and go driving would otherwise consume a large amount of fuel. Navistar has three manufacturing facilities in the area: the Monaco RV facility in Wakarusa another facility recently purchased from Monaco in Elkhart City, Ind., and the Workhorse Custom Chassis facility in Union City, Ind. Earlier this year, Navistar purchased certain assets of the recreational vehicle (RV) manufacturing business of Monaco Coach Corporation, one of the nation’s leading recreational vehicle manufacturers.
Wow! Is it already August? As I sat down to write this week’s email, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to think ahead to August 2010. What might you be doing this time next year?
As you know, IC Bus and our parent company, Navistar, Inc., will meet 2010 EPA emissions requirements with our customer-friendly solution: MaxxForce® Advanced EGR. With Advanced EGR, emissions reduction takes place within the engine, while urea-based SCR, the competitor’s 2010 solution, uses an after-treatment system.
So, how might next year be different for you as it relates to your buses?
Well, if you only have IC BusTM brand buses in your fleet, next year won’t be much different for you, your drivers or service techs. That’s because our MaxxForce Advanced EGR won’t put the burden of compliance on you. IC Bus has taken on that burden so you don’t have to.
This means your drivers won’t be undergoing new training, since our 2010 EPA emissions solution doesn’t add new warning lights to the driver’s interface. Drivers will simply get in their bus and drive, just like they do now.
Your service technicians will not be taking on new hassles and training, either. Our MaxxForce Advanced EGR engines will have an additional turbo and a larger cooling package, but service technicians are already trained to work on both. Further, since the technology used in Advanced EGR evolved from the same technology used to meet 2007 EPA mandates, diagnostic requirements and service intervals remain the same.
Advanced EGR is less hassle for you, your drivers and your service technicians, because you don’t shoulder the burden. When you weigh your options for meeting 2010 emissions requirements, MaxxForce Advanced EGR from IC Bus is clearly the solution that has you covered.
Regards,
John McKinney
President, IC Bus
In the quest to provide service technicians with invaluable education that’s so rare in the industry, IC Bus recently completed another session of our ongoing IC Bus™ University. Held during the week of May 18 in Tulsa, OK, 45 service technicians from over 40 school districts attended.
In a business where buses need timely maintenance, service technicians yearn for any update in training they can find. IC Bus University, the brainchild of John Thompson, dealer training director at IC Bus, has established a curriculum to keep technicians up to speed and able to avoid costly downtime.
“There’s a real thirst out there in the bus world for training,” Thompson observed. “Technicians can’t get this extensive training anywhere else. Buses are easier to work on right now, but only if you have the training and skills to do it.”
The recent training session started with a trip to the IC Bus plant, where technicians spent time observing how a bus is assembled. Over the rest of the week, they received specific instruction on bus electronics, engines, bus care and maintenance, Alison transmission systems, full power brake systems, AC systems and specialty manufacturing.
Technicians also received hands-on training with the one-of-a-kind IC Bus Training Bus, a fully operational bus (with its own VIN number) on which every kind of diagnostic can be performed, taught and evaluated. The Training Bus has cross-sections that display all electrical and mechanical elements present in an IC Bus brand bus.
The response by attendees has been uniformly enthusiastic. Here’s an example from Brian Koehn, who is the Lead Bus Mechanic for Noble Public Schools in Noble, OK:
“I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate IC Bus’s commitment to customer education and training. I just completed a run-through of IC Bus University and was thoroughly impressed with the quality of the training your people were giving. The instructors were informative and knowledgeable and the material was relevant. I believe IC Bus has got it right.”
Given the great response, IC Bus University will now offer an advanced session of instruction (ICU2) for technicians who have completed the first session. ICU2 will be more hands-on with a focus on advanced diagnostics. The class will be smaller, around 10 techs per class, and the first ICU2 will be held the weeks of October 19 and October 26 this year.
The next time the initial IC Bus University sessions will be offered is October and December 2009, followed by sessions in March and June of 2010.
The cost of IC University is $300. You will need a voucher from your dealership to register. Please contact Nicole Crum at 763-271-2983 or busadmin@hoglundbus.com if you are interested.
Regarding heat, our engineers have worked diligently to ensure that our engines optimally manage the heat of combustion. Our 2010 MaxxForce engines do this better than previous generations. EGR heat is not in the engine – it is in the EGR cooler. In fact, although we are flowing slightly more EGR we are also cooling that flow more so any additional heat is dealt with in the cooling system, which is larger. And, we have upgraded our EGR cooler construction and provided a unique, ultra-efficient coolant flow circuit.
As for soot, which is simply unburned fuel, our other technology advances take care of that. The high-pressure fuel system, twin turbos, piston bowl, and multiple injection events make a more efficient burn; therefore the opportunity to make soot is greatly reduced.
Without question, our MaxxForce Advanced EGR technology takes these things into account so that our current engine life is maintained. After all, if you had to worry about reduced engine life, we couldn’t really call it “advanced,” could we?
Once again, with our 2010 compliant MaxxForce Advanced EGR engines maintaining their current service life, IC Bus continues to take the burden of 2010 compliance off our customer.
Regards,John McKinney
President
IC Bus
Have You Heard?
For most bus customers, fuel economy is a big deal. While IC Bus and our parent company, Navistar, Inc., will meet 2010 EPA emissions requirements with an in-cylinder solution known as MaxxForce® Advanced EGR, our competitors continue to shout about the potential fuel economy advantages of their 2010 solution, SCR.
Have you heard our competitors claim that urea fluid-based SCR will yield a 5% – 9% fuel economy advantage over Advanced EGR? In addition to that, I have even heard a “best in class fuel economy” claim. In a world where fuel economy is top of mind and diesel prices always in flux, I think it is critical to keep in mind that these claims have not been proven or tested.
Not proven or tested? That’s right: the SCR claims of fuel economy advantages over MaxxForce Advanced EGR have not been proven or tested.
How do I know this?
Well, since IC Bus is the only bus manufacturer using an Advanced EGR engine for 2010, we would have had to loan our competitors a MaxxForce Advanced EGR engine for testing this claim. Since we did not do that, it seems this claim is completely unsupported.
Plus, based on SAE fuel economy tests, today’s MaxxForce engines already enjoy a fuel economy advantage (by as much as 12.9%) over competitive engines. So competitors have a lot of ground to make up with their coming 2010 engine designs just to get comparable to the fuel economy of today’s MaxxForce engines.
For argument’s sake, let’s imagine SCR buses do have a fuel economy advantage. Bus owners using fluid-based SCR will still have to consider their total cost of operations increase which will include urea fluid purchase (currently at $4/gallon, Diesel Fuel News, 6/15/09), handling, storage, maintenance, as well as driver and service technician training. All of this hassle should be taken into account when considering any potential (and yet unproven) fuel economy advantage.
IC Bus is providing bus customers a 2010 solution that is customer friendly. No hassles. No new driver or service tech training. And with today’s MaxxForce engine already enjoying a proven fuel economy advantage, no fuel economy worries.
Regards,
John McKinney
President
IC Bus
SUBJECT: Maker of liquid urea warns of consequences of improper storing or handling
We have been advising our customers that as they consider EGR versus SCR as an emissions strategy for 2010, they should be aware of the many challenges that the liquid urea used in SCR will impose on them.
A new white paper – distributed by the urea industry itself – confirms these challenges.
The attached paper, called “Successful Urea/Diesel Exhaust Fluid Handling, Storage and Dispensing,” was sponsored by a leading maker of liquid urea, a leading distributor and a leading maker of dispensing pumps.
The paper points out the very exacting standards that will be necessary in storing and handling liquid urea, in order to avoid malfunctions and equipment problems.
Here are just some of the white paper’s warnings (italics added):
• “Storage temperatures higher than 86° F will detrimentally affect urea concentration and below 12° F, DEF will begin to crystallize. Both of these circumstances could render the product out of specification and unfit for sale.” (page 7)
• “Product impurities can detrimentally affect the after-treatment systems’ performance and void vehicle warranty guarantees due to premature catalyst deactivation and/or fouling of prefilters and injector nozzles.” (page 5)
• “Injectors are very sensitive, making purity extremely important, as any un-dissolved material may clog filters or injectors. Additionally, dissolved material can result in premature SCR catalyst failure.” (page 6)
• “Premature failure will activate the on-board vehicle diagnostics systems, dramatically reducing vehicle performance.” (page 6)
As you consider which technology will best meet your 2010 needs — Advanced EGR, or liquid urea-based SCR – you need to be aware of all the problems and challenges posed by liquid urea.
Regards,
Mark Johnson
Marketing Communications Manager
Navistar, Inc.
Click on the following to download the White Paper. UREA_HANDLING_White_Paper_060909
