Growing demand for twin-speed axle
Meritor HVS (India) Ltd.’s latest offering, the Meritor MS245 or the twin-speed axle for the Indian market, has become really popular with leading vehicle manufacturers fitting the axle on their recently launched models.
Offering significantly improved fuel economy on highways, the twin-speed axle technology allows the driver to shift to fuel economy mode just by pressing the ‘twin-speed’ button fitted on the dashboard of the vehicle.
In addition to the conventional drive gearing in the axle, the twin-speed axle has an additional planetary gear system which helps the driver switch to a faster gear ratio by a simple flick of the ‘twin-speed’ button. This enables the vehicle to move at a higher speed, thereby reducing fuel consumption and improving the turnaround time.
Expressing his views on what prompted the company to come up with the ‘green axle’, Mr. N.P. Thimmaiah, Managing Director & CEO, Meritor India, said: “The focus today has shifted from initial purchase cost of a vehicle to operating cost. While our traditional products were indeed efficient, we came up with this innovative twin-speed axle solution to bring about significant reduction in fuel consumption and faster turnaround time with overall reduction in operating cost.”
The new Meritor twin-speed axle reduces fuel consumption by about seven to 10 per cent and improves turnaround time by 20 to 25 per cent while also reducing driver fatigue.
Mr. S. Raghunathan, Sr. VP & Executive Director, HCV Business, said: “Ashok Leyland has already launched the Meritor twin-speed axle on most of their multi-axle vehicle range and plan to extend this axle to additional models as well. Tata Motors has already introduced this axle on their LPT 3118 8×2 truck. It can also be retrofitted on existing trucks and buses to reap the above benefits. Many other OEMs are studying usage of the twin speed on their vehicles as well.”
Other recent offerings
Meritor also offers a new range of products for the LCV range. The MS04, launched at last year’s Auto Expo, is Meritor’s first axle for six to eight-ton vehicles and comes with an axle-weight rating of 4 tons. “With this product we are kick-starting our foray into the LCV segment which has witnessed double-digit growth for the past three to four years. We intend to expand our product range to cater to the entire segment”, said Mr. Subhash Gupta, President, LCV business.
With an eye on rapid infrastructure development projected for the next decade, Meritor is further strengthening its portfolio to cater to OEMs’ requirements for heavy duty axles for high-powered vehicles.
The Meritor hub-reduction axle has an extra gear reduction at the wheel hub to the existing reduction at the drive system and hence is named accordingly. The axle provides customers with higher torque capacity coupled with increased ground clearance for heavy duty, construction and mining applications. “We are in the final stages of product validation for our 36-ton heavy duty MT610 hub-reduction tandem axle and are close to product launch”, said Mr. Siva Kumar, Director, Product Strategy.
The hub-reduction axle is the highest capacity axle locally produced for the on-highway segment in India, and is also the first in a series of hub-reduction axles that the company is planning to launch in the Indian market.