General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) will become an 11% owner of electric truck startup Nikola Motors Corp. (NASDAQ: NKLA) and build the battery-electric Badger pickup as well as providing the […]

Is hydrogen or renewable natural gas the better path to powering emission-free battery-electric trucking? Hyliion is all-in on its RNG-fueled generator to make electricity. Nikola’s hydrogen-backing founder predicts its rival will fail if it sticks to fossil fuel.

Seven months after Volkswagen’s truck holding company, TRATON SE, made an unsolicited $2.9 billion offer for Navistar, talks may be heating up, according to Bloomberg.

Chris Thomas, a veteran venture capitalist from the mobility sector, teams with Detroit and European-experienced experts to invest in startups in physical and digital movement of freight, people, data and energy.

While startups announce deployment tests of highly autonomous trucks, Daimler Trucks and Torc Robotics are unapologetic about their deliberative approach..

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study shows a greater than 40% decrease in rear-end collisions for trucks with forward crash warning and automatic emergency braking.

Record freight rates led to another solid month of Class 8 truck orders despite a pandemic, a presidential campaign and social unrest.

Peterbilt is offering a discount on the first year of a six-year lease for its Model 220EV medium-duty electric truck, hoping to entice non-commercially licensed drivers to try battery power instead of diesel.

Nikola Executive Chairman Trevor Milton says buzz-building is part of the startup electric truck company’s growth strategy as its closes in on producing Class 8 trucks.

Driverless trucking startup Ike is lining up Ryder System, DHL and NFI Industries to test trucks equipped with its hardware and software.

Strategic partnerships with Hitachi to benchmark its operations and help build a dealership network juice shares in Workhorse Group.

Just 3½ years after J.B. Hunt Transport Services purchased its first International LT Series on-highway tractor, the carrier has taken delivery of its 5,000th from Navistar.

Motiv Power Systems can tap $15 million in new cash from its largest investor as it fulfills pandemic-delayed orders for software and power electronics for electric trucks.

Prices are firming and demand is rising for used trucks after more than a year of doldrums mirroring a slowdown in new truck orders.

Makeup orders for tractors and trailers lead to rehiring of some laid-off workers and rebuilding shrunken backlogs from March and April coronavirus shutdowns. But how long will it last?

Daimler Trucks North America is recalling 5,604 M2 Business Class medium-duty trucks. Engine harness chafing could lead to a short circuit and an engine stall, increasing the risk of a crash.

Driver wages are holding steady during the coronavirus pandemic, but care for safety is where priority should remain, says CEO of National Transportation Institute.

Startup hybrid truck maker Hyliion is offering short-term rentals of its diesel-electric model through Idealease, hoping to get orders as the company prepares for its public debut.

When full visibility of a load is combined with predictive maintenance, downtime will drop and carrier profitability will rise, experts say.

Electric mobility startup Xos Trucks announced a $20 million investment to keep up with orders for its electric chassis used by regional and last-mile delivery trucks.

For electric trucks to really catch on, recharging time will have to be on par with a diesel fill-up. More powerful chargers like Tritium’s direct current charger that can juice up a vehicle to 80% in 15 minutes are on the way.

From 15,000 workers on furlough in April, Daimler Trucks North America has seen steady build activity to meet replacement demand into 2021 as its order backlog grows.

The National Association of Manufacturers recognized Kenworth’s Chillicothe, Ohio, plant for taking the guesswork out of bolt tightening and error-proofing truck cabs.

Spending most of 2014 living out of an Airstream trailer allowed NATSO CEO Lisa Mullings to meet truck stop and travel plaza owners in 49 states “on their turf,” enriching her understanding of what mattered most to members of the trade group she has led since 2004.

Oklahoma institution Barrett Trailers rises again as owners of a Texas livestock-hauling company and trailer dealership buy the company from Stoughton Trailers and rehire workers laid off during pandemic.

Navistar picks Detroit suburb near major electrification suppliers to locate its NEXT eMobility business unit as it prepares to make its first battery-electric trucks and school buses.

Eberhart Capital buys Van Damme Construction, adding to the portfolio of industrial companies it manages and funds.

Kenworth is retiring its off-highway severe-service K500 cabover model after 14 years and just 283 units – all of them exports.

Workhorse Group is perfecting technology for its HorseFly truck-mounted drone that could distinguish it from last-mile delivery competitors.

J.B. Hunt Transport got first dibs on a Freightliner heavy-duty eCascadia in an expanded customer outreach that Daimler Trucks North America hopes will amp fleet interest in when it begins taking orders in late 2021.

Navistar’s new CEO, Persio Lisboa, is streamlining his senior executive team to begin the truck maker’s post-Troy Clarke era.

Workhorse Group lost a lot of money on paper because new borrowing was tied to its exploding stock price. But it has the cash on hand to build electric trucks into 2022.

Diesel engine leader locks up engine supply agreement with Navistar through 2026.

Republic Services places largest single order in refuse market history, justifying Nikola’s decision to build its cabover Tre model in the U.S. after European launch in 2021.

The focus on stock price gyrations in Nikola Corp. overlooks a major part of its business plan — making and selling hydrogen fuel for its trucks and anyone who wants it.

Peterbilt’s Denton, Texas, plant marks its 40th anniversary, evidence of the adage that everything is bigger in Texas — or grows to become that way.

As a former U.S. secretary of transportation and later White House Chief of Staff for President George W. Bush, Andy Card could have his pick of company directorships. He is joining hybrid-electric truck startup Hyliion Inc. when it goes public.

Orders of new trucks reach six-month high and double year-ago orders

Despite economic uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, freight demand drove July Class 8 orders to their highest levels in six months.

More than a year from producing heavy-duty electric trucks, newly public Nikola reported an $86.6 million second-quarter operating loss.

Startup electric truck maker Lordstown Motors takes trendy reverse merger route to public ownership, and a $1.6 billion valuation.

Startup electric truck maker Lordstown Motors will go public through a reverse merger, a popular tact to raise capital and speed public trading.

Freightliner’s test fleet of 30 electric trucks has circled the world an equivalent of a dozen times as they make drayage runs and a variety of deliveries in Southern California. Daimler Trucks North America plans regular production of electric trucks in 2022.

Dana followed other Tier 1 suppliers in reporting a big cash burn to offset second-quarter plant idlings. But the maker of driveline and electrification systems exited with solid reserves.

Layoffs and salary cuts helped commercial vehicle driveline supplier Meritor ease the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. But sales, profits and cash took a big hit in fiscal Q3.

Trailer builder Wabash National kept the business impact of COVID-19 to a minimum in the second quarter. It even paid back money it borrowed and maintained its dividend.

The stalled truck engine business will recover as it always does. But Cummins isn’t waiting around as it charges into making hydrogen and fuel cells for trains, ships and trucks.

Engine maker Cummins soundly beat estimates for earnings and sales in the second quarter because its plants in China worked overtime as the country rebounded from the coronavirus pandemic.

Early units of new Mack MD Series medium-duty trucks are coming together in a former comic book publishing factory near Roanoke, Virginia.

Truck drivers still gripe about long detention times, equipment and adapting to new technology. But they speak positively about communication from their companies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Freightliner Custom Chassis inspected for brake light malfunctions in 2018 are now being recalled after Daimler Trucks North America found the problem in vehicles it looked at but did repair in the first recall.

Following Love’s Travel Centers’ edict requiring face coverings at its truck stops, NATSO and the American Trucking Associations followed suit.

Wabash National says using the sun to power batteries on a refrigerated trailer could save 50% over the cost of diesel power with none of the emissions.

Market share grew at Daimler Trucks North America and PACCAR even as Q2 sales sank under the weight of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before mass-producing electric trucks in Arizona, Nikola plans hand-built models in a pilot facility that will speed sales while phased construction of its $600 million plant proceeds.

After practically zeroing out in the early stages of the pandemic, trailer orders rebounded in June as fleets began to book new equipment to take advantage of the improving freight market.

PACCAR won’t rush in bringing battery-electric trucks to market, saying it will have them when customers ask. But it contends hydrogen fuel cells are five to 10 years away.

Shameek Konar will succeed Jimmy Haslam as Pilot Co. CEO in January, after growing its energy services business. He is the first outsider to run the family-owned Pilot in its 62 years.

PACCAR beat the consensus estimate of analysts, posting second-quarter profits of nearly $148 million despite U.S. plants being closed for five weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Early preparations for possible natural disasters helped Trinity Logistics get ready to adapt to remote leadership changes forced by the coronavirus pandemic.

Texas grows as locus for autonomous truck testing as Aurora Innovation plans to begin Class 8 testing in Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Mack Trucks and Volvo Trucks North America are cutting 450 salaried jobs as part of parent Volvo Group’s slashing of 4,100 whiite-collar positions. But Mack is holding the line for now against additional reductions in
production workers in Pennsylvania.

Owners of low-priced warrants for new shares and pre-merger discount buyers registered to cash out of electric truck startup Nikola leading to an after hours selloff on Friday, July 17.

Better-than-expected performance across the board buoys Daimler prospects. Job cuts are a big part of the picture in a preview of second-quarter earnings.

Glum Volvo Group financial report follows layoffs of 4,100 white-collar workers in second quarter. Uncertainty means the pain may continue for some time.

The American Trucking Associations said the industry moved 11.84 billion tons of freight in 2019, generating almost $792 billion in revenue.

Navistar’s driverless truck coming in 2024 will stick to the highway on long, stop-free runs as fleet customers learn to launch and receive the robotic semis.

Partnering with TuSimple, Navistar shaves up to five years off industry timeline for driverless trucks, targeting 2024 to sell autonomous semis.

Navistar is partnering with self-driving technology startup TuSimple to shave up to five years off the timeline for autonomous semis. It is targeting 2024 to sell International-branded driverless trucks.   Navistar […]

Ryder System gets the first two Workhorse electric delivery vans for daily rental exposure through Ryder’s peer-to-peer truck-sharing program.

Electric truck makers Nikola and Tesla make news almost daily. A new biopic about inventor Nikola Tesla suggests he saw the world his namesakes are seeking to create.

The California Air Resources Board certifies Workhorse’s C-Series electric delivery vans as zero-emission vehicles, clearing the path to qualifying for state-funded customer incentives.

Daimler trucks is recalling Freightliner Cascadias from the 2017-2021 model years because corrosion of an antilock brake component can cause the brakes to pull the truck to the right, increasing the possibility of a crash.

After dethroning Toyota as the world’s most valuable automaker on July 1, shares of electric car maker Tesla surpassed $1,500 on for the first time on Friday.

Nikola experienced a V-shaped recovery in its share price as storytelling in place of revenue drives enthusiasm and disdain for publicly traded electric truck startups.

The departure of Andreas Renschler as CEO of TRATON assures that new executives at TRATON and Navistar will oversee what most see as an inevitable combination.

The recovery in freight pricing led to a five-year high in certain used truck auction volumes in June as crowds of identical used sleeper trucks pushed some prices lower.

South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor shipped the first 10 of its mass-produced Xcient fuel cell heavy-duty trucks to Switzerland, where travel in mountainous regions is expected to prove the mettle of hydrogen power.

Preliminary orders for Class 8 trucks in June rebounded to a four-month high, following a rapid improvement in freight rates.

High-flying Nikola Corp. (NASDAQ: NKLA) came back to earth Thursday as early investors in the electric truck startup sold discounted shares at a handsome profit. With lockup provisions lifted, investors […]

Travel plaza leader Pilot Co. rounds up spare change to help vets while easing coin shortage caused by coronavirus pandemic.

After cutting the price by more than a third from a new stock offering of $75 million, TravelCenters of America shares fell below the revised asking price Wednesday.

Tesla’s six-month stock price runup helped the company eclipse Toyota as the world’s most valuable transportation company. Reported orders for 650,000 CyberTruck pickups match 2018 and 2019 deliveries of all Tesla electric-powered models.

It’s a bargain hunter’s market for used trucks, especially sleeper cabs, as prices come off the floor but demand for one-owner equipment remained slack in May.

Six months of Jon Pertchik’s high-energy leadership of TravelCenters of America took a hit Monday when a $75 million offering of new company stock met with a selloff that drove shares almost 24% lower than the asking price.

Nikola won’t have its battery-electric Badger pickup for sale until sometime in 2022, but it’s following rival Tesla in building buzz by taking matchable $5,000 deposits ahead of announcing a manufacturing partner.

At 28, Hyliion founder and CEO Thomas Healy is planning 15,000 global sales of his hybrid-electric powertrain systems for Class 8 trucks by 2024. A serial entrepreneur, Healy spoke with FreightWaves about his third startup — expected to go public before summer ends.

After extending CEO Troy Clarke’s tenure as CEO three times, Navistar International Corp. has chosen Chief Operating Officer Persio Lisboa as his successor.

With Texas halting business reopenings because of a surge in coronavirus cases, Navistar executives and others who would have tossed shovels full of dirt instead read prepared remarks over the internet to kick off construction of a $250 million high-tech plant.

Logistics giant Agility is betting on soon-to-be-public Hyliion Inc. with a 1,000-unit order of its new hybrid-electric truck with a natural gas generator, as well as an investment in the startup.

Lordstown Motors says first-year production of electric commercial pickup trucks is sold out – if the startup secures the $450 million it needs to retool a former General Motors car plant to make full-size pickups.

Workhorse Group, whose stock price is surging, can begin ramping up production of its electric delivery van now that it has received a final federal safety signoff.

With 1 million real-world electric miles, Motiv Power Systems sees growing customer reorders previewing a breakout for battery-powered medium-duty trucks.

After an April in which practically no net trailer orders were added to build schedules, a big improvement in May was welcome, but it’s still the second-weakest month on record.

Diesel-electric hybrid truck components maker Hyliion expects to be publicly traded around the end of the third quarter in a reverse merger like one that catapulted electric Class 8 truck startup Nikola Corp. to a $23 billion valuation.

John Flynn is convinced that safety equipment on heavy-duty trucks saves lives and could reduce nuclear verdicts. His company, Fleet Advantage, is taking a financial risk to prove his point.

Nikola will break ground July 23 for an Arizona plant that will hire 2,000 workers to assemble battery-electric Class 8 trucks before moving on to hydrogen fuel cell models.

Lordstown Motors will reveal its commercial electric pickup truck next week even as
the startup faces a deadline to raise hundreds of millions to convert a former General Motors car plant to truck production.

Nikola Corp. founder and Executive Ehairman Trevor Milton says he is justified in threatening on Twitter to sue a reporter he accuses of lying about the startup electric truck maker to drive down its high-flying stock price.

The varied duty cycles of regional haul trucks doesn’t prioritize fuel savings – the second-largest operating expense – according to the North American Council for Freight Efficiency.