The lubricant industry has heard a lot of talk the past couple years about governments tightening regulations on carbon dioxide emissions from passenger cars and the trickle-down effects that these would have on motor oils for those vehicles. Those discussions are worthwhile because the implications for passenger car motor oils are indeed significant.
There has been noticeably less attention given to heavy-duty motor oils, which is somewhat surprising considering that heavy-duty trucks face similar regulatory crackdowns. Lubrizols David Lancaster sounded a wake-up call during a September presentation at ACIs European Base Oils and Lubricants conference in Krakow, Poland. Based on his comments, engine lubricants for big trucks will undergo changes similar to those looming for passenger car motor oils (PCMOs), except perhaps even more severe.
The factors affecting PCMO and HDMO both follow the same dynamic. In an attempt to counter global warming, governments around the world have established caps on vehicular emissions of CO2 and are now making a series of step reductions. Automakers are meeting these mandates mainly through improvements in fuel economy, since less fuel burned means less CO2 emitted.
Manufacturers of cars and trucks are looking wherever they can – including to lubricants – for fuel economy savings. Lubricants can help by reducing friction, and formulators can do this in two general ways: by lowering viscosity, and hence the drag on moving parts; and through the use of friction modifying and lubricity enhancing chemical additives.
According to Lancaster, Lubrizols regional marketing manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, viscosity grades for HDMOs in Europe could fall as low as 5W-30 in the coming years. That would be a significant drop from the 10W-40 and 10W-30 grades that predominate in the region today – and those are already lower than the main grades that the market used in earlier years.
Lubricant formulators dont venture lightly to these levels of viscosity. Some have warned that thinning oils any further raises risks that they will be too thin to protect engine components. Alarm bells sounded over development of 0W lubes for passenger cars. Given the much heavier loads on heavy-duty truck engines, the same concerns are bound to greet 5W HDMOs.
As first reported by Boris Kamchev in this magazines sister publication, Lube Report, Lancaster said HDMO formulators will also need to increase their use of API Group II and III base stocks. By next year, Group I will constitute only 40 percent of the base stocks used in HDMOs used in Europe, Lancaster predicted. Thats down from 70 percent just four years earlier.
Engine lubricants for heavy-duty trucks will also increase their use of low-ash additives due to continued growth in the number of vehicles with pollution control systems that can be damaged by ash.
All in all, it does sound like big changes are in store for the oils that lubricate big trucks. Its time they started to attract a little more attention.