MONTREAL, Que. — FPInnovations’ Performance Innovation Transport (PIT) is bringing its popular Energotest concept to the US, with trials slated to take place Feb. 3-7 in Texas.

The testing will be conducted at the Continental Truck Tires Uvalde Proving Grounds in Uvalde, Texas. PIT has been holding its Energotest trials of fuel-saving devices in Canada since 2007.

“We’re bringing Energotest to the US to provide the industry’s most accurate and indisputable results on the return on investment fleets can expect from green technologies,” said Yves Provencher, director of PIT. “We use only proven controlled test-track fuel efficiency evaluation procedures to provide the commercial vehicle industry with the information it needs to make sound equipment choices and capital investments.”

In Canada, fleets have come to rely on the Energotest results to determine which fuel-saving devices work as advertised, and which don’t.

“We provide independent verification of a technology’s fuel efficiency performance,” Provencher said. “Fleet managers who are early adopters of green technologies attend Energotest to find solutions they can use to transport goods in an environmentally friendly and cost-efficient manner.”

“Leveraging the disciplined PIT testing protocols allows carriers such as Bison Transport to focus our efforts on our core competences of managing our fleet operations, and not on testing components or innovations,” said Chris Trajkovski, vice-president, fleet maintenance at Bison Transport.

PIT has tested more than 200 technologies and operational practices through its Energotest trials in Canada.

“We measure fuel consumption on a track where every possible variable is controlled,” Provencher added. “The result is a fuel saving projection that is highly representative of what a fleet can expect to realize in actual over the road service. While we may test as many as 20 technologies during one week-long Energotest event, each test is completed in one or two consecutive days, which removes uncertainties associated with tests that are performed over several days or even weeks.”