Software to help Biffa reduce CO2 emissions and diesel costs

Waste management company, Biffa, have placed a retrofit order for software to reduce its CO2 emissions and cut diesel costs by 9%.

Allison Transmission will retrofit FuelSense 2.0 software to 493 Dennis Eagle and Mercedes-Benz Econic trucks operated by the company.

The aftermarket order follows a six-month trial in which Biffa found that FuelSense 2.0 delivered fuel savings of up to 9% and a reduction of approximately 4,500 kg of CO2.

Steve Lea, fleet commercial manager at Biffa, said: “This initiative is expected to reduce carbon emissions from the Biffa fleet by 1.6 million kilograms per year and will cut our diesel bills by over £600,000 per year, fully paying back the retrofit cost within just four months.”

Biffa is installing FuelSense 2.0 in trucks that are towards the end of their eight to nine-year service life.

Biffa completed its trial of FuelSense 2.0 this spring in real-world working conditions on six of its Dennis Eagle trucks, three assigned to municipal residential waste collection in Liverpool and three to trade waste collection in Birmingham.

Steve Cole, group fleet and procurement director at Biffa, said: “Our six-month trial showed there’s a good environmental reason and a strong business case for retrofitting with Allison’s FuelSense 2.0.

“It also showed we can reduce carbon emissions and fuel costs not only with new vehicles, but also with those that have been in service a long time. Even for trucks that are seven to nine years old, retrofitting FuelSense 2.0 was a simple decision.”

Earlier this year, Biffa introduced a new fleet of electric refuse trucks to the streets of Manchester. 

The software is retrofitted by Allison’s distributor partners when the vehicles come into Biffa’s workshops for regular servicing.

Allison’s FuelSense 2.0 software is DynActive Shifting - shift scheduling that uses an algorithm to choose the optimal shift point, based on vehicle, specifications and environmental parameters, to help deliver the 'ideal balance' of fuel economy and performance, it said. 

Nathan Wilson, UK account/market development manager at Allison Transmission, said: “Biffa’s order affirms that FuelSense 2.0 software upgrades make great financial and environmental sense for the early adopters of Euro 6 engines from 2014 to 2018, vehicles which are now mid- and late-life.

"There are still about 7,000 such Allison-equipped vehicles in service in the UK which would benefit from the upgrade, making the air cleaner for the local communities they serve and avoiding the unnecessary expense of about £8 million per year on fuel."