
How Can Shell Rotella Help Improve Fuel Economy?
Drivers and manufacturers alike are increasingly turning to engine oil to reduce CO2 emissions and deliver fuel-economy benefits. But how fuel economy savings are calculated is no easy task.

Today, the heavy-duty diesel engine industry and OEMs are increasingly looking to fuel economy to reduce carbon emissions.
Why? Because 22.4 pounds of CO2 are emitted with every gallon of diesel fuel burned1, so the less fuel a vehicle uses, the less CO2 it emits.
The growing demand for improved fuel economy has, in turn, driven the adoption of low-viscosity diesel engine oils. That the viscosity of a lubricant can contribute to an engine’s fuel economy is well known within the industry.
But it has taken nearly a decade for many operators to transition from heavier viscosity oils to thinner ones due to habit, apprehension about the performance and protection, and sometimes the cost.
In general, lower-viscosity oils reduce the amount of energy required to keep engine components in motion, which lowers fuel consumption.

For example, switching from an SAE 15W-40 oil to an SAE 5W-30 oil could provide significant efficiency gains. Lowering fuel consumption of course lowers fuel costs, however, even if fuel costs are not a concern for a fleet or driver, lowering CO2 emissions may be.
The focus on engine oil viscosity offers greater opportunities to realize fuel efficiency and therefore reduce the total cost of ownership through lubricant choice. However, it’s not enough to evaluate new engine oils in the laboratory: the true test is how they protect vehicles in real-life conditions.
Strengthened by a long history of investigating the effects of lubricant viscosity on fuel economy, Shell has developed a multi-year global fuel-economy field trial program – in real trucks, on the road.
The results help everyone understand these opportunities in realistic, achievable numbers (read on to discover what fuel economy savings certain Shell Rotella oils offer). And our program has shown that switching to low-viscosity engine oils could help operators and drivers achieve significant efficiency gains.
Efficiency excellence
“Shell has accumulated more than 100 million miles in testing CK-4 and FA-4 type technologies, which show excellent engine protection in the field, even at low viscosities,” says Dan Arcy, Shell Global OEM Technical Manager, Heavy-Duty Diesel Engine Oil.

How we did it
Developing and testing new engine oils requires a careful balance: fuel economy must be balanced with product durability. And the precision of laboratory testing must be balanced with evaluating the oil’s performance in real-world conditions.
Consumers want to know that any performance benefits were tested and achieved under conditions that closely match their real operational conditions for the oil. However, evaluation in the field can be difficult because many factors influence real-world fuel economy, mainly driver behavior and driving conditions.
To isolate the effect of a lubricant, oil formulators conduct large-scale experiments that minimize the number of variables to be controlled, and standardize those variables that cannot be controlled. This approach eliminates bias and enables accurate evaluations of an oil's impact on fuel economy.
HERE’S A SUMMARY OF HOW SHELL TESTS OILS THROUGH OUR GLOBAL FUEL ECONOMY FIELD TRIAL PROGRAM.

Urban and highway driving conditions
How you drive can play a big role in your fuel economy. For example, trucks with different duty cycles, such as urban start–stop or high-speed, long-distance highway driving, will have different efficiencies.
Shell uses the Society of Automotive Engineers industry-standard drive cycles designed to reflect different driving environments: J1321 and J1526. The field trial is designed using these standards.

Statistics drive precision
Measurements are repeated and averaged, and the experiments carefully designed to minimize the variables that cannot be controlled, such as weather and humidity.

Standardized conditions
It’s important to isolate the impact of the lubricant itself. Shell’s experiments are run at certified independent test houses that regularly conduct closed-track experiments that simulate real-world driving conditions.

Comparing the right oils
Shell scientists tested six different development or prototype oils, including a reference CK-4 SAE 15W-40 oil and a prototype CK-4 SAE 5W-30 oil to understand their impact on fuel economy. Each truck saw each engine oil to ensure more accurate results.

Measuring fuel economy
Fuel consumption is measured by weighing the fuel tanks before and after each test run, and using electronic data loggers from the vehicle control unit. The fuel-economy benefit is calculated relative to a reference lubricant:
Fuel saved (%) = Average fuel used (ref. lubricant) ÷ Average fuel used (test lubricant) x 100
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Average fuel used (ref. lubricant)

Engine technologies
A wide range of engine manufacturers and types of technology are selected so that the results are representative of what customers experience in the market. In this case, six vehicles from different manufacturers were chosen. In addition, the vehicles are matched according to mileage and condition.

From REAL-WORLD FUEL ECONOMY, a technical paper by Shell, May 2019.
Accessible version of the Fuel Economy Infographic
Lubricant selection had a significant impact on fuel economy in real-world driving conditions.
The visual shows an infographic containing the following facts:
16,200km - distance covered in 12 days of testing. Thousands of kilometers covered in 12 days.
6 engine oils tested - from CK-4 SAE 15W-40 to prototype 0W-20 oils.
36 oil-truck - combinations run in repeat for a total of 72 oil-truck tests.
Independent - rest house qualified to run industry standard, heavy duty diesel, fuel economy tests.
5,544 data points collected - fuel economy measured by weighing the fuel tank before and after a test run and corroborated using real-time data.
576 fuel-economy tests - 8 tests per truck per day to evaluate urban and highway driving cycles.
6 vehicles tested - from different manufacturers including SCANIA, DAF, IVECO, MAN, DAIMLER and VOLVO.

The program results
The Shell heavy-duty diesel engine oil technology team applied the above approach to fuel economy field trials in North America, China and Europe between 2014 and 2017. The results showed that lubricant selection has a significant impact on fuel economy in real-world driving conditions.
For example, compared with a market reference SAE 15W-40 oil, an SAE 10W-30 API FA-4 type oil resulted in a statistically significant fuel-economy benefit of up to 2.6% over the combined urban cycles. In other words, switching to a low-viscosity Shell engine oil could lead to a substantial reduction in fuel costs over time.
“We believe Shell to be the first organization to conduct a fuel economy trial of this scale and complexity. At its heart is a drive for the Shell technology team to deliver credible results to our customers using their equipment,” says Dr Jason R. Brown, Shell Heavy-Duty Diesel Engine Oil Global Technology Manager.
We know that going to a lighter/lower viscosity product like our Shell Rotella® T5 10W-30 Synthetic Blend or Shell Rotella T6 Multi-Vehicle 5W-30 Full Synthetic can provide significant fuel economy benefits.

Which Shell Rotella products give better fuel economy?
Based on our extensive field trials
- 2.8% fuel economy saving2: Shell Rotella T6 Multi-Vehicle 5W-30 Full Synthetic Oil
- 2.6% fuel economy saving2: Shell Rotella T5 Ultra Synthetic blend 10W-30 (API FA-4) Oil
- 2% fuel economy saving2: Shell Rotella T5 10W-30 Synthetic Blend Oil
“It’s well known that fuel economy links to CO2 emissions, so even if saving money on fuel isn’t a top priority, becoming greener may be” says Shell Rotella Global Manger, Megan Pino.
“Drivers, fleet owners and manufacturers alike are increasingly turning to engine oil as a way to enable and deliver fuel economy benefits. And we expect this trend to keep growing.”
Related videos
Shell Rotella Engine Oil T5 10W-30
Title: Shell Rotella Engine Oil T5 10W-30
Description: Shell Rotella® T5 Synthetic Blend Heavy Duty Engine Oil combines synthetic base oils and advanced additives to deliver excellent protection, even at low temperatures where the enhanced cold-flow properties help protect your engine.
Duration: 1:37min
Shell Rotella Engine Oil T5 10W-30 Transcript
[Background music plays Shell “006_Lakes_stresstest_Dmajor_final_170215_Driving Force_CORD”]
[Animated sequence]
White background appears from bottom of screen with Shell Pecten logo. Thin gray dashed line runs straight down from logo as if pulling up next graphic page from bottom of screen. Background is red then blue. Large white text, engine appears at lower right and pulses.
[VO]
Operating in wide temperature ranges can be challenging for your engine.
[Text displays]
Operating in wide temperature ranges can be challenging for your engine
[Animated sequence]
Dashed line appears in center of screen running upward pulling white background down from top of screen. Red, black and gray text on screen left and Shell Rotella T5 product bottle on screen right. Triple protection plus logo appears below text.
[VO]
Shell Rotella T5 10W-30 Synthetic Blend Heavy Duty Engine Oil with Triple Protection Plus technology,
[Text displays]
Shell rotella T5 10W-30 Triple Protection Plus
[Animated sequence]
Dashed line runs from product across screen right pulling yellow background onto screen.
[VO]
Contains our advanced additive technology plus synthetic base oils;
[Text displays]
Advanced additive technology plus synthetic base oils
[Animated sequence]
Yellow background is pushed up and off screen by a green background.
[VO]
Resulting in enhanced protection against wear,
[Text displays]
Enhanced protection against:
[Animated sequence]
Green background is pushed up to upper third of screen to become a title bar by a gray background and green bar comes up from bottom of screen to frame gray.
[VO]
Deposits, oil breakdown and better fuel economy performance; better fuel economy performance;
[Text displays]
Enhanced protection against: wear deposits oil breakdown better fuel economy performance
*compared to a conventional 15W-40
[VO]
To offer all the hard work you expect, whatever the season.
[Animated sequence]
Dash line appears near text and runs to screen left pulling on a blue background with white specs floating about.
[Text displays]
Whatever the season
[Animated sequence]
Dashed line appears pulling up white background from bottom of screen. Triple protection plus logo in center of screen. White background pushes to screen left as red background fills screen right. Termostat appears screen left and text screen right.
[VO]
Triple Protection Plus also provides viscosity control under high temperatures,
[Text displays]
Viscosity control
[Animated sequence]
White background on left stays in place, red background is squeezed upward to reveal video in bottom right quarter of screen of engine with text across center. New gray background appears from screen right text.
[VO]
Wear protection is key to prolonging engine life. Which translates to engine protection.
[Animated sequence]
The O in the word protection morphes into a yellow key with the letter ‘o’ as the top part of key. Text appears screen right.
[Text displays]
Wear protection prolonging engine life prolonging engine life
[Animated sequence]
Dashed line appears below key and runs downward pulling on yellow background from bottom of screen. A graph appears showing percentage of API CK-4 limit. Red bar on left all the way to top for API CK-4 limit and green bar on right half way up screen for ROTELLA T5 10W-30 (CK-4.)
[VO]
This formulation has been tested and proven to go beyond CK-4 wear limits,
[Animated sequence]
Same graph adds text inside green bar with a downward pointing arrow showing gap in height to red bar. White dashed line runs horizontally from right of red bar to end of green bar.
[Text displays]
Lower is better!
[VO]
Delivering an average of 44 percent better protection than the maximum wear allowed.
[Animated sequence]
Red text appears to right of arrow.
[Text displays]
Forty-four percent more wear protection
[VO]
Shell Rotella T5 10W-30 Synthetic Blend can be used in a wide range of applications,
[Animated sequence]
Dashed lines appear from center above graph and pull down a white background with Shell Rotella T5 bottle in center. Large letters ‘w’, ‘d’, ‘e’ to build the word ‘wide’ using the product bottle as the ‘I’. Additional text is smaller underneath.
[VO]
Shell Rotella T4 triple protection performs in a wide range of applications,
[Text displays]
Wide range of applications
[Animated sequence]
Vertical gray dashed line appears below text in center. White background pushed off bottom of screen by video of five semi trucks driving toward us on road.
[VO]
Including for on-highway fleets,
[Animated sequence]
Video pushed left to first eighth of screen by video of excavator.
[VO]
Construction,
[Animated sequence]
Video pushed to second eighth of screen by a tractor..
[VO]
Agriculture,
[Animated sequence]
Video pushed to third eighth of screen by a city bus.
[VO]
Urban transport,
[Animated sequence]
Video pushed to fourth eighth of screen by a F250 pickup.
[VO]
And diesel pickup trucks.
[Animated sequence]
All video pushed off screen left by a red background with font in white all caps that builds on one line at a time. Horizontal white dashed line appear screen right of text. Engine outline appears at bottom of screen.
[Text displays]
A cleaner, long-lasting, and well-protected engine
[VO]
A cleaner, long-lasting, and well-protected engine
[Animated sequence]
White dashed line runs from center downward pulling orange background onto the screen. Dashed line continues from top of screen and draws an open rectangle in clockwise direction around text and then off screen left to reveal yellow background.
[VO]
That performs efficiently in a range of temperatures,
[Text displays]
Efficient performance in all temperatures
[VO]
Can help you achieve your operational goals, no matter where you drive.
[Text displays]
Achieve operational goals
[Animated sequence]
Dashed lines appear at top of text and pulls down video of car dashboard with green filter. Large typeface for word ‘no’ medium typeface for ‘matter.’ Remaining text in small typeface.
[Screen left text displays]
No matter where you drive
[Animated sequence]
Dashed lines begins left of the word ‘matter’ and runs under text to center screen then across and pulling on white background from screen right.
[VO]
Find out if Shell Rotella T5 10W-30 Synthetic Blend Heavy Duty Engine Oil with Triple Protection Plus is the right Rotella for you.
[Text displays]
Shell Rotella T5 10W-30 triple protection learn more and where to buy at rotella.com
[Animated sequence]
White background is pushed off screen left by gray background. Gray dashed line appears from screen left and stops as text appears in red white and gray.
[VO]
Shell Rotella. The engine oil that works as hard as you.
[Text displays]
Shell Rotella the engine oil that works as hard as you.
[Animated sequence]
Gray dashed line appears at bottom center and runs down pulling up white background with Shell pecten.
[Music Sound of Shell_Vpower mnemonic 1_CORD DRAMATIC]
[Text displays]
www.rotella.com
Shell Rotella - Role of low viscosity lubricants in fuel economy
The Roundup by Shell Rotella - Role of low viscosity lubricants in fuel economy
Video Transcript
Duration: 01:44
Description: Video about the role of low viscosity lubricants in fuel economy & the impact of CO2 reduction, featuring Dr. Jason Brown.
[Background music plays]
Bright, uplifting music.
[Animation sequence]
“The
Roundup
QUESTIONS – COMMENTARY – NEWS
by
Shell
ROTELLA”
Copy with a pecten next to “Shell Rotella” copy.
[Jason Brown]
Jason Brown is standing, filmed from the waist up in front of a Barcelona photo background featuring La Sagrada Familia. He is wearing a white and red polo shirt with the Shell pecten.
[Title]
DR. JASON BROWN
GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY MANAGER FOR HEAVY DUTY DIESEL ENGINE OILS
SHELL LUBRICANTS
[Jason Brown]
Heavy duty diesel engine oil technology has changed significantly over the last 40 years.
[Jason Brown voiceover]
The focus mainly has been on particulate matter and NOx emissions. Going forward, we're going to see CO2 as a next big emission to control.
[Video footage]
Detail slow-mo shot of an engine oil being poured. Aerial timelapse of both a highway, showing vehicle traffic in both directions. Aerial shot of a green valley.
[Jason Brown voiceover]
The way to control CO2 in heavy duty diesel engines is through fuel economy.
[Animation sequence]
“CONTROL CO2 THROUGH
FUEL ECONOMY”
Copy with a “CO2 ” downward facing arrow below it.
[Jason Brown voiceover]
So not only are we going to see changes in engine oil hardware, we're going to see significant changes in engine oils themselves.
[Video footage]
Detail shot of a big engine in motion. Detail shot of an engine oil being poured.
[Jason Brown voiceover]
The engine oils are gonna go to lower viscosity, which allows the engine to run more efficiently.
[Animation sequence]
“LOWER VISCOSITY
ALLOWS ENGINE TO RUN
MORE EFFICIENTLY”
Copy next to an engine icon in motion.
[Jason Brown voiceover]
But those engine oils also have to be able to evolve to give the same amount of durability that previous thick engine oils were delivering in the past.
[Video footage]
Wide shots of a white 18-wheeler truck driving down a road in the middle of a green field. Detail shot of an engine in motion.
[Jason Brown voiceover]
What is a synthetic engine oil?
[Text displays]
WHAT IS
SYNTHETIC
ENGINE OIL?
[Jason Brown voiceover]
So, a synthetic or a synthetic blend engine oil is designed from synthetic technology base oil.
[Animation sequence]
“Shell
ROTELLA
T5 10W-30
SYNTHETIC BLEND TECHNOLOGY
TRIPLE
PROTECTION
PLUS”
Copy with Triple Protection Plus shield icon, next to a T5 10W-30 engine oil bottle.
[Jason Brown voiceover]
If we use an improved base oil technology with an improved additive technology, you can see...
[Video footage]
Detail shot of a Shell ROTELLA T6 Multi-Vehicle 5W-30 engine oil bottle at a shop, next to other tools. glove-clad hand grabs one of the tools. Detail shot of a male pouring engine oil in an engine.
[Jason Brown voiceover]
...benefits like longer oil drains, better protection from your engine in terms of deposits or even wear protection.
[Text displays]
BENEFITS:
-LONGER OIL DRAINS
-BETTER PROTECTION
[Jason Brown voiceover]
The other nice benefit is that they allow you to blend the engine oil at a lower viscosity. So you may even get the benefit of fuel economy as well.
[Text displays]
BENEFITS:
-ALLOW TO BLEND ENGINE OIL AT LOWER VISCOSITY
[Jason Brown voiceover]
It's about the entire driveline system…
[Video footage]
Various timelapse shots of mechanics working on a blue 18-wheeler truck at a shop. The Shell ROTELLA T6 Multi-Vehicle 5W-30 engine oil bottle is sitting next to other tools.
[Jason Brown voiceover]
...making low viscosity engine oils, transmission fluids, greases, axle, gear fluids…
[Text displays]
LOW VISCOSITY
-ENGINE OILS
-TRANSMISSION FLUIDS
-GREASES
-AXLE FLUIDS
-GEAR FLUIDS
[Jason Brown voiceover]
...all of the fluids that go in a piece of equipment that are designed to help that overall vehicle…
[Video footage]
Detail shot of a man finishing engine oil pour. Detail shot of a mechanic wiping his hands with a rag. Wide shot of a white 18-wheeler truck driving down a road in the middle of a green field.
[Jason Brown]
...achieve a better fuel economy percentage.
[Jason Brown voiceover]
The better the fuel economy percentage of the overall vehicle, then the better the emissions.
[Text displays]
BETTER FUEL ECONOMY % = LESS EMISSIONS
[Shell music fades out]
[Animated sequence]
“SHELL
ROTELLA”
Copy next to Shell pecten.
[Shell mnemonic]
Innovation in Shell by Bob Mainwaring
Title: Innovation in Shell by Bob Mainwaring
Duration: {4:59} minutes
Description:
At the Shell Rimula Ultimate Stopover 2019 in Barcelona, Bob Mainwaring, Shell Lubricants Technology Manager for Innovation, highlights the importance of prioritising lubricants as it has an influence on enhanced efficiency, reduced emissions, optimal operations and enabling e-mobility. He talks about Shell’s commitment to developing the next generation lubricants through investment into R&D including putting this to practice through “impactful demonstrations” such as the Starship.
Innovation in Shell, Bob Mainwaring, Shell Transcript
[Background music plays]
Bright, uplifting music plays as the video begins
[Presentation title]
Innovation in Shell, Bob Mainwaring, Shell
[Visual Transition]
Transition to shot of Bob at front of a room of people, in front of a yellow backdrop which reads “Collaborative Thinking to Power Fleets of Tomorrow”. There are six audience members in shot, and there is a screen on the left-hand side of the room.
[Bob Mainwaring]
We work on a wide range of things. I'll give you a quick example of each one before I do one in more detail. Things that improve efficiency.
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to a slide with a backdrop of a dimly lit road with two lanes at dawn,with the curvature of the road embellished with yellow beams of light on the left-hand side, and red beams of light on the right-hand side. The road is surrounded by grass fields. The slide is titled ‘Innovation Themes’ and has five coloured circles; red, yellow, blue, green and purple, each filled with text.
[Text Displays] (n.b. {} indicates for reference only)
‘Innovation Themes’
{a red circle reading} ‘enhanced efficiency’
{a yellow circle reading} ‘optimal operations’
{a blue circle reading} ‘enabling e-mobility’
{a green circle reading}‘sustainable supply chain’
{a purple circle reading} ‘impactful demonstrations’
[Bob Mainwaring]
Improving the efficiency of vehicles and of industrial plant is a significant contributor
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to a close-up shot of Bob Mainwaring against the yellow backdrop addressing the audience.
[Bob Mainwaring]
to reducing our carbon footprint.
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to ‘Innovation Themes’ slide
[Bob Mainwaring]
Optimal operations. Getting the very most out of the stuff that you own and making sure it lasts its full life. Enabling E-mobility. What role
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to a close-up shot of Bob Mainwaring against the yellow backdrop addressing the audience.
[Bob Mainwaring]
do fluids have in enabling that?
[Visual Transition]
Camera pans out to showcase entirety of the room. The majority of the audience in shot, sat at black desks. There are papers, pens, mobile phones, cups and glasses on the desk. Bob is at the front of the shot, with the entirety of the yellow backdrop visible and an outer border of a white wall. Bob is stood between two screens. There is also a white lectern adorned with the Shell Pecten.
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to ‘Innovation Themes slide’
[Bob Mainwaring]
Sustainable supply chain. Do we blend products using low amounts of energy? Do we actually blend low energy with
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to a close up shot of Bob Mainwaring addressing the audience, against the yellow backdrop.
[Bob Mainwaring]
with neutral carbon footprint together? We aspire to that.
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to a close-up shot of Bob Mainwaring addressing the audience, against the yellow backdrop.
[Visual Transition]
Camera pans out to showcase entirety of the room. The majority of the audience is in shot, sat at black desks. There are papers, pens, mobile phones, cups and glasses on the desk. Bob is at the front of the shot with the entirety of the yellow backdrop visible and an outer border of a white wall. Bob is stood between two screens. There is also a white lectern adorned with the Shell Pecten.
[Bob Mainwaring]
And then the one that I'll turn to in the end
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to ‘Innovation Themes slide’
[Bob Mainwaring]
to give you some examples, is what we call impactful demonstrations.
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to ‘Enabling Efficiency’ slide. The slide has a white backdrop and displays a fluctuating graph, which peaks towards the end. The graph shows a gradient from red to green, and also shows a fixed dotted and dashed line. The slide also contains two graphics on the right-hand side of the graph.
[Text Displays] (n.b. {} indicates for reference only)
‘Enabling Efficiency’
{The X axis is labelled} ‘Engine speed *time (RPM.s) {and the Y axis is labelled} ‘Mean Effective Pressure (Bar) {which has a scale of 1-9}. {The graph shows a gradient from red to green}:
- {Red indicates} Piston {on the graph}
- {Pink indicates} Crank {on the graph}
- {Orange indicates} Gearbox {on the graph} {Yellow indicates} Differential {on the graph}
- {Lightest green indicates} Accel {on the graph}
- {Medium green} indicates Aero {on the graph}
- {Darkest green} indicates Tyres {on the graph}
--.-. sequence indicates Mean BMEP {on the graph}
[Bob Mainwaring]
So just to explain the gist of it. Area on that plot represents energy usage within a car. As they've drawn
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to a close-up shot of Bob Mainwaring addressing the audience, against the yellow backdrop.
[Bob Mainwaring]
drawn the graphic there the green bits
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to ‘Enabling Efficiency’ slide
[Bob Mainwaring]
are the amount of energy that's required to propel the vehicle. The bit below the line are the amounts of energy that are being consumed to overcome friction within the engine, the gear box, and the axle.
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to a close-up shot of Bob Mainwaring addressing the audience, against the yellow backdrop.
[Bob Mainwaring]
Roughly said, on the legislative cycles about 20% of a vehicle's total energy use is there to overcome friction.
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to ‘Enabling Efficiency’ slide
[Bob Mainwaring]
I'm not suggesting you can remove all of that 20% but you can remove some of it.
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to a close-up shot of Bob Mainwaring addressing the audience, against the yellow backdrop.
[Bob Mainwaring]
And that something is material to the vehicle's overall fuel economy. That's the focus of a lot of the work we're doing to enable efficiency.
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to ‘Optimal Operations’ slide, which has a backdrop of an aerial image of a forest, which displays the canopy of green trees. There is an elevated road running through the middle of the image with a pickup truck driving across it. The slide also displays a green, blue, grey, red and purple circle, each containing an image, overlaid onto the forest backdrop, with white font.
[Text Displays]
Optimal Operations
[Bob Mainwaring]
The next bit I've called Optimal Operations. That's pointing to quite a lot of work that we're doing at the moment
[Visual Transition]
Camera pans out to showcase entirety of the room. There are members of the audience in shot, sat at black desks. There are papers, pens, mobile phones, cups and glasses on the desk. Bob is at the front of the shot, with the entirety of the yellow backdrop visible and an outer border of a white wall. Bob is stood between two screens each displaying the ‘Innovation themes’ slide against a white backdrop, with grey circles. There is also a white lectern adorned with the Shell Pecten.
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to a close-up shot of Bob Mainwaring addressing the audience, against the yellow backdrop.
[Bob Mainwaring]
about putting sensors in lubricants, and developing oil algorithms to sense how a vehicle or a piece of industrial kit is operating.
[Visual Transition]
Camera pans out to showcase entirety of the room. The majority of the audience in shot, sat at black desks. There are papers, pens, mobile phones, cups and glasses on the desk. Bob is at the front of the shot, with the entirety of the yellow backdrop visible and an outer border of a white wall. Bob is stood between two screens, there is also a white lectern adorned with the Shell Pecten.
[Bob Mainwaring]
To make sense of all of that and to predict better the life of an oil and to have adaptive oil change intervals that reflect the duty that
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to a close-up shot of Bob Mainwaring addressing the audience, against the yellow backdrop.
[Bob Mainwaring]
the engine's gone through
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to ‘Optimal Operations slide’
[Bob Mainwaring]
and to change the oil at the appropriate time.
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to ‘Enabling Electrification’ slide, which displays images of electrical windings on the right-hand side, and a diagram of airflow on the left-hand side against a white background, with grey font.
[Text Displays] (N.B. {} indicates for reference only)
Enabling Electrification
{The Airflow diagram reads}:
-Airflow into interior
-Deflation of air
-Cooling air flow
[Bob Mainwaring]
Again, as we heard yesterday, electrification is an important change, particularly in the automotive sector but increasingly so in the heavy-duty sector as well.
[Visual Transition]
Camera pans out to showcase entirety of the room. The majority of the audience is in shot, black desks. There are papers, pens, mobile phones, cups and glasses on the desk. Bob is pacing at the front of the shot, with the entirety of the yellow backdrop visible and an outer border of a white wall. Bob is walking between two screens each displaying the ‘Innovation themes’ slide against a white backdrop, with grey circles. There is also a white lectern adorned with the Shell Pecten.
[Bob Mainwaring]
And with that comes all sorts of challenges.
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to a close-up shot of Bob Mainwaring addressing the audience, against the yellow backdrop.
[Bob Mainwaring]
You've got electrical windings, which are coated in varnish.
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to ‘Enabling Electrification’ slide
[Bob Mainwaring]
You've got batteries to charge, ideally very quickly. You've got batteries to discharge as they're in use, probably with high current flow
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to a close-up shot of Bob Mainwaring addressing the audience, against the yellow backdrop.
[Bob Mainwaring]
and there's a need to cool those and to avoid incompatibility between the lubricants and the electrical components.
[Visual Transition]
Camera pans out to showcase entirety of the room. The majority of the audience is in shot, sat at black desks. There are papers, pens, mobile phones, cups and glasses on the desk. Bob is pacing at the front of the shot, with the entirety of the yellow backdrop visible and an outer border of a white wall. Bob is stood between two screens. There is also a white lectern adorned with the Shell Pecten.
[Bob Mainwaring]
So, all of that gives you a flavour of the range of things that we're involved with.
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to a close-up shot of Bob Mainwaring addressing the audience, against the yellow backdrop.
[Bob Mainwaring]
What I'm going to do now is to give you a leading example of the work we've done.
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to ‘Impactful Demonstrations’ slide, which displays an image of a tiny car and the Starship Truck, against a white background, with grey font.
[Text Displays]
‘Impactful Demonstrations’
[Bob Mainwaring]
And I've got two things, they're the sort of book ends at silly extremes. So we've got a tiny car, which we developed from 2012 through to 2015 that was profiled at the Beijing Motor Show in 2016, I think.
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to a close-up shot of Bob Mainwaring addressing the audience, against the yellow backdrop.
[Bob Mainwaring]
But the one I'm going to talk about most, is about the Starship truck,
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to ‘Starship maximizes freight ton efficiency by employing various existing technologies’ slide, which displays an image of the Starship truck headed along a road, surrounded by grass at sunrise. The image has a dark grey overlay, with white text overlaid on the top.
[Text Displays]
‘Starship maximizes freight ton efficiency by employing various existing technologies’
[Bob Mainwaring]
a full-size Class 8 American truck, that we developed from about 2014
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to a close-up shot of Bob Mainwaring addressing the audience, against the yellow backdrop.
[Bob Mainwaring]
until last year
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to ‘Starship maximizes freight ton efficiency by employing various existing technologies’ slide, which displays an image of the Starship truck headed along a road, surrounded by grass at sunrise. The image has a dark grey overlay, with white text overlaid on the top. The image is then annotated with a series of coloured boxes; orange, green, purple, dark grey, red, blue and light grey surrounding the vehicle.
[Text Displays]
Starship maximizes freight ton efficiency by employing various existing technologies
{The annotations contain}:
-{An orange box which reads} ROOF-MOUNTED SOLAR PANELS- Powers interior accessories when engine is off
- {A green box which reads} AXLE-RATIO- 6x2 configuration for lower weight,friction and better fuel economy
- {A purple box which reads} LOW VISCOSITY, FUEL SYNTHETIC SHELL LUBRICANTS- Reduce friction for more efficient operation
- {A dark grey box which reads} TYRES- Low rolling resistance, single-wide to help lower friction plus auto-inflate technology
- {A red box which reads} AERODYNAMIC IMPROVEMENTS - Creating minimum wind resistance
- {A yellow box which reads} OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCIES - Driver behavior, predictive cruise control, regenerative braking
-{A blue box which reads} ACTIVE GRILL COOLING SYSTEM - Closes when cooling is not
needed to improve air flow
- {A light grey box which reads} TRANSMISSION - Ultra-low RPM operation
[Bob Mainwaring]
The mission with the truck was to make a truck which is exceptionally energy efficient. That's using all of the things that I've spoken about so far. Using technologies that are available today,
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to a close-up shot of Bob Mainwaring addressing the audience, against the yellow backdrop.
[Bob Mainwaring]
so that we can reduce energy usage in a material way.
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to a slide with one image on the left-hand side of a white heavy-duty truck, headed down the right-hand side of a road, surrounded by trees at dawn, the image has white and yellow text overlaid. On the right-hand side is an image of the Starship truck headed down a road surrounded by grass at sunrise, the image has yellow and white text overlaid on the top.
[Text displays]
The result from the coast to coast demonstration run was very positive
{Image 1 – Heavy-duty truck}
-US AVERAGE 2,000,000 trucks like this
- 11.25 tons
- 6.4 MPG
- 72 TON-MILES PER GALLON
{Image 2 – Starship}
-STARSHIP
- 1,128,829 trucks like this
- 19.95 TONS
- 8.94 MPG
- 178 TON-MILES PER GALLON
[Bob Mainwaring]
This is America today.
[Visual Transition]
Shot pans out, showing audience members sitting at their desks, and Bob addressing the audience in front of the yellow backdrop, with a screen to his left-hand side. A photographer is also in shot.
[Bob Mainwaring]
Roughly said, there are two million heavy duty trucks
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions back to ‘The result from the coast to coast demonstration run was very positive’ slide.
[Bob Mainwaring]
in the United States. Typically they are loaded to 11¼ tons of cargo.
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to a close-up shot of Bob Mainwaring addressing the audience, against the yellow backdrop.
[Bob Mainwaring]
Full capacity will be closer to 20 tons.
[Visual Transition]
Camera follows Bob as he walks directly towards the screen displaying ‘The result from the coast to coast demonstration run was very positive’ slide, pointing to the image of the heavy-duty truck on the left-hand side.
[Bob Mainwaring]
They have an average fuel consumption
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions back to ‘The result from the coast to coast demonstration run was very positive’ slide.
[Bob Mainwaring]
or economy of 6.4 miles per U.S. gallon. And if you work out the freight ton efficiency metric for that, that's 72 ton-miles per gallon.
[Visual Transition]
Shot pans out, showing audience members sitting at their desks, and Bob addressing the audience, pointing to the right-hand side of the screen, to the image of the Starship.
[Bob Mainwaring]
By contrast, the Starship was loaded to almost 20 tons.
[Visual transition]
Shot transitions back to ‘The result from the coast to coast demonstration run was very positive’ slide.
[Bob Mainwaring]
And despite the fact it was loaded to that level, it achieved almost 9 miles per gallon. So
[Visual Transition]
Shot pans out, showing audience members sitting at their desks, and Bob addressing the audience, pointing to the image of the heavy-duty truck on the left-hand side and back to the image of the Starship on the right-hand side, and then moving between the two.
[Bob Mainwaring]
that figure has gone up considerably.
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions to a close-up shot of Bob Mainwaring pointing to the screen, against the yellow backdrop.
[Bob Mainwaring]
Despite that, the economy has improved to there because of all the technologists that were involved. And you multiply these two together
[Visual Transition]
Shot transitions back to ‘The result from the coast to coast demonstration run was very positive’ slide.
[Bob Mainwaring]
and you get 178 ton-miles per gallon. That's almost 2½ times better.
[Visual transition]
Shot transitions to audience members sitting at their desks, and Bob addressing the audience, with only a few members of the front row visible.
[Bob Mainwaring]
And remember, you can do that today with those technologies.
[Visual Transition]
Shot pans out to audience members sitting at their desks, and Bob addressing the audience whilst stood at the right-hand side of screen, with the yellow background visible.
[Background music plays]
Epic sounding music plays to end the presentation
[Visual Transition]
Transition to white screen with large red and black text.
[Text Displays]
Shell Rimula
Heavy Duty Diesel Engine Oil
For more information visit:
[Visual Transition]
Transition to white screen with Shell logo centered and black text at the bottom of the screen.
[Background music plays]
Light, digital-sounding tune plays to end the presentation.
[Text Displays]
Copyright Shell International Limited 2019
Freight Ton Efficiency
Freight Ton Efficiency - Video Transcript
Duration: 02:57
Description: Video about what is freight ton efficiency and why it should be used, featuring Bob Mainwaring.
[Background music plays]
Bright, uplifting music.
[Text displays]
“WHAT IS FREIGHT
TON EFFICIENCY
AND WHY SHOULD IT BE USED?”
[Bob Mainwaring]
Bob Mainwaring is standing, filmed from the waist up in front of a Barcelona photo background featuring La Sagrada Familia. He is wearing a blue button down shirt with the Shell ROTELLA and STARSHIP logos.
[Title]
ROBERT MAINWARING
TECHNOLOGY MANAGER FOR INNOVATION
SHELL LUBRICANTS
[Bob Mainwaring]
I had a heavy involvement in the development, design and construction of...
[Bob Mainwaring voiceover]
...Starship version 1.0, especially with the metrics that we use to assess its performance.
[Video footage]
Drive by shot of a Starship truck. Aerial shot of Starship truck driving on a highway in the desert with green light streaks going around the truck.
[Bob Mainwaring voiceover]
One of those metrics was called freight ton efficiency. The efficiency with which we're transporting goods from point A to point B.
[Animation sequence]
“FREIGHT TON EFFICIENCY”
Copy above a United States of America outline with a Starship truck driving from west to east from point A to point B.
“DISTANCE TRAVELED (MILES) / FUEL CONSUMED (U.S. GALLONS) X WEIGHT OF CARGO (TONS)”
Copy below the United States of America outline.
[Bob Mainwaring voiceover]
The most common measure of fuel efficiency is miles per gallon, or its European equivalent of liters per hundred kilometers.
[Text displays]
“MILES PER GALLON (MPG) OR LITERS PER 100 KILOMETERS (L/100 KM)”
[Bob Mainwaring voiceover]
If we improve the engine efficiency, then we'll get an improved value of miles per gallon.
Increasing the weight of cargo will increase the amount of energy that's required to accelerate the truck, and to overcome the rolling resistance between the tires and the ground.
[Video footage]
Detail shot of a big engine in operation. Shots of cargo being loaded by forklift into the truck. View of road from window of a truck. Shot of man in the cab of the truck driving. View of highway from inside the truck. Front of truck and tires driving down the road.
[Bob Mainwaring]
If we take this literally, then we'll end up reducing the amount of cargo being carried...
[Bob Mainwaring voiceover]
...and end up running a truck completely empty in order to achieve the very best number of miles per gallon. That's completely the opposite of what we really want to achieve.
[Video footage]
Low angle view of a truck driving by. Close up of hands turning a steering wheel. Slow motion shot of truck drawing on first road.
[Bob Mainwaring]
That's where freight ton efficiency comes in.
[Bob Mainwaring voiceover]
If we multiply the tons of goods being carried by the miles per gallon achieved, then that combined metric will increase if we increase the amount of load that the truck's carrying, and if we improve the miles per gallon that the engine and the driveline are capable of achieving.
[Animation sequence]
“WEIGHT OF CARGO x MPG WILL INCREASE WITH:”
Copy below a one ton weight and fuel gauge icon sliding down from the top of the screen.
“-HIGHER TRUCK LOAD”
“-IMPROVED MPG OF ENGINE AND DRIVELINE”
Copy fades on to the right half of the screen.
[Bob Mainwaring voiceover]
Doing that encourages a run slow, run heavy ethos, in which running the truck slowly, raising the weight of cargo will improve the overall efficiency of transporting goods.
[Animation sequence]
“RUN SLOW, RUN HEAVY”
Copy above an arrow pointing down and labeled with “CO2” copy, to show “low emissions”.
[Bob Mainwaring voiceover]
A typical U.S. truck operates at about 50 percent cargo load and generally achieves about six and a half miles per U.S. gallon.
[Video footage]
Wide shot of two blue trucks driving down the highway. Close up of the front of the truck while driving. Close up shot of man driving the truck, looking out towards the road.
[Text displays]
“50% CARGO LOAD
FUEL ECONOMY = 6.4 MPG”
[Bob Mainwaring voiceover]
With Starship version one, we managed to load the truck completely and still achieve a fuel economy of about nine miles per gallon.
[Video footage]
Wide shot of Starship truck backing up to loading dock. Aerial view of Starship truck driving down highway with solar panel farm off in the distance. Starship truck driving on a smaller road while screen fading to the color red.
[Text displays]
“100% CARGO LOAD
FUEL ECONOMY = 8.94 MPG”
[Bob Mainwaring voiceover]
A 2.48 times improvement in freight ton efficiency with a value of 178 ton miles per gallon achieved.
[Text displays]
“2.48X IMPROVEMENT IN FREIGHT TON EFFICIENCY
WITH 178 TON MILES PER GALLON”
[Bob Mainwaring]
As we now turn our attention to Starship version two, we seek to push that freight ton efficiency as high as we possibly can.
[Bob Mainwaring voiceover]
If the whole American fleet of 2 million trucks were to take advantage of what we've discovered with Starship, then we could carry the same total amount of goods with just 1.1 million vehicles.
[Video footage]
Wide shot of Starship truck in maintenance shop. Wide shot of a mechanic working on the Starship truck. Two mechanics talking to one another. Close up shot of Starship truck driving down highway with green light streaks going around the front of the truck.
[Text displays]
“2 MILLION TRUCKS
COULD BE REDUCED TO
1.1 MILLION”
[Bob Mainwaring voiceover]
And if those 1.1 million vehicles were operating at the efficiency of the Starship at 8.94 miles per gallon, then the total CO2 emission from the American fleet would be reduced by 60 percent.
[Video footage]
Aerial view of a Starship truck driving in the desert with green streaks of light flowing around the truck. Close up of the front of a Starship truck while a car passes on a highway. Wide shot of a truck driving down a dirt road while the sun sets behind it.
[Text displays]
“TOTAL CO2 EMISSIONS
REDUCED BY 60%’”
[Bob Mainwaring]
That really does highlight the value of using freight ton efficiency as a lever for driving both environmental and economic change.
[Animated sequence]
“SHELL
LUBRICANT SOLUTIONS”
Copy next to Shell pecten on a white background.
[Shell music fades out]
[Animated sequence]
“SHELL.US/FLEETADVANTAGE”
Copy below Shell pecten on a white background.
[Shell mnemonic]
1 According to the US Energy Information Administration.
2 Compared to a conventional SAE 15W-40 oil.
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