Shell Rotella releases oil approved for both diesel and gas engines

“With Shell Rotella T6 Multi-Vehicle 5W-30, it is now possible for hard working fleets or businesses that run diesel and gasoline powered engines to carry a single oil that offers numerous benefits,” said Megan Pino, Shell Rotella global brand manager. “The full synthetic oil has been engineered to provide protection under the most severe engine conditions for both diesel and gasoline engines.”

This oil is especially designed for fleets with a mixed operation in mind, so that facilities maintaining anything from vans to Class 8 heavy duty trucks only need to keep track of one oil for their entire fleet.

A mixed fleet like this, with one maintenance facility servicing different vehicle classes, is not the most common, as some would argue it adds complexity to maintenance practices. However, with the fleet landscape changing due to technology and shipping trends, Shell Lubricants' heavy duty engine oil brand manager, Chris Guerreo, speculates that the number of those types of fleets might increase.

"When you talk about the impact of a digital economy, you look at the way things have run versus how they could potentially go," Guerro said. "It [fleet and shipping operations] used to be pretty easy, because you'd go from a port to a big truck, then typically to a warehouse, and then from a warehouse to a store. What we're starting to see, especially with Google, you'll see goods being shipped from a port to a warehouse, but then two things happening. One is warehouse to sub-warehouse, where you can then do smaller runs into an urban area, or, two, warehouse to front door, which is direct delivery. So now you're looking at a new vehicle park. We're seeing it in China, we're seeing it in Europe, and you start to see things like that in North America as well."

"Do I think ... you're going to see an increasing number of light commercial vehicles? I think you will." Guerreo said.

He noted that he thinks this shift will be in part because of the challenge of finding drivers willing to drive long haul, or with the right qualifications.

Shell Rotela T6 Multi-Vehicle 5W-30 has been tested in standard industry engine tests and provides performance across API CK-4 and OEM tests.

According to Jason Brown, Shell Lubricants global technology manager, the oil features a "Triple Protection Technology," a combination of performance additives for anti-wear and anti-oxidation, as well as deposit control for diesel engines and improved fuel economy.

For example, the oil demonstrated strong oxidation resistance in a new Volvo T-13 oxidation test, controlling acid build up, preventing oil thickening and exceeding the API CK-4 limits for oxidation.Tests also show that T6 Multi-Vehicle 5W-30 has better cold cranking properties and low temperature pumpability at -30 degrees C and -35 degree C respectively.

T6 Multi-Vehicle 5W-30 also exceeds the requirements of the API SN performance category and can be used in gasoline engines recommending a 5W-30 viscosity grade.

"When we did this development plan ... we actually developed two of these W-30's at the same time," Guerreo explains. "We developed low phos [phosphorus] and a high phos, because we didn't know what we'd see in the wear testing. We wanted to see real-world performance.

"Shell Rotella has been been focused on the heavy duty side, first and foremost, so we said from Day one: 'We're going to spend the money and we're going to build two.' If the 800 pmm one doesn't do what we think it will do, then we're not going to launch. We're not going to sacrifice the ability on the heavy duty side just to meet a chemical limit to cover PCMo. So the challenge that we put to the technical team was: 'Show me you can do it. Show me you can build me something that's at an 800 max ppm phos, with different kind of wear technology, that stands toe-to-toe with the 5W-30 at the higher limit, and the 15W-40.' They did that. So, somewhere on the shelf, in a file cabinet, there is a higher phos version of this that we don't need now because this fit it. So, the view was, if you can do it, why wouldn't you do it? It makes life easier for those operations that we have that do run mixed fleets."

T6 Multi-Vehicle 5W-30 meets a number of diesel and gas engine specifications including:

The oil is currently available at U.S. NAPA, O'Reilly and Walmart stores.