Chevron has announced the end of conventional oils in its Delo line for heavy-duty diesel engines.
Instead, the company is going full speed ahead with synthetic and synthetic blends. So does that mean all the owners of older equipment are out of luck?
The answer is an emphatic “no” from our guest on The Dirt, Walt Collier with Chevron. In fact, the old equipment will get better results from synthetics and synthetic blends, such as longer change intervals, improved engine performance and fuel savings, he says. Owners stand to save thousands of dollars a year by switching to the new oils.
Dropping conventional oils also makes shopping a lot simpler, as the product line is reduced from four categories to two, according to Collier.
So to find out more about why Chevron’s Delo line is dropping conventional oil and what that means for owners of heavy equipment, check out the latest episode of The Dirt.
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In This Episode:
00:00 - Chevron Delo is No Longer Selling Conventional Oil
00:30 - Why Stop Selling Conventional Oil When It’s Been Used for So Long?
01:52 - Construction Industry Trends and Their Impact on Engine Oils
03:56 - How On-Highway Regulations Impact Off-Highway Equipment
04:37 - Will Synthetic Oils Perform Just as Well in Older Equipment?
08:52 - Which Delo Oil Is Best to Replace Conventional Oil?
09:53 - How Newer Oils Will Save You Money
11:29 - Why Oil Monitoring is Important
12:05 - How to Know What Oil is Best for Your Company
12:59 - How to Extend the Life of Your DPF
17:03 - Final Thoughts

Video Transcript:
Bryan Furnace:
Today we're here to talk about Chevron's Delo Heavy Duty Engine Oil line, and some changes that are coming down the pipeline, and more importantly, why are those changes coming down the pipeline. Joining us today is Walt with Chevron, and he's going to give us an insight as to what the logic is behind changing the product lineup. So, today I'm going to hit you with the hard question right off the bat because as you've probably heard the old adage, why fix something that ain't broke? So, why drop conventional oil out of the Delo lineup?
Walt Collier:
Bryan, let me just say there was room to improve the entire Delo product line, especially when you think about the gaps in the cracks that were addressed during the supply chain crisis. But do you know what? The industry is continually moving forward with better quality base oils and Chevron with our high quality base oil production is naturally leveraging this to ensure our customers are getting the best products in the market. But Bryan, even more importantly than that, the purpose of Chevron changing up our product line and dropping conventional oils from the Delo lineup is because this move allows a trend towards syn blend and synthetic oils. This also allows for us to simplify our portfolio, especially when customers are purchasing at retail and truck stops, they sometimes have an overwhelming number of choices to decide from that make things very confusing for them. We narrow things down to product mix that makes the most sense, right? That is what you see as we move our new Delo product line from a category of four to a category of two, which is syn blend and synthetics.
Bryan Furnace:
Got you. So, one of the things that I've heard you yourself and some colleagues talk about is just how much kind of industry trends play into this? What sort of industry changes are coming down the pipeline that's played into making these changes?
Walt Collier:
Yeah, it's a lot of industry changes that are coming down that played a factor in this, but it's more of what happened or happening now in the industry to make these changes. Because when you think about the future of technology, it holds more uncertainty. I mean, we've had the global pandemic. We also needed to adjust our business at Chevron, which meant customers have improved access to reliable supply of competitively priced, competitively tiered high performance engine oils from Delo. And then you had these other industry changes coming, which was like situations where OEMs prepare for tighter NOx emissions. Cummins is introducing a new 15 liter natural gas engine to help customers get to near zero emissions. Truck manufacturers make advances in battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell technology, as well as the potential of hydrogen ice engines. And you also have situations where some owner operators will not be able to drive older trucks in certain states because of what the state emission standards may be. So, to deliver on these changes and adapt to the industry, we made the move to break with convention with our Delo product line.