What is PC-12?

Title: Shell Rotella PC-12 Under the Hood - Video 2

Duration: 4:07

Description: The second in a video series about the new Proposed Category 12, to inform followers of the development of the new oils. This series will accompany information found on whatisPC12.com.

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Logo for Shell Rotella appears with “presents” then a truck icon appears on a yellow background with a text box underneath.

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PC-12 UNDER THE HOOD video series

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[Video Footage]

A man walks through a Shell office space with coffee in his hand, smiling. The man sits in a chair across from a woman as they greet each other.

[Emily]

Hi, Jason.

[Jason]

Hello, Emily.

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Emily Hammer

Commercial Road Sector Manager

[Emily]

Thanks for meeting with me today to talk about some of the more technical aspects of Proposed Category 12 or, PC-12. To start us off, can you tell us a little bit about your role and what does PC-12 have to do with it?

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Jason Brown

General Manager, Lubricants Technology

[Jason]

First, Emily, thanks for having me today, and I welcome any opportunity to talk about Shell Lubricants, PC-12, and just our technology program in general. The goal of my team is to develop engine oils for the next category or next generation of heavy-duty needs. Specifically, the next category is PC-12, and that's what the team is working on right now is prototype oils that are gonna meet that category going forward.

[Emily] - And how often do new category updates happen, and what is the purpose?

[Jason] - These new category changes don't come around all the time. They tend to average about maybe every nine or 10 years. So the last category is CK-4, what was PC-11, that launched in 2016, and the next category will come around in January 1st of 2027. That'll be PC-12. It is quite a big endeavor for the industry when we do these things, but it's quite an important one to drive changes in the hardware, new emissions legislation, and all of these aspects that are designed to have improvements for the heavy-duty industry.

[Emily] - What are some of the benefits that we can expect from these new oils?

[Jason] - So the benefits of PC-12, or Proposed Category 12, really come down to a couple of things. First off, increased access to fuel economy. 

[Video Footage]

Close up angle on oil pouring from a Shell Rotella container

[Jason] - The new category will have a wider range of viscosity, so it will reach a lower range, lower viscosity, at the end of the day, and access to those lower range viscosities will improve or increase the chances of customers to have better fuel efficiency for their engines moving forward. We will also see lower phosphorus. That will have a direct impact on after treatment devices. 

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Benefits:

Lower viscosity

Lower phosphorus

Oxidation improvements

[Jason] - By reducing phosphorus, that should help extend the life of DPFs. The last and probably most critical aspect is the improvements to oxidation, specifically how that affects our customers, is extending the oil drain interval. 

[Video Footage]

Two Shell Rotella bottles sit in the foreground while a mechanic changes oil under a vehicle in the background. Close up as oil is poured into a funnel under the hood of a vehicle.

[Jason] - So the longer the oil can last in the engine, the longer that customers can use it, and hence the longer they can go before they have to have another oil drain.

[Emily] - And I've heard you talk a lot about how this is gonna benefit the newer engines coming to the market, but how does this impact the current trucks on the road today? How are we thinking about backwards compatibility for those trucks?

[Jason] - This is actually a very, very important aspect of new categories. There are trucks that are still gonna be on the road today that will likely use or see these oils and they need to run just as well. 

[Video Footage]

An eighteen-wheeler tanker truck drives down a busy freeway. A box truck and trailer drives down another freeway. 

[Jason] - So we're working with customers in different applications to give them access to our prototype technologies so that we can be sure that the oils that we are designing for the next generation are also completely fit for purpose for the trucks that are on the road at this moment.

[Emily] - So, Jason, what do we know about the specs for these new oils? Where are we in the development process?

[Jason] - In terms of the process, we are right in the heart of the development program. 

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Phase 2: Category development

Step 1 Form New Category Development Team (NCDT)

Step 2 Design API diesel engine oil service category

Step 3 API Lubricants group meets for formal ballot

[Jason] - The next category has already had its specs designed and set out. There's a part of the API called the New Category Development Team, or the NCDT, led by Karin Haumann here at Shell. That team is responsible for setting out the new specs, and those new specs are focused on increasing the range of fuel economy by lowering the viscosity of the overall category, lowering the phosphorus, which has an effect on, of course, the aftertreatment devices, which should improve after treatment device longevity, and then focusing on the improvements for oxidation, which can benefit oil drain and fuel in the end. So all of those specifications have already been set. Now it's just for all of us oil marketers to go and design the oils that meet those specifications when they launch on January 1st, 2027.

[Emily] - Wow. A lot of exciting things to come, I'm sure. Thank you so much for sharing all of your knowledge today. It's a lot for us to learn about PC-12 and what's to come next, so thank you very much.

[Jason] - And thank you, Emily, for having me. I really do appreciate the chance to come speak about PC-12. So thanks again for the time.

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To get updates and learn more visit whatisPC12.com 

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