Manufacturers take varied approaches to avoiding the chicken-and-egg conundrum of electric trucks. PACCAR is selling and financing them with leases for battery-powered trucks.
Kenworth and Peterbilt climbed Pikes Peak with Class 8 electric trucks, then descended the 12-mile course of switchbacks and twisting turns to show the range-extending value of regenerative braking.
Volvo Trucks North America will begin building Class 8 VNR Electric day cab trucks in Virginia in December, continuing an industry surge in bringing battery-operated commercial vehicles to market.
PACCAR Inc. earnings fell in the third quarter but the maker of Kenworth, Peterbilt and DAF Trucks continued a string of beating earnings estimates.
In today’s edition of The Daily Dash, FMCSA denies an HOS exemption for drivers with animals, YRC is boosting pay for some new drivers, OOIDA criticizes cost estimates for broker transparency and the conviction of the former Pilot Flying J president is overturned.
The numbers will be small but the competition fierce as major truck makers debut their first fully electric Class 8 trucks in 2021. Kenworth will be in the zero-emission mix with its T680E built on a Meritor electric drive system.
Hino and Toyota will test a Class 8 fuel-cell truck in North America in 2021 based on the Hino XL Series truck platform.
Carriers, logistics businesses and technology providers make the cut in 2020.
Electric trucks from PACCAR siblings can get California rebates when the fund is replenished; Daimler shows future battery and fuel cell trucks; and FMCSA grants Bosch a video mirror waiver.
In today’s edition of The Daily Dash, Amazon presses the gas on holiday hiring, a judge allows truck tolls to continue in Rhode Island and police hunt for a motive behind the killing of a truck driver.
Two Volvo VNR electric trucks enter testing; Kenworth dealers taking orders for medium-duty battery-powered trucks; and reverse merger vote date set for startup Hyliion.
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.
The National Association of Manufacturers recognized Kenworth’s Chillicothe, Ohio, plant for taking the guesswork out of bolt tightening and error-proofing truck cabs.
In today’s edition of The Daily Dash, concerns are raised about Mexican truck operations, drone delivery technology advances and Anheuser-Busch is making a switch to natural gas.
Diesel engine leader locks up engine supply agreement with Navistar through 2026.
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.
Early units of new Mack MD Series medium-duty trucks are coming together in a former comic book publishing factory near Roanoke, Virginia.
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.
Partnering with TuSimple, Navistar shaves up to five years off industry timeline for driverless trucks, targeting 2024 to sell autonomous semis.
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.
Daimler Trucks AG is creating a fuel cell subsidiary as a forerunner to a 50-50 joint venture with Volvo Group to make fuel cell-powered backup systems for data centers and eventually hydrogen-fueled heavy-duty trucks.
Market share gains, growing order backlog and record sales of parts buoy truck maker PACCAR despite lower first-quarter revenue and profits
PACCAR Inc. posted decent first quarter earnings despite shuttering its plants in late March because of the coronavirus pandemic. While truck orders cooled, parts sales set a record as the truck maker tries to build on 81 consecutive profitable years.
Growing awareness of a 12-year-old relief fund for semi-truck drivers is attracting more and bigger donations as the coronavirus pandemic highlights health risks to truckers hauling critical freight.
Major truck manufacturers extend production suspensions as the coronavirus pandemic worsens. J.P. Morgan upgrades PACCAR and holds a neutral rating on Navistar.
All four major heavy-duty truck manufacturers now have suspended production for at least two weeks, with market leaders Daimler Trucks North America and PACCAR Inc. the latest to stop building trucks because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Toyota and Hino, its heavy truck subsidiary, are offering few details on an Asian heavy-duty truck fuel cell program that complements Toyota’s Oceans 10 project with Kenworth Truck Co. in the U.S.
Steering advances, integrated steps over DEF tank among enhancements truck makers are bringing to market amid a continuing slowdown in new equipment orders
Diesel-electric hybrids get less attention than pure electric Class 8 trucks, but niche leader Hyliion Inc. is selling them to Penske Truck Leasing with partner Dana Inc.’s Spicer Electrified components.
Volvo Trucks North America and its sibling Mack Trucks later this year will allow individual truck drivers to schedule over-the-air updates typically handled by fleet managers.
Swollen inventories of heavy-duty trucks must shrink or manufacturers will need to cut production further to keep the industry order bank from declining further, ACT Research says.
As Daimler and Volvo leverage their global capabilities for battery-powered trucks in California, PACCAR picks Dana and Meritor as systems suppliers for its medium- and heavy-duty electric trucks.
As more of its drivetrain business moves to electrification, Meritor focuses on integrating recent acquisitions TransPower and AxleTech.
Scott Burke expected the worst when the bird of prey hit his fully loaded Kenworth tractor-trailer going 50 mph. Instead, he got his rig to safety — and the bird is expected to make a full recovery.
After making four investments totaling $12 million in electric truck systems supplier TransPower, Meritor is acquiring the rest of the company.
Honda and Isuzu said Wednesday they will work together to apply Honda R&D expertise in fuel cells to Isuzu trucks in Japan.
Kenworth and Peterbilt will both put power electronics from Dana in their electric medium-duty trucks.
Toyota said at #CES2020 that it plans to build a 175-acre city of the future at the foot of Mt. Fuji in Japan that will operate on hydrogen fuel cells and solar power.
New Class 8 truck orders dipped to their lowest level in a decade in 2019, payback for an ordering frenzy a year earlier.
Just in time for the holidays, Paccar declared a special dividend of $2.30 a share for stockholders of record by Dec. 20.
Volvo Trucks North America will lay off about 700 workers in January, extending an industry pullback in production to match slowing orders of new Class 8 trucks.
The number of used Class 8 trucks for sale continues to grow as new equipment deliveries drain the backlog created during a 2018 order binge.
Hyundai has unveiled a fuel-cell powered Class 8 truck, the HDC-6 Neptune, that it plans to launch at an undisclosed time in the future. It will be a global truck for multiple markets, including the U.S.
Kenworth Truck Co. is finally satisfied that over-the-air software updates are safe for its trucks.
Hyundai Motor Co. is expanding its fuel cell ambitions to heavy-duty trucks and trailers with a pair of concepts for next week’s North American Commercial Vehicle show in Atlanta.
Paccar Inc. delivered 31,000 trucks in the third quarter, helping the parent company of Kenworth Truck Co. , Peterbilt Motor Co. and DAF beat earnings estimates.
Amazon ramps up truckload business by going all-in on power unit investment
Preliminary Class 8 retail sales for September set an all-time record, but large fleet deliveries likely inflated the results that erased the previous record set in December 2006. Meanwhile, the backlog of trucks waiting to be built is falling, which is leading to layoffs..
Four of six major truck makers are reducing production line speed and/or laying off manufacturing workers. Market leader Daimler Trucks North America will cut 900 jobs in North Carolina on Oct. 14.
Ruth Lopez receives award at the Women In Trucking Association’s annual conference this week.
Mexico’s national association of heavy duty truck and bus manufacturers (ANPACT), reported the manufacture of commercial trucks grew 6% in July, producing 20,006 units, when compared against 18,863 units in […]
Dart Transit celebrated its 85 years in business and Truck Driver Appreciation Week earlier this month, awarding drivers raffle prizes that included a new pickup, boat and Polaris ATV. Also, fuel prices jump, France tests no-Brexit and trucking group pushes port improvements.
As the gaps between tractors and trailers shrink through aerodynamic design, making connections safer is only one concern for standards-writing engineers who must account for autonomous trucking in the near future.
Preliminary used Class 8 truck sales fell for the 10th consecutive month in August as used trucks hit the market in bigger numbers because of new truck deliveries from record orders placed in the latter half of 2018.
Should you own your own heavy duty truck or consider leasing?
Partially synthetic lower viscosity 10W-30 and 5W-30 oils are supplanting the industry standard 15W-40 heavy-duty oil. The new formulas cost more but can bring up to 2 percent better fuel economy with longer intervals between changes.
Navistar is the first to slow production lines for new trucks. It is targeting medium-duty units because inventories are up 30 percent year over year.
The rise and fall of interest in natural gas trucks typically depends on the price of oil. Now, the availability of clean energy credits in California and tougher NOx rules expected from the California Air Resources Board are additional reasons for purchase.
July heavy-duty truck orders were the lowest since 2010, more evidence of a trucking sector recession taking hold.
Kenworth Truck Co. stayed with its approach to promoting general managers from the engineering ranks.
The Shell Rotella Super Rigs is among the more attractive beauty contests for trucks because every entrant has a chance, winner or not, to end up in Shell’s Super Rigs annual wall calendar.
When it comes to heavy-duty, long-haul trucks, the kings of the road are long-hood conventional big rigs with the latest comforts of home behind the cab. And chrome. Lots of chrome.
PACCAR Inc. added to a string of beating analyst revenue estimates in the second quarter but fell 3 cents short on earnings per share consensus. PACCAR set records across the board in the period ending June 30.
Don Blake’s passion raises $250,000 in two truck auctions for Truckers Against Trafficking
Volvo Trucks says anyone involved in heavy-duty trucking has a “moral obligation” to make trucking safer.
Traveling carnival’s most important rides are reserved for the drivers in its trucks.
Class 8 truck orders rose sightly in June from May’s figures, but posted their worst first six months of the year since 2010.
Saudi Arabia Customs successfully transported a container to the Port of Rotterdam using blockchain for the packing list and commercial documents.
Good day, Truck makers have been insisting that medium-duty truck owners are starting to look for the same type of data analytics and remote diagnostic capabilities that long-haul operators have […]
Chillicothe has a long history in the state, but in the past 45 years, it is the local Kenworth factory that has become an identifying centerpiece of this central Ohio town.
Ford invests $500M in electric pickup maker; plus U.S. may be pulling freight from trucking, India seeks logistics technology upgrades, and scientists call for unity on electric vehicles.
Kenworth will increase the size its Chillicothe, Ohio, manufacturing plant by nearly 25 percent once a new paint facility comes online in early 2021, the company said at a groundbreaking for the $140-million, 120,000-square-foot building.
The Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) EXPO kicked off today with a pre show unveiling of Toyota and Kenworth’s first jointly-developed fuel cell electric heavy-duty trucks.
Nikola Motor envisions a world that is better off tomorrow than it is today, and it starts with a zero-emission future, the company said, as it introduced five emissions-free vehicles, including two semi trucks.
Funding announced as investment heats up for low-carbon fuel technology.
Kenworth Trucks and Toyota will build 10 fuel cell-powered Kenworth tractors as part of a partnership to reduce emissions at the Port of Los Angeles by 2020.
A port operator taps into funding for new natural gas tractors; birds and the federal shutdown could cause delays in Oklahoma bridge projects; Sears wants to liquidate; and air freight is flat in November
Revenue forecasts were reached only because of a one-time tax event. But by almost any other standard, it was a strong quarter.
“A well-spec’d long-hood conventional stands out in a crowd,” Kyle Cousins, vice president of operations of Fleenor Bros, said after receiving one of the first W990 model tractor from Kenworth.
On Thursday night at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Kenworth Truck Co. introduced its newest long-hood tractor, the W990.
Cashflow Corner presented by TriumphPay …A creature from the Black Lagoon, George Washington’s desk, and a 10-foot gold-plated harp are just a few of the odd things hauled by truck drivers, according to the 2018 King of the Road survey from Atlas Van Lines.
Project financing could lead to commercial testing of vehicles by 2020.
So much for the summer doldrums. New truck orders, which typically take a dip in the summer months as both carriers and OEMs reset for the fall, hit a new all-time high in July, according to the latest data from ACT Research.
Cummins Inc. announced record earnings for its second quarter this morning, and that news was immediately overshadowed by an engine recall that has already impacted 230,000 vehicles and now will encompass an additional 500,000 heavy-duty truck models.
The technology and product offerings for LNG/CNG Class 8 trucks are well ahead of battery-electric vehicles. Rising diesel prices may spur another wave of natural gas-powered truck adoption.
As capacity tightens, there are two ways fleets and shippers can go: they can add more capacity through acquisition or equipment purchases, or they can tap into existing capacity in a different way. That way might be boosting the rental and dedicated transportation markets.
The biggest hurdle to overcome is the long-distance infrastructure of superchargers.
Trucking and logistics have grabbed a share of the spotlight this year at the Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas. None, though, has grabbed more attention than Toyota’s E-Palette concept and alliance that includes such big names as Amazon, DiDi, Mazda, Pizza Hut and Uber.
General Motors has advanced its next-generation fuel cell system, which is part of its concept SURUS (Silent Utility Rover Universal Superstructure) platform that was shown last week at the fall meeting of the Association of the United States Army. Whether commercial transportation is willing to adopt fuel cell technology, though, remains a question.
Following years of complaints from the trucking industry that carriers are unfairly penalized for crashes that are not the driver’s fault, FMCSA is launching a 2-year demonstration program that allows carriers to dispute the findings of a crash.
Four of the defendants in the Pilot Flying J federal fraud trial have reached plea deals with prosecutors, according to documents filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.
The expansion of fuel cell trucks is continuing, with an announcement from Ballard Power Systems that its 85-kilowatt fuel cell engine will power a Class 8 Kenworth drayage truck at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Also, Uber Freight launches, a fuel tax hike is still on the table and Amazon pushes furniture.
