Scottish operator Prentice of Haddington has installed Allison xFE fully automatic transmissions into several of its ADL Enviro 200 buses. The buses’ standard automated manual transmissions have been upgraded to Allison fully automatic xFEs in a bid to save costs over the remaining life of the vehicles and enhance the travelling experience for drivers and passengers. The upgrades began in January 2023 after the East Lothian-based company learned of savings gained by other British bus fleets who adopted the technology.
“We prefer Allison because their transmissions are very smooth, relatively simple, nice and easy for drivers to use and give us very little trouble,” said Ross Prentice, owner and Managing Director of Prentice of Haddington. “We’d been wanting to move this current fleet over to fully automatics for some time, and we’d heard about the fuel economy advantages of the xFE range. Since switching, we’ve noticed a substantial improvement in fuel consumption of around one mile per gallon compared to when the vehicles were fitted with the automated manual transmissions.”
“There have been other benefits, too. The buses are much smoother and easier to drive,” said Prentice. “It’s like driving an automatic car, which makes a big difference, particularly in stop-start traffic. Anything we can do to make life easier for our drivers is better for everyone.”
Prentice also anticipates the working life of the vehicles will extend beyond the current duration of around 15 years because of the replacement. The buses were previously upgraded to the Euro VI emissions standard using funding from Transport for Scotland, and the company says it is keen to keep them operational for as long as possible.
“Buses operating in both traffic-dense city routes and lower speed rural routes present special challenges for any transmission, but they’re ideal applications for our xFE technology,” said Jade Noble, Allison Transmission OEM Account Manager and Area Sales Manager for the UK and Ireland. “As well as helping operators to reduce emissions and squeeze more value from every tank of fuel, xFE provides all the performance, reliability, durability and productivity they’ve come to expect from Allison.”