Eicher Pro 3016 AMT | Driver Ready | First Drive

But an AMT in the mid duty segment is expected to bring about a revolution in the Indian trucking industry. Truckers in India, unlike those in developed countries have always led miserable lives, thanks to outdated technologies, bad infrastructure, horribly made truck interiors and lots of other reasons. All that could change with the new Eicher Pro 3016 AMT.

Motown India got a chance to drive this truck at the Pithampur plant of VECV in Madhya Pradesh. Like a car, this AMT too has the feature of an Auto Mode as well as a manual mode. On the AMT gear lever, you have two buttons on either side. One is the N which means Neutral, the other is the F button which means function.

Since this is an AMT, there is no clutch pedal. Instead there is a dead pedal where your left foot rests. Once you gently press the F button on the right side of the gear lever, you need to shift this lever to the front thereby putting the vehicle in the Drive mode. A backward movement of the gear lever means the vehicle gets into the reverse gear. All these commands are reflected on the digital screen in front.

Just near the gear lever on the floor console, you have three buttons which are marked C, E/P and M/A. The C means crawler mode, E/P denotes Eco and Power modes and M/A denotes Manual and Automatic modes. When the vehicle is in the Manual mode you have to use the same lever which you shifted earlier to change the gears as you do in a vehicle with manual gears. When it is in A or Automatic mode, then all you need is to accelerate and steer the vehicle.

Now for the C button. You activate that button when you want the Crawler mode. Crawler mode is ideal for steep inclines, especially in hilly areas. As for E and P modes, well the Eco is for getting the best fuel average because your power and torque are controlled and you are in no hurry to reach your destination. P is activated when you need to move faster. It is common knowledge that the turnaround time is faster using the P mode.

The AMT technology offers a whole host of advantages for the driver. There is less fatigue for the driver. The mileage also improves because AMT ensures smarter driving than driving with manual transmission. And of course fuel efficiency is at its best with an AMT truck. The risk of accidents due to driver mistakes reduces with an AMT as the driver is less tired.  AMT also eliminates the error of wrong gear shifting

Then there are drivers who are not so skilled and who use the manual gears wrongly. This not only brings down fuel efficiency, damaging the gear box and even damaging the goods inside the vehicle because of all the jerks etc. All this leads to high maintenance for the truck operator. 

Apart from the crawler mode to carry heavy loads and travel steep inclines, this new VECV Pro 3016 AMT comes with a hill start assist which prevents vehicle roll back. The vehicle also comes with a Launching Kick-down feature. Kick down is the rate of change of pedal position and this feature activates when the driver taps the full throttle at a higher rate than defined for kick down. You cannot afford to have mindless acceleration for trucks. Trucks with heavy loads have to take off from stationery position very steadily.

There is also another feature called Running kick down. This feature comes into play while the vehicle is running and useful for overtaking the vehicle.

The vehicle has a large sleeper cabin just behind the driver seat which is meant for the driver to rest. It is like a small bedroom for the driver when he has to relax. As for driving comfort, the vehicle has large ORVMs on either side which can be adjusted manually. The one on his left has a mirror on top that helps him to get a clear picture of the floor level and it comes handy when he is parking the vehicle close to the kerb. The truck has a cruise control feature too.

 This new Pro 3016 AMT is powered by an E494 3.8 litre 4 valve 4 Cylinder CRS SCR Technology BSIV Engine delivering 165 HP @ 2600 rpm and 520 Nm @ 1400-1600 rpm Torque. The engine is mated to an ET40S6 AMT. It is a 6-speed gearbox.

 The Pro 3016 AMT comes with Volvo group’s Engine Management System EMS 3.0, Fuel Coaching, Cruise Control, IDIS – Intelligent Driver Information Systems and Advanced on board Diagnostics. IDIS helps to gauge the driving ability of the driver. The EPS or the Engine Protection System helps protect the engine through a series of error sign codes which are displayed on the instrument panel. The driver seat is adjustable for distance, height, forward and backward tilt. The steering wheel is also adjustable for tilt and is telescopic.

The vehicle has a Gross vehicle weight or gvw of 16200 kgs or 16.2T. As per the government’s new definition this is now 18.2T which means it can carry legally a weight of 11.5 tonnes as against 10.2 Tonnes earlier. The front axle consists of forged reverse Elliot, while the rear is a 395DH heavy duty full floating. The ladder type design of the chassis has a modular frame. The front suspension consists of a parabolic leaf spring with anti roll bar while the rear suspension consists of a siemi elliptic leaf spring with helpers.

Essentially this new VECV Pro 3016 is suitable for applications such as eCommerce, Consumer Goods, Parcel & Courier, Pharmaceuticals, Industrial Goods, Agriculture produce, Poultry and Dairy products. Finally Indian truck drivers have a more efficient truck to look forward to.

Also let me tell you that this truck comes with a tiltable cab which means accessing the engine and transmission area is so easy. In fact it is so easy to tilt the cab that even a petite lady can do this physically. Also it is very easy for any person, whether a man or a woman, short or tall, to climb up into the driver seat. There are two steps for doing so.