Efficiently Improving Efficiency: Predictive Powertrain Control can now be retrofitted for Mercedes-Benz Trucks

STUTTGART --March 12, 2015: It has demonstrated its fuel-saving potential in practice many times over: Predictive Powertrain Control (PPC) from Mercedes-Benz Trucks lowers fuel consumption by up to five percent, and therefore demonstrably reduces the overall operating costs of a truck. This bestseller from Mercedes-Benz is now available for retrofitting in the new Actros, Antos and Arocs by Mercedes-Benz service partners throughout Europe. The cost in Germany including installation is around € 1500 (plus VAT). Installation takes only a few hours, and no additional technical approval is required.

Customers who have not opted for PPC are now also able to benefit from the well-proven advantages of this predictive cruise control system. Based on a typical annual mileage of around 130,000 km in long-distance operations and a fuel saving of five percent, PPC pays for itself within around eight months, depending on fuel consumption, even at the currently low fuel prices. Moreover, the environment benefits from a further, considerable decrease in CO₂ emissions.

PPC can be retrofitted in almost all trucks in the current Actros, Antos and Arocs series. The truck must have been newly registered from August 2012, and the fully automated Mercedes PowerShift 3 transmission must be installed. An additional control unit is a major component of the retrofitting kit. For maximum efficiency this can later be updated with the latest map and data material. Installation of PPC takes approx. 2.5 hours. No technical acceptance by TÜV or another test organisation is necessary.

With PPC, Mercedes-Benz has achieved a pioneering and decisive advance in the development of highly efficient, low-emission trucks. As the world's first GPS cruise control system, PPC not only regulates the vehicle speed. On the basis of three-dimensional maps, the system uses peak momentum gained on downhill gradients, throttles back in good time when cresting hills, intervenes in the gearshift strategy and, not least, uses the transmission's neutral EcoRoll position to minimise fuel consumption. This leads to a predictive style of driving based on perfect, round-the-clock knowledge of the route and vehicle. The result is a significant reduction in fuel consumption depending on the topography, plus greater environmental compatibility and considerably less driver fatigue.

Knowledge of the route is the key factor in the cost-saving effect of PPC: navigation data covering almost 300.000 km are stored in the form of digital 3D maps. This accounts for around 95 percent of all European motorways and long-distance highways. PPC knows its way around Europe perfectly, from Portugal to Finland and from Ireland to Greece.

Fleet managers have been quick to recognise the impressive capabilities of PPC: first introduced as an option for the new Actros in the summer of 2012, PPC is nowadays ordered for an average of 64 percent of the long-distance flagship models in the Mercedes-Benz range, and this is an increasing trend. PPC is also gradually establishing itself in the Antos heavy-duty distribution truck and the Arocs construction truck.

The Mercedes-Benz Actros is currently demonstrating its peak position for fuel economy in the Fuel Duel. In this role it competes against reference vehicles in truck fleets in practical, day-to-day operations. The interim results after more than 800 duels in 22 European countries are impressive: the Actros emerged the winner in more than 90 percent of them. On average it consumes around eleven percent less fuel than its competitors in day-to-day operations. The features of the 90 or so trucks used for the European Fuel Duel include PPC, the predictive cruise control system.