E-MAIL
An upgrade in driving experience is the wave of the future. On July 13, under the bright sunshine and alongside the fast-flowing Wanquan River, Allison Transmission and King Long launched new vehicles ride and drive in Boao, a small town in Hainan Province.
The two companies invited over twenty key accounts nationwide to attend this event, which combined the beautiful island scenery with a relaxing and comfortable ride and drive experience.
Allison Transmission and King Long jointly introduced four models of vehicles for the event, including city bus and tour coach. These vehicles perfectly demonstrated the typical features of Allison’s automatic transmission—energy efficiency, environmental friendliness, efficiency, durability, safety, comfort, and easy operation—all of them highlights of the event.
Test center
Cutting Edge Technology, Energy Efficiency and Environmental Friendliness
Energy efficiency and environmental friendliness have become the keynotes of urban development all over China. All the vehicle models in this ride and drive fully displayed the technological advantages of Allison’s automatic transmission, giving full play to its key features of energy efficiency and environmental friendliness.
LBSS is a gearshift programming technology based on load size. LBSS automatically shifts gear based on load size using a software program. It will enter a performance mode when extra momentum is needed, and change to an economy mode when greater fuel efficiency is required. This sophisticated computer system gives almost full play to Allison’s dual options of “economy mode and performance mode” via their close integration. In the ride and drive, the T310R transmission equipped on King Long’s XMQ6117Y bus was engaged with this feature.
During the bus ride the vehicle could observe automatically by Allison intelligent electronic control system to switch between the two modes. When the vehicle was loaded with passengers, the vehicle used a big throttle start process. It changed into performance mode when the system automatically detected the vehicle needs speed. After speeding up to the fifth gear while acceleration diminishing, the system switched to economy mode to provide fuel-efficient driving without affecting the speed. After running for a while, the vehicle encountered a short up road. After climbing for about one second, the system again switched to performance mode.
“With this feature, you can save fuel,” said Chen Yan, an Allison engineer. “LBSS is a smart system. It automatically chooses the appropriate mode based on its judgment of the vehicle’s operating condition. Therefore you never need to worry that the speed will be affected by fuel efficiency.”
Moreover, engineers also demonstrated Allison’s RELS, a technology that can reduce engine load when the vehicle stops. When a driver tries to stop the vehicle, he only needs to step on the brake pedal. Both the engine load and fuel consumption will drop simultaneously. Using Allison Transmission’s computer demonstration screen installed in the bus for bus ride, people could clearly see the two dynamic lines (representing engine load and fuel consumption in different colors on the coordinate graph) going down simultaneously.
“This surprise me. I heard that automatic transmissions could save fuel. But I had not seen any convincing proof until now. It consumes so little fuel when the vehicle stops. And the total fuel saved is a lot.” said a manager from a travel agency in Hangzhou.
Test result shows great improvement with Allison RESL technology
High Efficiency and Easy Operation
Under the burning sun at the proving ground, two King Long were ready for drive. One bus was a 12-meter XMQ6127G bus equipped with Allison T310R automatic transmission. The another was a manual bus. During the drive there were two different races for these buses. First of all both buses started at the same time. Two seconds later Allison bus began to take the lead and quickly left the manual bus far behind. In the second race the bus equipped with manual transmission started five seconds earlier than Allison bus. After running 200 meters the Allison bus had caught up with its “rival”.
During the drive drivers could feel in person the smooth and efficient gearshift of the Allison transmission. The driver stepped on the throttle while the vehicle was running on a straight road. The bus almost insensibly switched to fifth gear and reached 80km/h just over ten seconds.
“Amazing,” said the deputy general manager of a bus company in Guangdong who was the driver in the race: “Although I did not know when the vehicle switched into fifth gear, the vehicle kept speeding up. I never realized that the gear-shifting process of manual transmissions could waste so much time and it’s so hard to shift gears.”
Safety, Durability, Comfort and Smoothness
Allison engineers also demonstrated for bus drivers and riders the retarder’s performance of Allison automatic transmissions. When the vehicle sped up to 80km/h, the driver manually switched the retarder to first range. The vehicle started to decelerate smoothly. The vehicle slowed down to 10km/h after moving for roughly 400 meters. During the slowing down the driver did not step on the brake and passengers did not feel any discomfort by the deceleration.
One more round of bus ride on King Long XMQ6900G city bus which was equipped with Allison T280R transmission was taken. The transmission is with an integral hydraulic retarder for safety and durability. The vehicle could switch between economy mode and performance mode at any time. In addition the advanced T280R transmission has a computer control program that enables the engine to reduce load during an idling stop and enables the vehicle to shift automatically to neutral position when the parking brake is released. On the other hand the vehicle also has an auxiliary function to restrain gear shifting, which prevents the vehicle from shifting from neutral position to forward or reverse gear unless the driver steps on the brake or shuts the door. This feature is critical for bus safety. Users may choose this feature according to the operating conditions.
In order to impress customers for Allison products’ performance, Allison Transmission randomly chose Allison T270R transmission installed on King Long XMQ6122 bus in 2005 to do the tear down. The bus had been running for over 320,000 km. Allison disassembled and checked the transmission in front of the media in June. On the proving ground the disassembled spare parts of were displayed and carefully examined by customers. Everyone could see that all the transmission parts were in good shape and without any sign of wear or tear. The audience regarded the automatic transmission admiringly.
“I am very glad to experience and witness this wonderful day together with so many prestigious guests,” Michael Headly, Vice President of International Marketing, Sales and Service of Allison Transmission, said at the end of the event. “Here, we not only accompany our guests to experience Allison automatic transmission’s easy drive, fuel saving, and comfort, but also to witness the first cooperative effort between Allison Transmission and King Long with our honored customers.”
“It is an inevitable trend for buses to be equipped with automatic transmissions. King Long believes city buses will embrace the AT era soon. We expect to grasp this opportunity. Our cooperation with Allison Transmission is to highlight our premier touring coaches and buses equipped with automatic transmissions. Our aim is to provide the market with qualified buses with higher performance and lower energy consumption. We are combining the strengths of both parties—King Long’s 22-year vehicle manufacturing experience and Allison’s cutting edge transmission technologies.” said Xu Xiangdong, Deputy General Manager of King Long.
As the world’s leading commercial automatic transmission and hybrid provider, Allison Transmission has been transmitting its values and leading transmission technology with continues renovation to upgrade safety, quality, fuel efficiency, intelligent maintenance and comfort driving and riding.
About Allison Transmission, Inc.
Allison Transmission, Inc. (Allison) is the premier global provider of commercial duty automatic transmissions and hybrid propulsion systems. Allison products are specified by over 250 of the world’s leading vehicle manufacturers and are used in many market sectors including bus, refuse, fire, construction, distribution, military and specialty applications. Founded in 1915, the Allison business is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A. and employs approximately 3,000 people. Regional headquarters with dedicated support staff are located in China, The Netherlands, Brazil, India and Japan. With a global presence in 80 countries, Allison has over 1550 distributor and dealer locations.