Shell Lubricants has added a full synthetic 15W-40 weight engine oil to the Rotella product line. Introduced at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Kentucky, on Thursday, the CK-4 Rotella T6 lubricant improves on previous generation CJ-4 products by extending oil drain intervals and better protecting engines against oxidation, the company says. It also offers improved low temperature flow, Shell notes, for greater engine protection compared to previous products.
Though manufacturers set oil drain intervals, most truck makers recommend oil drain intervals of between 50,000 and 75,000 miles, says Megan Pino, global brand manager for Shell Lubricants.
The company is also planning another cross-country demo of its Starship concept tractor-trailer, which Shell debuted last year at the Mid-America Trucking Show. The Starship completed a cross-country test run last summer, achieving a fuel economy average of nearly 9 mpg. Shell also touted the Starship’s freight-ton efficiency, a metric of energy use that Shell says is more applicable to freight movement than simply gauging miles per gallon. Read more about the Starship’s 2018 cross-country demo at this link.
Pino says the company intends to make tweaks to the Starship to boost mpg and freight-ton efficiency even further. Though no dates are set, the second cross-country test run likely will occur next spring or early summer, Pino says.