Volvo Trucks‘ new Parameter Plus subscription package expands on the company’s over-the-air (OTA) programming capabilities, allowing up to 50 parameter updates per year.

Software updates for engines and transmissions can be completed in less than 20 minutes, and the parameter changes can be set in less than 10 minutes wherever a cellular connection is available. Both are a fraction of the 2.3 days of downtime traditionally associated with such work completed in a shop.

Parameter changes could include things like a truck’s top road speed, which might need to be lowered to enhance fuel economy against a backdrop of higher diesel prices. Other changes to an engine or transmission could support a new lane that includes different topographies, or a switch from dry bulk to liquid tankers.

Volvo’s I-Shift automated manual transmission, for example, includes a setting for gentle shifts that could help absorb the sloshing contents in a tanker. Other fleet managers might want to meet Ontario’s 105 km/h speed limiter requirements while in that province, but choose higher top speeds when traveling routes in the U.S.

Last year, when over-the-air updates were first introduced, nearly 1,300 trucks received such software and parameter updates. Today, nearly 16,000 trucks receive them.

Volvo trucks can receive up to two parameter updates per year at no charge.