Scania reclaims its Green Truck crown

Scania’s decisive action to reduce fuel consumption and emissions has been recognised in Australia over the past year, as its new Super range of 13-litre six cylinder engines have entered local service, delivering on the promise of an eight per cent fuel burn cut.

In many cases this reduction has resulted in real-world double digit percentage reductions, a valuable saving in an era of high diesel prices.

Anecdotal evidence from Australian customers has revealed savings around 14-15 per cent, an improvement previously thought impossible given the past decade’s efforts to make Scania engines ever more efficient.

Annual European 'Green Truck' testing by independent parties has recently concluded and the Scania R-cab powered by the 13-litre 460hp Super engine has been crowned as the most efficient, making this the seventh Green Truck Award in eight years for Scania’s six-cylinder powerplant (Scania finished second in 2023).

Manufacturers of heavy trucks in Europe attend the Green Truck comparison test to identify the most transport-efficient long-haul truck. The competition began in 2011 and has been held 14 times, during which Scania has won nine times, and finished second four times.

“Scania participates in many press tests in Europe, but the Green Truck Award really focuses on what is an absolute core requirement in our industry – offering customers the best possible transport efficiency,” said Stefan Dorski, Senior Vice President and Head of Scania Trucks.

“Our Super powertrain was introduced to European customers in 2021 and brought a new performance level to the market, with its eight per cent fuel-savings that our customers now benefit from in their daily operations.

“Scania is very proud that it has regained the title as the most efficient long-haul truck in the world. Consuming less fuel means that our trucks produce fewer CO2 emissions, and this is important given that so much of the world’s transport is still dependent on combustion engines,” he says.

The best truck in the test is identified by applying a formula that covers all the relevant transport-efficiency and sustainability factors: fuel consumption, average speed, AdBlue consumption and the weight of the truck (the lighter the better).

Scania’s results always stand out: over the 100km test distance, the average difference compared to the runner-up was 0.41 litres of fuel.

With long-haul trucks traveling around 150,000km each year, this makes Scania more than 600 litres per year better off than its nearest competitor.

At 7040kg, the Scania truck was also the lightest vehicle, and achieved the highest average speed, at 79.70km/h.

Scania also introduced an updated version of its CCAP system (Cruise Control with Active Prediction) in May 2023, which may have added to the truck’s edge in beating the field.

The actual testing takes place on various types of roads (though mainly motorways) in the Munich area. Everything is closely monitored by the organisers and by staff from the participating manufacturers. A reference truck is always used to compensate for changing conditions such as head winds, rain and temperature.

“The Scania 460 Super that won the 2024 Green Truck test has been on sale in Australia for more than a year and has been performing exceptionally well for our customers,” says Scania Spokesman, Alexander Corne.

“In the current economic climate, with such a stringent focus on operating costs, the fuel savings offered by the Scania Super range can make a meaningful difference to a customer’s bottom line, especially compared with an older truck they may be using presently. And that’s before the inherent safety and comfort features of a Scania are taken into consideration,” he added.