Jacobs Vehicle Systems (JVS), the world’s leading manufacturer of diesel and natural gas engine retarding systems and valve actuation mechanisms, focuses on solving critical performance challenges with forward-thinking technology for engine retarding, emissions, and positive power levels.
Through previous articles and at various forums, the company has projected the benefits of engine braking which include improved safety and productivity of commercial vehicles. Initially, there was scepticism around this claim as the industry always thought that the Indian marketplace was different from other markets. It was thought that because commercial vehicles operate at lower speeds in India, engine brakes were not applicable here. Some of the biggest and most influential members in the industry as well as fleet owners believe this to be true. Having said that, its takes a visionary to break such fads, and who could be a better one to do it than CV market leader Tata Motors themselves. The company’s corporate culture, vision, and mission all align to customer centricity, passion for enhancing quality of life, and delivering excellence, efficiency, and value in their design and engineering solutions.
Tata Motors is the leader in country’s commercial vehicle business. The OEM has the best service network in the marketplace and is willing to go that extra mile to solve customer issues and provide solutions to reduce their Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
Tata Motors’ customer-facing Tech Support team believed in the value that the JakeBrake® engine brake might bring to their vehicles. JVS signed up for a field test on Tata Motors’ customer vehicles in Kerala, an area that has one of the most difficult geographies for heavy trucks and is a safety and productivity nightmare for most of the OEMs. With the support of the Tata Motors dealership in the region, JVS installed its JakeBrakes and monitored the vehicle’s performance over a sustained period of time.
The results were astounding and seemed to indicate that engine braking is as applicable in the Indian marketplace as it is around the world, if not more, due to engine sizes, loading pattern, terrain, road conditions, environment and traffic. During the testing, the temperatures of the wheel brake drums were monitored before and after the installation of the JakeBrake kits. Tata Motors’ challenge to JVS was to decrease the temperature by 22 per cent. With the JakeBrakes installed, a downward delta of over 35 per cent was achieved in the first day of trials. There has been feedback from the field that a consistent thermal decrease in the range of 35 to 43 per cent has been observed which would transpire into increased liner life. From JVS’ experiences around the world, the liner life increases by 2 to 5 times, so the company anticipates at least a doubling of liner life on the vehicles fitted with its kits.
In addition to the improved temperature and performance, it was observed that the driver became extremely delighted by the braking performance while hauling 25+ tons of freight from the top of a hill to a designated site 20 km away. He could add one additional trip per day because of the good condition of the foundation brakes ensured because of the JakeBrake.
Says Mr. Vinod Ajankar, Country Manager, Jacobs Vehicle Systems: “We thank Tata Motors’ service teams for their support and commitment during the field tests. Having established the Safety + Productivity Equation with our JakeBrake, it will be interesting to see how well the Indian market adopts the technology as we move ahead.”