Turkish power company banks on Allison automatics

Allison Transmission, the world’s largest manufacturer of fully automatic transmissions for medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles, is helping the Turkish Electricity Transmission Corporation (TEİAŞ) maintain its electrical grid comprising over 50,000km of interconnected line and a nearly 110,000 megawatt capacity.

“Vehicle efficiency and durability are critical to our operation,” said Tuncer Tokaç, Special Loads and Mobile Transportation and Operations Manager at TEİAŞ. “A black-out is not an option, and Allison Transmissions meets our requirements and helps keep our vehicles operational.”

In 1985, TEİAŞ purchased eight heavy-duty Kaelble vehicles equipped with Allison CLBT 6061 fully automatic transmissions, all of which are still operating using the original driveline parts. For nearly 30 years, the fleet’s mission has been to transport 50- to 190-tonne transformers and reactors from across the country to maintenance and repair centers in Ankara, as well as between different stations. These Allison-equipped trucks, says TEİAŞ, have safely and reliably hauled heavy loads over approximately 150,000km annually without malfunction. That is why, when purchasing four new heavy equipment transport vehicles, it chose four Volvo FH trucks equipped with Allison’s 4700 fully automatic transmission with retarder.

“Sometimes we operate over rough terrain and on very steep inclines. An Allison fully automatic transmission with torque converter and retarder provides significant advantages in both launch and braking. Also, long maintenance intervals ensure reduced operational costs and extended vehicle life and uptime. In fact, because there are not expensive clutch repairs and replacements, maintenance costs with an Allison automatic are considerably less,” Tokaç said.

Allison transmissions are used in a variety of applications including refuse, construction, fire, distribution, bus, motorhomes, defense and energy. With a market presence in more than 80 countries, the US-based Allison has regional headquarters in the Netherlands, China and Brazil with manufacturing facilities in the US, Hungary and India.