Daimler introducing new heavy-duty engine platform

23 October 2007

Daimler Trucks Division announced its new Heavy-Duty Engine Platform (HDEP) for the North American market. The new family of heavy-duty engines, which were jointly developed in Germany, Japan and the United States, marks an important step toward the realization of Daimler’s worldwide modular strategy.

The current eight engine families will be ultimately replaced with just three for all Daimler Trucks brands worldwide. In a first step, four of today’s heavy-duty engines will be replaced with the global HDEP engine platform over the mid- to long-term. Since 2002, $1.5 billion has been invested worldwide in the development of the Heavy-Duty Engine Platform.

The HDEP engines, which will be built in Germany, Japan, and the United States, will be offered in three displacement categories: 12.8 liters, 14.8 liters and 15.6 liters. Target volumes have been set at 200,000 units per year in the mid- to long-term. With 90% shared parts, Daimler intends to achieve considerable cost savings in the long term, due to common development and production series management, globally coordinated engine production and economies of scale.

The first representative of the new engine platform for North America will be the Detroit Diesel DD15. The DD15 is a 6 cylinder inline engine with a displacement of more than 14.8 liters. It meets the US EPA 2007 emission standards through the use of exhaust gas recirculation and a diesel particulate filter, and is capable of meeting the 2010 requirements, said Daimler.

The engine features amplified common rail system (ACRS)—the first electronically controlled ACRS used in commercial vehicles, where the highest pressure is only generated in the injectors, producing very stable injection processes—and turbo compounding technology, where extra power from the turbocharger is transferred to the crankshaft via a shaft and a hydrodynamic coupling. The fuel consumption is reduced by up to 5% compared with a similarly spec’d Series 60 engines, according to Detroit Diesel.

Due to the long development cycles for commercial vehicles, the market launches have been planned to coincide with the model changeovers of the individual products and brands. The HDEP will be available in the new Freightliner Cascadia in the second quarter of 2008 for the first time worldwide. The engine will be produced for the North American market in the Detroit Diesel plant in Redford, MI.

Implementation in Daimler Trucks’ four other truck brands will follow in succession. Once the DD15 is launched on the market, the engine family also will be used by Mitsubishi Fuso in the mid-term and later by Mercedes-Benz.

Source: Daimler, Detroit Diesel