Meritor Inc. launched production of its 18X rear axle for fast and heavy long-haul operations, designed to reduce fuel consumption by up to 2 percent. “In long-haul operations, our customers’ vehicles may cover a hundred thousand kilometres annually,” says Alex Mortali, vice president for Meritor’s Truck business in Europe. “Together with our partners at Volvo Powertrain, Meritor’s innovation efforts are highly focused on improving fuel efficiency.”
The laser-welded 18X rear axle is a solo axle with single reduction designed for trucks with high engine power and gross combination weights of up to 60 tonnes; forestry, as well as food and agricultural produce, are typical cargoes for this application.
The 18X is Meritor’s second drive axle that will be ready for LogixDrive in the near future. Meritor’s LogixDrive technology is designed to provide an additional improvement in fuel efficiency of up to 1 percent on the company’s 17X axle. Enabled by electronic controls, the drive unit constantly senses temperature, speed, braking and torque conditions to apply the optimized amount of lubrication to the axle.
Customers now can specify a solo axle without hub reduction in certain applications, which Meritor says makes it possible to reduce fuel consumption by up to 2 percent. The axle also has a multiple selection of ratios. “The trend in Europe shows an increasing shift toward more powerful trucks and larger rigs,” Mortali says. “The introduction of this new rear axle is one of many initiatives from Meritor designed to show that efficient and fast transport can also be economical.”
