Ryder System Inc. – the $6.6 billion truck rental, leasing, supply chain and maintenance management company – has converted its entire bulk engine oil program from the SAE 15W-40 grade to a lower viscosity, high efficiency engine oil. On Jan. 20, it announced that API CJ-4, SAE 10W-30 engine oil is now being used to service all Ryder lease, rental and maintenance customer vehicles, as part of the companys regular preventive maintenance program.
Thanks to using this lightweight engine oil, Miami-based Ryder expects customers will be able to achieve up to 1.5 percent better fuel economy, based on analysis of their operations. In addition, the switch will deliver yearly emissions reductions equivalent to almost 110,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, across the Ryder fleet.
That fleet consists of more than 200,000 trucks and tractors, primarily medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles (Class 3-8), and it is overwhelmingly diesel powered. The mix of vehicles and engines is dictated by the intended use as well as customer preferences, Scott Perry, vice president of supply management and global fuel products for Ryder, explained to LubesnGreases in February, shortly after the oil decision was made public.
Perry described his companys system as one in which vehicles are purchased according to the specified needs of each customer. Over-the-road and off-road fleets will need different vehicle types with different specified engine/transmission/axle needs, he said.
All of its customers vehicles are maintained at one of Ryders service facilities, which number more than 800 locations. Oil changes as well as vehicle maintenance are carried out at these sites by Ryder employees (it has more than 5,000 trained technicians). When vehicles are ready to be turned over – usually after five to seven years – Ryder has 65 locations where they are sold. The fact that these units have been kept in the Ryder maintenance system adds value to the used equipment, Perry indicates.
According to a company presentations, there were 7.9 million commercial Class 3-8 vehicles on the road in the United States and Canada in 2013. The Class 3-8 rental and lease market in the U.S., Canada and U.K. includes 1.1 million total vehicles – meaning Ryder has a greater than 20 percent share of this segment.
The Ryder model for business is that owning, running and maintaining a private fleet can be costly and time-consuming; especially if fleet management isnt a core competency, Perry said. The parameters of successful fleet operations include maximizing fleet uptime and rapid response to breakdowns. Getting the most from any fleet is a time-consuming and complex undertaking.
With the Ryder full-service lease, fleets can free up time and resources for other areas of their business, he continued. Ryder takes care of everything from vehicle specification, configuration, financing and acquisition, to fleet maintenance and final disposal. Since no two companies or fleets are alike, Ryder tailors each fleet lease to the customers unique needs so it can right-size, run and manage its transportation with less capital and lower costs. Ryder is in the fleet management business so fleets dont have to be, Perry stated.
Given the wide variety of fleets that Ryder maintains, oil change intervals have been determined based on vehicle duty cycle and environmental factors. The intervals for oil changes were developed by a robust used oil analysis program, then applied to its fleet program. And these oil change intervals are not expected to change with the lower-viscosity product.
After years of trials, analysis and data on how the equipment performs, Perry said that used oil analysis is now performed on an exception basis, since the service intervals are carefully managed. Only when there is an observed problem on inspection is used oil analysis employed.
Perry added that Ryder undertook an analysis of their customers costs of operation to determine what could be done to improve the service. The analysis took into account the vehicle improvements made by original equipment manufacturers, including aerodynamics and cab design as well as Ryders maintenance practices.
When all of the low-hanging fruit had been picked, he added, it became apparent that a change in engine oil could provide incremental improvements on the customers bottom line.
Starting with an internal review in the summer of 2014, Ryder decided to make the switch to SAE 10W-30. They had earlier made the change to SAE 75W-90 synthetic gear oil and synthetic transmission fluids about two years ago. Both of these changes are recognized as providing additional fuel savings. Ryder felt that adopting SAE 10W-30 engine oil was the next logical step in providing customers with maximum efficiency and lowered costs.
The decision was reached only after careful analysis of the Ryder vehicle mix and applications, Perry emphasized. The program is nationwide, and involves all service facilities having oil in bulk.
Ryder consumes approximately 3 million gallons of engine oil a year. We leverage both Chevron and Shell as suppliers for our bulk oil program, Perry told LubesnGreases sister publication, Lube Report.
The engine oil is purchased on a national contract and, not surprisingly, each facility carries one or the other of the two selected brands. While it is not common, oil from the two suppliers may become mixed in an engine if a vehicle stops at a facility other than the one in which it is normally serviced. Even so, this is no problem since engine oils within an API category are compatible.
Ryder specifies that all its engine oil must meet API CJ-4 quality, so it is relying solely on SAE 10W-30s viscometrics to deliver on the fuel economy promise. (This is the same strategy – use thinner oil to save fuel – that is being formalized in developing the next heavy-duty engine oil upgrade, currently known as PC-11.)
The question of how reduced viscosity improves fuel economy requires a look into the issue of viscosity itself. Broadly defined, viscosity is resistance to flow. What causes the resistance? It is the internal friction of the oil molecules moving over each other. The lower the viscosity the lower the internal friction. Less friction within the oil means less energy is required to operate the engine.
Historically, the American Petroleum Institutes C (for Commercial) categories have referenced SAEs J300 standard for engine oil viscosity. SAE J300 defines and sets limits for each viscosity grade, according to measurements of low-temperature cranking and pumping, kinematic viscosity, and high temperature/high shear rate viscosity. SAE 15W-40 – by far the most popular heavy-duty diesel oil sold in North America, with about 83 percent of the market according to the additive company Infineum – has a minimum HTHS viscosity of 3.5 cPs.
In moving to SAE 10W-30, Ryder is now buying oils with a minimum HTHS rate viscosity of 2.9 cPs – too small a change perhaps for a single truck to notice, but one that will be highly visible when magnified across its 200,000-plus fleet of trucks.
Questions persist in some quarters about whether engine durability might be compromised with the use of lowered HTHS viscosity. But with plenty of data and experience at its fingertips, Ryder feels confident in its decision. The desire for improved fuel economy, bolstered by the growing use of SAE 10W-30 in many applications including factory fill, seems to have overcome any qualms.
Over the years the longevity of engines in operation has increased from around 500,000 miles-to-rebuild to over 1 million miles. This is due in part to improved engine oil chemistry which controls deposits, reduces wear and reduces bearing corrosion. Improvements in base oil quality have also resulted in longer drain intervals and generally more robust engine oil.
Ryder is well ahead of the curve in North America in adopting SAE 10W-30 for all its vehicles, but the oil grades use is growing, and it now has almost 6 percent of the heavy-duty engine oil market. The uptake by off-road vehicles and smaller fleet owner/operators may remain slow, but the lubricants industry is watching to see if large fleets take Ryders lead and plunge in.
Another spur to 10W-30s growth is that, beginning with the 2017 model year, U.S. truck manufacturers are facing fuel economy limits for medium- and heavy-duty tractors. The targets will be set based on fuel consumption in gallons per 1,000 ton-mile. In addition, there will be strict emissions limits on grams CO2 per ton-mile. The EPA estimates that these measures will bring improvements in fuel economy and emissions ranging from 9 percent to 23 percent.
Given that on-road tractors operate on a much different duty cycle, vocational vehicles such as trash trucks have a different set of emissions and fuel economy standards, and for this group EPA is estimating a 6 percent to 9 percent improvement in emissions. The general level of fuel economy benefits gained from the use of SAE 10W-30 engine oil versus SAE 15W-40 is on the order of 1 percent to 1.5 percent – which is in line with Ryders projected numbers.
The quest for additional fuel economy wont end with the 2017 model year. In fact the stakes will be raised dramatically in 2025. The stiffer emissions and fuel economy limits for heavy-duty vehicles have not be defined at this point, but the light-duty limits will increase from 35.5 mpg to 55 mpg. Many expect to see a similar improvement mandated for the heavy-duty marketplace, where trucks average only 6 to 6.5 mpg today, nationwide.
It will be interesting to see what Ryders next fuel-saving tactic is – and who follows them into the heavy-duty SAE 10W-30 pool.