Trucking news and briefs for Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022: Certain bulk liquid haulers get regs relief in South DakotaSouth Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, on Oct. 26, issued a state of emergency in the state due to “extremely low inventories and outages of certain liquid products including gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, propane, ethyl alcohol, natural gasoline, diesel exhaust fluid, and anhydrous ammonia.” Noem’s declaration suspends parts 390 through 399 of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations for drivers hauling those liquid products into and within South Dakota. The declaration said that the FMCSRs “regulate the transportation requirements for drivers of transport vehicles and may unnecessarily delay the transportation of these products.” Noem clarified that the declaration does not require or allow fatigued drivers to operate commercial vehicles. The waiver is effective through Nov. 25. Peterbilt, Kenworth enhance remote diagnostics offerings in Paccar Solutions web portalKenworth has introduced a new way for fleets and truck operators to manage their Kenworth TruckTech+ Remote Diagnostics subscriptions online through the Paccar Solutions web portal, while Peterbilt has done the same with its SmartLINQ subscription. By logging into Paccar Solutions, customers can quickly and easily renew their Kenworth TruckTech+ and Peterbilt SmartLINQ subscriptions, manage payment options and monitor subscription expiration dates for all their trucks. They also can manage subscriptions for trucks that will be added to their fleets in the future. Renewals may be made for individual units or an entire fleet. An automatic renewal option is available for added convenience. Kenworth TruckTech+ is standard on Class 8 Kenworth trucks equipped with Paccar MX engines and Cummins diesel and natural gas engines. The system is also optional when purchasing new Kenworth T180, T280, T380 and T480 medium-duty conventional models equipped with a Paccar PX-7 or Paccar PX-9 engine. The T280, T380 and T480 also offer the remote diagnostics system when specified with a Cummins Westport L9N natural gas engine. SmartLINQ is standard on all Peterbilt Class 8 trucks and optional on Peterbilt’s line of new medium-duty trucks. The remote diagnostics offerings enhance vehicle diagnostics by providing real-time engine health information to fleet managers and Kenworth and Peterbilt dealers to help optimize truck uptime and productivity, and enables fleets to track the location of their trucks. Paccar recalls small number of Peterbilt, Kenworth trucksA small number of Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks are being recalled due to a tie rod issue, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration documents. Paccar is recalling approximately 67 model year 2023 Peterbilt 348, 367, 389, 548, 567, and Kenworth T370, T480, T800, T800B, T880, W900B and W990 trucks in which the tie rod clamps may have been improperly heat-treated, causing them to fail and allowing the tie rods to separate. Tie rod separation can result in a sudden loss of steering, increasing the risk of a crash. Paccar said the recall population was determined by identifying chassis numbers that correspond with the date range for axle serial numbers and axle part number provided by Meritor. Dealers will replace both tie rod clamps, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed Dec. 16. Owners can contact Kenworth's customer service at 1-425-828-5888 with recall number 22KWJ and Peterbilt's customer service at 1-940-591-4220 with recall number 22PBJ. NHTSA’s recall number is 22V-782. https://ift.tt/oMK0jsq
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Steve Fields, an America’s Road Team Captain at Yellow Corp. (CCJ Top 250, No. 6) and 36-year professional truck driver, said eight out of 10 cars that pass him on the road are doing something other than driving. Between distracted driving and attorneys’ radio ads and billboards on interstates claiming to win nuclear verdict-size injury cases, passenger car drivers are the scariest thing truck drivers face on the road. Technology and defensive driving are the answer. That’s what the safety professionals said during the Future of Safety educational session at the American Trucking Associations Management Conference & Exhibition in San Diego. Lytx technology has discovered that truck driver attention is up. According to Lytx data, drowsy driving is down 18%, blank stares are down 53%, unbelted drivers are down 24%, and drivers not scanning the roadway are down 7% in 2022 compared to 2021. But the data also shows that road risk trends are up; like posted speed violations (19%) and policy speed violations (53%). Dan Murray, senior vice president at the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), said Federal Highway Administration data shows that 71% of the time, car drivers are at fault in crashes involving a passenger car and a commercial truck. Likewise, the University of Michigan did a study that looked at property damage and injuries – leaving out crashes that resulted in car driver deaths so everyone involved would be present to comment – and found that 68% of the time the car driver was primarily responsible. “The bottom line is crashes are very rare, and the number of crashes where the truck driver is negligent is extremely small,” Murray said. “So we do need to keep an eye on safety, but it's really important (to focus) on the primary factor, which most of the time is not the truck driver.” The environment has changed because car drivers are not paying attention to what's going on around them, said Joshua Vance, vice president of safety and compliance at J.B. Hunt Transport (No. 3). While technology like Lytx’s video telematics has been implemented to help fleets improve truck driver behavior, Vance said external cameras that provide video during collisions are just as important because they can exonerate the truck driver when accidents do occur. Fields said it would also help to have more “biting” laws in place surrounding cellphone usage among car drivers. But Scopelitis Transportation Consulting Co-director Sean Garney said, while the trucking industry has improved in almost every category related to distraction, there is one category that hasn’t improved: interacting with a device. That could be a cellphone, but it could also be the technology installed in trucks these days, he said. “Disciplining ourselves as a trucking industry to try to avoid that makes perfect sense and of course educating our younger folks and the car drivers is going to be incredibly important as well, but really teaching our drivers to be defensive and to understand where the risks lay are important,” Garney said. “We work with a lot of trucking companies that want to develop zero-tolerance policies for distraction. Look at the research, and the research says well, eating is a distraction; drinking is a distraction, and that increases my likelihood for a crash. But if my driver is on the road for 10 hours a day, is drinking and eating something I can reasonably prohibit? “Instead, teaching these avoiding distraction techniques – or defensive driving techniques – to make sure that our eyes aren’t coming off the road when we do, that is incredibly important. I don't think more bells and whistles every year – just walk around the exhibit hall; we have lots of new technology that is going to alert us to different things and keep us safe – but how do we manage that?” But the panel was quick to note that the car driver isn’t always the problem. Fields said Yellow has drivers like him that go millions of miles without an accident and some that don’t. “I've always asked myself, ‘what's the difference between those drivers?,’” he said. “A lot of times … I believe it’s because they don't realize they're going into a bad situation, and it could be a whole host of different things; it can be weather, it can be traffic, it can be a construction zone. As a trainer in Kansas City, I've tried to teach these guys to think about what you're doing … when you go into that construction zone just a little hot because once you go over that hill, you ain't coming back.” He told an industry-old story about a young truck driver who asks an older truck driver if he thinks he’s going too slow down a mountain. His response: “You'll go down at 100 times too slow, but you’ll only go down it once too fast.” But there has always been a struggle between safety and schedule, Fields said. He said a lot of trucking companies will prioritize schedule over safety, but it’s important to give drivers time. Vance said during court cases regarding accidents, prosecutors will look at how much training each individual truck driver – whether involved in the accident or not – received. But that’s not the case when it comes to a car driver. “I got my driver's license when I was 16 years old, and no one taught me how to be any better,” he said. “If something doesn't change with the way an average person gets and maintains a driver's license, there’s only so much we can do.” The panel also discussed future cases of safety issues from changing the interstate driver age to allow 18-year-olds to enter the industry to autonomous vehicles. Murray said statistics from Truckingresearch.org show that 18- to 25-year-olds are safer drivers than those 25 and up. Fields said older drivers get more comfortable and complacent a few years down the road. “At Yellow, we have more accidents on a bright sun-shiny day than when in snow because you’re focused in the snow,” and that same principle applies to the younger drivers who tend to be more focused because they’re new and more fearful of accidents, Fields said. But what about their future and their retirement, an audience member asked regarding autonomous trucks. Lytx Director of Safety Services Gary Johnson said he doesn’t think there will ever be a time when a driver isn’t present in the vehicle. Fields said he used to worry about the direction toward autonomous trucks, but now he sees it as a helpful hand to the driver. The driver’s job will shift but not go away. He said he wants his company to innovate to be able to compete because if his company does well, it benefits the drivers too. “Ultimately, the human is the biggest and most important part of that wheel,” Johnson said. “Look at the airline industry; they've had autopilot for how many years? And you still have two individuals up in that plane to address anything that goes wrong. The human aspect will always be key, but it really comes down to the values and the approach when it comes to safety.” And that means, no matter what technology companies bring into play – from video telematics to autonomous trucks – leadership has to have buy-in. Garney said claiming a safety first motto isn’t enough; the C-suite has to back it. https://ift.tt/oMK0jsq There’s a delicate balance when it comes to using diesel fuel to cook off NOx emissions to meet the California Air Resources Board’s tough 2027 nitrogen oxide (NOx) standard, but after plenty of testing, Eaton and Tenneco are reporting success with their jointly produced integrated exhaust thermal management system. Following their partnership in March 2021, both companies began taking a closer look at how they could lower NOx thermally with a diesel-fueled exhaust burner to meet CARB’s 2027 NOx requirement of .02 g/bhp-hr without cranking up carbon dioxide. They found success on a 2020 Cummins X15 engine equipped with their exhaust burner system, cylinder deactivation and light-off selective exhaust catalytic reduction. During low load cycle (LLC) testing at the Southwest Research Institute, NOx dropped to .02 g/bhp-hr while C02 remained neutral. (CARB’s 2027 LLC requirements are .05 g/bhp-hr, or a 90% drop from current standards). [Related: ATA panel discusses emissions reductions, sustainability] During the Federal Test Procedure (FTP) heavy-duty transient cycle, which CARB set at .02 g/bhp-hr for 2027, NOx dropped even further to .01 g/bhp-hr. CO2, however, increased .9%. “We can't ignore the fact that CO2 is important, even though it's not regulated,” Eaton’s senior chief engineer Jim McCarthy told CCJ following a webinar on the exhaust burner co-hosted by Tenneco. McCarthy added that he’s “fully confident” that CO2 will drop to at least neutral “with a couple more days of testing.” Eaton and Tenneco developed the air source for the exhaust thermal management system from Eaton’s TVS V180 blower for small engines of 1.5 liters or less. Dubbed the Cold Start Thermal Unit Air Source on Eaton’s website, the blower is paired up with an electric motor (12- or 24-volt) that can be “efficiently and precisely controlled to maintain optimal aftertreatment temperatures.” The blower provides air to a burner provided by Tenneco, which also supplies the ignitor. The exhaust burner is mounted just ahead of the diesel particulate filter (DPF). “That combination of the burner in front of the DPF is an excellent configuration where you can hit it hard and give an even heat flow downstream,” McCarthy said. McCarthy worked alongside Tenneco’s senior engineering manager Tom Harris to develop a two-tier approach to heating the exhaust burner. On cold start, the burner heats up fast to 572 degrees Fahrenheit (300 Celsius) to cook off those higher NOx levels prevalent in a cold aftertreatment system. As the engine reaches normal operating temperature, the burner takes an on/off approach for subsequent SCR temperature maintenance of 356 to 392 Fahrenheit (180 to 200 Celsius). “The primary approach with this two-tier threshold is basically just an on-off switch where you're managing the tradeoff between tailpipe NOx, CO2 or fuel consumed by the burner,” Harris said. Burner temperature management, particularly at higher levels, is key to the system’s success. “Temperature is a double-edged sword. You want to get it hot so that you have a NOx reduction, but if you get it hot too fast and you keep it too hot, you can lose your ammonia storage, which is your reductant on your SCR,” McCarthy explained. “So really the strategy is hit it hard quickly, get it up to temperature and then shut the burner off. Let everything stabilize and then when you get down to the manageable 'stay hot regime,' where the ammonia's staying on the SCR, you're getting great NOx reduction,” McCarthy continued. A ‘much more fuel efficient’ methodCooking off NOx with a diesel exhaust burner might seem counter-intuitive at a time when fleets are pushing hard to conserve fuel during historically high prices. However, pulling heat from a conventional engine to get a cold SCR quickly up to temperature to lower higher NOx levels is not exactly a fuel-efficient process.“The engine runs in what's called thermal management mode and fuel economy mode, and thermal management mode is not insignificant,” McCarthy said. “It's a ton of fuel that goes in. And what the burner allows us to do is get the aftertreatment system up hotter really quick, and then we transition from thermal management mode to fuel economy mode. And then the net difference gets us to neutrality [in terms of fuel use].” Harris said that when it comes to heating up the SCR, it’s best to get it up to temperature with a diesel-fueled exhaust burner. “When you do it in the engine, you can certainly, as Jim mentioned, use thermal management mode to have the engine make more exhaust heat, but also in doing that, you're sending about 30% to 40% of the fuel energy to the coolant where it's just wasted and you're having to heat up an awful lot of room temperature air being pulled into the engine,” Harris said. “So if you need exhaust heat, the burner is the much more fuel efficient way of generating it.” According to Eaton’s website, production for the integrated exhaust thermal management system is anticipated in 2025. https://ift.tt/oMK0jsq Workforce development, the environment, infrastructure and the supply chain – those were highlights of the conversation on the state of trucking in North America and around the world at the American Trucking Associations Management Conference & Exhibition in San Diego. The panel included representatives in the industry from the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Europe, who discussed how each stack up when it comes to these issues, and they found that everyone is facing the same challenges. The driver shortageWorkforce development took the lead with the driver shortage being a top concern. Register today for "2023 Outlook for Trucking" webinar Economists and industry experts discuss the market forces, business conditions and supply chain issues that will impact carrier operations in 2023. This complimentary CCJ webinar is sponsored by Bestpass. This CCJ webinar is sponsored by Bestpass. Canada’s trucking industry is about one-tenth the scale of the U.S.’s trucking industry, and it is 28,000 drivers short today with an estimated 55,000 short by the end of 2024 due to retirements, among other things, said Rob Penner, CEO of Bison Transport (CCJ Top 250, No. 50), one of Canada’s largest trucking companies. Radu Dinescu, president of IRU, said the organization identified the top three countries with the worst shortages are Ukraine, Turkey and Pakistan because the majority of drivers are working in western countries like France and Germany. Mexico was also on the list; Mexico is short 54,000 drivers, said Ramon Madrano Ibarra, presidente nacional at Canacar, the Mexican equivalent of ATA. “We don't have as many women drivers as we would like to have. On the highway, you can count the women on your fingers. Why is that? Because we haven’t been able to give the male drivers proper life quality,” Ibarra said. “So we need to work for the drivers, and we are going to do that until my last day in this organization.” Much like the U.S, the IRU is focusing on driver pay, secure parking places, better conditions when crossing borders, automation technology and the image of the professional driver to improve the issue, Dinescu said. The U.S. is also working to lower the driver age and recruit more women to help solve the shortage, but Derek Leathers, chair, president and CEO at Werner Enterprises (No. 13), said those solutions will not solve the problem entirely. “The takeaway is, it's not a country issue; it's not a geography issue; it's not a particular part of the industry issue. Whether we like it or not, it's a job issue,” Leathers said. “It's the type of work itself, and we've got to continue to find ways to make the work more rewarding to give people a clearer line of sight to a career path … We have a long way to go to get that message out and make that message clear.” He said a bizarre silver lining to COVID is that it elevated the image of the professional driver, but it's incumbent on industry leaders to carry that forward and not let it fade away as it sinks farther back in people's memories. The supply chain issueThe pandemic also exposed some very fragile parts of the supply chain, but Leathers said there’s a positive takeaway from that too. “We’ve been able to gain visibility; the question is what do you do with it,” he said. “Now that you have visibility, how do we make sure it serves the creed, if you will, that we are what keeps this world economy moving?” In the U.S., issues included – and remain – obtaining parts and trucks as well as the reputation of trucking’s customers who suffered from it when the end consumer didn’t receive products on time. In Mexico, Ibarra said the issue is administration and the lack of a uniform system at all of the borders. He said it is important to remember that the final cost goes to the customer, and things need to be more efficient in order to keep costs controlled. “We often get so exited about some new, big program that’s going to take two years to implement and massive investment on the part of shippers and truckers when instead … you could just do what you’re doing today but do it more efficiently,” Leathers said. “We can’t forget some of those simple solutions that need to be addressed, and we have to continue to keep pressure on them.” Rob said in the fight to eliminate large inefficiencies, collaboration among nations is important, but we can’t agree on a goal or solution and get attached to archaic rulings that make no sense. “All of our trucks that are crossing the border, the estimation is they lose three days of productivity a month waiting to either live load or live unload because we aren’t allowed to reposition an empty trailer directly; there’s an assumption that we’re taking away a job so INS says you can’t do that,” Penner said. “We don’t hire anybody to do those things; we just deliver a very inefficient supply chain, and when they talk again about carbon reduction, our fuel burned on that inefficient move alone, they say we’re contributing 18 million kilograms of greenhouse gas wasting time.” The environmental picturePenner said the right approach is determining appropriate targets together and then letting the industry figure out how to get there. But Leathers said the cart is getting ahead of the horse. “We know that the U.S. OEMs and fleets are facing increasing pressures and regulations all the time to decarbonize, and while we'll applaud that and the position of the ATA and the position of Werner to do everything we can to lower our environmental footprint, we can't let the rhetoric get out in front of the reality,” Leathers said. That has not been the path the government has taken, Penner said. He said the government has rolled out a carbon tax that takes hundreds of millions of dollars away from the industry while paying back only tens of millions. The biggest problem, he said, is there’s no strategy. Dinescu said the IRU has established the Green Compact to achieve carbon neutrality in commercial road transport services by 2050. It includes multiple elements that can contribute to the goal. While more is being discovered regarding biofuels, natural gas, hydrogen and electric, he said there are some things that can be done in the short term to help like carrying more goods per trailer, aerodynamics, tires and driver training. “There is a potential to use existing technologies in order to make some quick steps toward decarbonization,” he said. Ibarra said Mexico is having to turn to the basics because it does not have the latest technology engines nor the fiscal incentives to invest in green technologies. Mexico’s main goal right now, he said, is to renew its fleets, but there are zero incentives for that either. Fleets in Mexico are 20 years old, he said. In the U.S., Leathers said the average age of a fleet is 5.9 years old. “The single easiest incentive, if you will, to lower your carbon footprint would be to eliminate the excise tax; make it easier for fleets to renovate their fleet, move the MPG of the United States trucking industry from 6.0 to 7.8 or 8.0, and you'll make a larger reduction in carbon footprint than any other initiative underway today,” Leathers said. He said he applauds the efforts toward electrification, but it’s in response to a regulatory framework that is forcing the industry to pick a solution versus chipping away at it in ways that make sense, like applying them in big city environments where smog and contaminants are at their worst as opposed to across the board. “We need to address the underlying problem without trying to be prescriptive in how we solve it,” he said. “If we could agree as to what the goal is and what we’re trying to accomplish and do a lot of that accomplishment through the elimination of waste that already exists today versus being overly prescriptive and overly rapid in our aggressive approach to implementing new technologies prior to the infrastructure being ready to absorb it, I think we can still get to the same destination and keep America moving every day.” The infrastructure outlookNot only is the infrastructure for electric vehicles not widely available, infrastructure in general is suffering. While the U.S. has a highway trust fund, Leathers said Europe, which does not, has better roads and bridges. Dinescu said that’s because of tolling and restrictions on heavy vehicles in cities, among other things. Ibarra said Mexico has a long way to go and needs more money to invest in highways. But the toll system is incredibly inefficient, creating congested roads. In Canada, all of the road tax goes into a general fund. Penner said the industry has been asking for a separate infrastructure fund for as long as he has been in the industry, but there hasn’t been an appetite for it. In the U.S., there’s the fuel tax, which Leathers said is an unbelievably efficient collection vehicle. But with electric vehicles, the country is looking to implement a VMT (vehicle miles traveled tax), which Leathers said will raise the cost of overhead with administration fees by 20% to 30%. “If we’re going to wrap our minds around this environmental footprint and decarbonization and everything else, why take away one of the biggest incentives for more efficient operations and better stewards of fuel than the fuel tax?” Leathers said. “If you’re going to tax me by the mile regardless of my efficiency inside that truck, you’ve taken away a natural incentive that exists today and replaced it with something that doesn’t provide the same.” https://ift.tt/oMK0jsq Forecasting business conditions in a choppy economic environment can be difficult for fleet operations. How will the post-COVID recovery, consumer sentiment and the political climate in Washington affect carriers in 2023? Find out in CCJ's upcoming 2023 Outlook for Trucking webinar. This complimentary hour-long webinar, which will include live Q&A with the panelists, will be held Thursday, Nov. 10, at 2:00 pm CT. Register here. CCJ, in partnership with Bestpass, will present two leading industry economic forecasters to discuss the market forces, business conditions and supply chain issues. Our speakers are: Jason Miller, Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management, Michigan State UniversityJason Miller is serving a two-year term as interim chairman for the Department of Supply Chain Management at Michigan State University's Eli Broad College of Business. His primary research examines issues in the for-hire truck transportation industry including safety, productivity, pricing dynamics, driver turnover, and employment. He also conducts macroeconomic research in the manufacturing and retail sectors, with a special emphasis on the disruptive role of imports, tariffs, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Jason is a senior editor at Journal of Business Logistics; an Associate Editor at Journal of Operations Management, Decision Sciences, and International Journal of Operations and Production Management; and an Editorial Review Board Member at Journal of Supply Chain Management. Kenny Vieth, President and Senior Analyst, ACT ResearchKenny Vieth spent six years in city government and education before joining ACT Research in 1991. He was named president in 2010 and oversees commercial vehicle analysis and forecasting at ACT. In his capacity as the principal heavy vehicle market analyst, Vieth has become an advisor to OEMs, suppliers, Wall Street and the Federal Reserve, for whom he is a frequent contributor to the Beige Book report. In 2008, Vieth cemented a partnership with China’s State Information Center to provide forecasts to Western companies interested in understanding commercial vehicle demand trends in China. https://ift.tt/oMK0jsq Similar to fuel-saving measures on their internal combustion counterparts, when it comes to maximizing range on electric vehicles, experts advise being mindful of rolling resistance. “Improving rolling resistance is essential to get the best range for an electric vehicle, that is, the largest possible distance traveled before recharging,” said Helmut Keller, Continental’s truck tire brand manager for the Americas. Keller explained that a lower rolling resistance is achieved through a blend of tread compound, tread pattern and the construction of the tire, the sidewall in particular. “All of these measures need to be carefully coordinated in order to ensure that these tires retain traction, safe handling properties and tire mileage,” Keller said. [Related: Volvo unveils electromobility cost of ownership tool] Continental offers an EV-specific tire for trucks and buses with low rolling resistance dubbed the Conti Urban HA3. Bridgestone is also manufacturing a tire for electric trucks and buses that delivers low rolling resistance. “The R192E offers ultra-low rolling resistance and high load capacity, increasing daily ranges and maximizing vehicle operation on a single charge,” said Robert Hamby, director of commercial product strategy, Bridgestone Americas. Though Michelin does not manufacture tires specifically branded for EV use, they’re approach to low rolling resistance for EVs is the same. “Lower rolling resistance is the X factor,” Michelin B2B product category manager Mike Tolman said on the company’s website. EV tire wearThe extra weight of an electric vehicle brought on by its powertrain batteries, more powerful instantaneous torque and regenerative braking results in faster tire wear, according to Tolman. On average, tires on EVs wear out roughly 20% faster than internal combustion.Tire casing life also comes into play given additional vehicle weight. “Electric vehicles can also have a unique impact on a tire’s casing, and the R192E is a good example of utilizing retreading to extend the life of an EV tire,” Hamby said. “It features thick tread gauges and an advanced base tread compound to allow for enhanced retreadability.” [Related: No range or payload concerns with Mack's first electric truck] Keller said shoring up tires to take on the extra weight of an EV is key to longer casing life. “The additional weight of EVs can be covered by increasing the load-bearing capacity of the tire casing,” he said. “This is accomplished using components inside the tire especially casing reinforcement components.” Tim Reeser, CEO of Lightning eMotors, which builds electric powertrains for medium and heavy-duty trucks and buses, said while electric passenger cars experience greater tire wear than ICE vehicles, commercial EVs are subject to different use cases. “Commercial vehicles are governed by their Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) and that rating does not change when it is electric or gasoline, so in practice, the extra weight of the batteries is offset by lower payload, so the vehicle is only heavier when it is empty, which is not the general use case for a commercial vehicle,” Reeser said. “Further, most commercial vehicles are not dramatically quicker than their ICE equivalent, so again, this passenger vehicle analogy does not apply.” Monitoring EV tire pressure and driver behaviorTire pressure has long been linked to fuel economy, traction and treadwear. That’s also the case with EVs, though Keller stressed it’s even more important.“Tire inflation pressure is critical for electric vehicles due to two factors: the extra weight carried by the tires and the desire for maximum range before recharging,” he said. “Tire pressure management can help with both aspects.” Since EV tires are already more prone to wearing out faster, maintaining proper air pressure should be a top priority. “Ensuring proper inflation pressure maintains the ideal contact patch of the tire on the road and reduces stress on the components, which improves tire runout and minimizes irregular wear,” Helmut said. “It also delivers 20% longer casing life for retreading versus a tire that is just 10% underinflated.” Hamby said air pressure requirements for an EV can vary. “Depending on the EV or ICE and those specific load requirements, additional air pressure may be required to support the load,” he said. In addition to monitoring tire pressure, Reeser said it’s a good idea to keep an eye on driver behavior in EVs. “Lightning leverages our telematics to provide fleets with data on their driver behavior, and then works with fleets to provide specific driver training,” he said. “In general, if the driver accelerates more slowly, and decelerates more slowly, the fleet will see better efficiency, better range, and longer tire wear.” Quiet is kingElectric trucks are exceptionally quiet which means any rattles, squeaks and tire noises that were once drowned out by a growling engine are now more easily heard by drivers and others nearby. During a media roundtable discussion in August at Kenworth's headquarters in Kirkland, Wash., executives pointed out how they had new NVH (Noise, Vibration, Harshness) challenges with electric trucks. Kenworth currently offers the electric T680E, K370E and K270E. "You don't have the shaking. You don't have the diesel motor," said Andy Zehnder, Kenworth’s director of fleet sales for advanced technologies. "What you have are things you've never heard before like tire noise. It's very different. There are lots of new things to consider in battery electric." With tire noise becoming more of a concern on electric trucks, Keller points to the Conti Urban HA3 which he said delivers "a comfortable ride for driver and passengers through extremely quiet-running tread and durable casing for retreadabiilty and enhanced mileage." MIchelin has also seen growing interest in quieter tires for EVs. "While it's not a primary factor, drivers and passengers of electric commercial vehicles in our field research have expressed interest in a tire with low tire noise," Tomlin said. "Bus passengers immediately notice the difference when traveling on EV buses vs. conventionally powered buses in city routes. One major city bus fleet discovered that this led to higher passenger traffic on quieter EV bus lines. When we run noise evaluation tests for the interior of cabins, our tires perform exceptionally well for low ambient noise levels." https://ift.tt/oMK0jsq Trucking news and briefs for Monday, Oct. 31, 2022: Shipper conditions remained positive in AugustWhile FTR’s Trucking Conditions Index remained slightly negative in August with a reading of -0.25, the firm’s Shippers Conditions Index (SCI) was still positive during the same month, improving to a 5.0 reading up from 4.5 in July. Core freight conditions – demand, capacity, utilization, and freight rates – were mildly favorable for the month, FTR said, but the biggest boost to the shipper environment came from falling diesel prices. The outlook is for market conditions to hover around the neutral territory with some slightly positive and some slightly negative readings through 2023 when readings are expected to become more solidly negative. “Shippers face multiple rounds of uncertainty in the coming months as diesel prices turn back higher and the harvest competes for capacity with other freight, while overall active trucking utilization eases back toward its historical average,” said Todd Tranausky, vice president of rail and intermodal at FTR. Specially-wrapped Kenworth to haul U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree unveiledA Kenworth T680 Next Generation adorned with a newly installed special graphics design will soon transport the 2022 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree from the National Forests in North Carolina to the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building. This year’s carrier, Hardy Brothers Trucking, based in Siloam, North Carolina, is recognized on both doors. The company selected its husband-and-wife driver team of Harold “Ed” Kingdon Jr. and Deborah Z. Kingdon for the honor of transporting the special tree -- a 78-foot Red Spruce scheduled to be harvested Nov. 2 from the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina. The Kingdons will drive a T680 Next Gen equipped with a 76-inch mid-roof sleeper and the Paccar Powertrain to a full slate of community celebrations en route to Washington, D.C. The public community celebrations begin Nov. 5. The official tree lighting ceremony on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol building is scheduled for Nov. 30. Smaller companion trees also will be provided to decorate offices inside of the U.S. Capitol building and other sites throughout Washington, D.C., along with handmade ornaments created by North Carolinians. Below is the 2022 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree Tour public schedule:
https://ift.tt/oMK0jsq Women leaders in trucking discuss recruiting retaining and empowering the next generation of women10/28/2022 Tamara Jalving’s daughter is at the age where she’s trying to determine her career path, but she isn’t very interested in the trucking industry despite her mother’s leadership role at a transportation company. Jalving, vice president of safety at Yellow Corp. (CCJ To 250, No. 6), said she is trying to help her daughter see past the perception that trucking is a male’s environment. Jalving was one of five women leaders in trucking at the American Trucking Associations Management Conference & Exhibition in San Diego this week to discuss ways the industry could help shift that perspective and branch beyond its traditional pool of candidates to not only recruit and retain women but also to empower them to succeed. “I want to encourage the audience and people here to stop using the term male-dominated when it comes to the trucking industry; let’s expire that term because we’re here,” Cari Baylor, president of Indiana-based Baylor Trucking, said during the panel. While women have always been part of the industry, they have faced challenges often reserved specifically for their gender – from labor-intensive roles like driving to the executive level. For Jalving, the biggest challenge has been developing new relationships. “There have been some struggles coming in at a higher level. This industry, more so than the other industries I’ve worked in, … there are longstanding relationships of people who’ve been in this industry 10, 20, 30 years,” Jalving said. “When you’re coming in, people often have expectations that you must have earned your way there. It’s easy to be dismissed. I did earn my stripes; I just did it in other industries. In other industries, there is a stronger female leadership population to share those experiences and build those relationships.” For Tina Peterson, a professional driver and owner of Red Pine Transport, her challenges are related more to gender roles. “Being a woman, we’re not as strong as men physically; sometimes I have to humble myself and ask for help,” Peterson said. “I feel like sometimes, because it isn’t really normal for a woman to be behind the truck, that people are watching what I’m doing; sometimes that gets uncomfortable, but then I think about the little girls that are watching me do it, or maybe I can inspire a woman to see that women do this.” Peterson said she has wanted to be a truck driver since she was 7 years old. She achieved that goal and has been a contractor with FedEx Ground for the last nine years, owning a small fleet of trucks. In a traditionally male workforce, women can find success like Peterson, and it bodes well for transportation companies to bring women on board. Diversity directly impacts bottom line. The industry cannot afford to leave women out of the equation, especially with such a severe shortage of drivers and diesel technicians, but much of that talent pool is being overlooked. “Every company wants to make money and be profitable, and really the only way to do that is to understand your consumer base or the end user,” said Angela Tillery, managing director of learning and development at FedEx Freight (No. 1). “Women have tremendous buying power. We’re not only buying for ourselves; we’re influencing the purchasing patterns of our families and friends. So to have that representation at the table when you’re making strategic decisions, when you’re thinking about how to solve business problems and how to reach your consumer base, it’s to your advantage to have some women in your (organization).” Recruiting and retentionThe panel offered several suggestions on how to recruit and retain women. Studies show that men will apply for a position when they meet 60% of the criteria whereas women will often wait until they meet 100% of the criteria before applying, said panel moderator Shannon Newton, president of the Arkansas Trucking Association. Jalving said companies need to look at their job descriptions, which could be limiting the talent it could attract. “That sounds really simple, but what I’ve found – and what we’re trying to do differently – is many of our job descriptions are written to where you have to have so many years of experience in the trucking industry,” she said. “Maybe move those from minimum requirements to preferred requirements; maybe you don’t have to have that experience, but you do have to have competencies, demonstrated skills … that are transferrable to the trucking industry.” She said companies should also consider creating programs that submerge candidates in operational training. Baylor suggested creating cross-functional teams where women can explore the different career options within the industry without feeling pressured. Baylor brings students from local schools on site to tour its facilities and demonstrate the spectrum of diversity in trucking. “It has taken six years, but this is the first year we’ve had women come for our engine class,” Baylor said. “Whether it’s a professional driving career or being in administrating, sales or accounting, showing the spectrum of careers … and doing it young … is important.” Jalving said women need to be able to envision themselves in these roles. To help with that, in addition to marketing and advocating for women, Yellow hires women instructors and safety trainers so onboarding women are more comfortable, she said. Ultimate empowermentWhite recruiting women to the industry is a goal for many transportation companies, the panel stressed the importance of empowering women in order to retain them. What does that look like? Access and execution, Tillery said. “Access: you have to have people who are invested in you, who see your potential, who see your talent and strengths to open up different opportunities for you, but that’s nothing if you don’t take the initiative and execute against it,” she said. Newton said in order to truly level the playing field, the industry needs more male advocates to help provide that access. And to be an advocate, men need to realize the unconscious bias that still exists, Jalving said. “I used to say that business decisions are made on the golf course; today, they’re made at the table but a table we’re often not at … and we get excluded from those conversations – and not always intentional; it’s unconscious,” she said. But change in that regard is hopeful, Tillery said, as the next generation has a different mindset and approach. “I will ask the generations behind us to lean into the generations before them like me and the Baby Boomers because there was so much trailblazing and pioneering that happened, and these women have toiled some soil for you, so listen to some of the things these women have to offer.” https://ift.tt/4tseMEr Ruan Transportation (CCJ Top 250, No. 32) has acquired Grand Rapids, Michigan-based dedicated carrier National Truck Brokers (NTB). Servicing grocery customers in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio, Kentucky and Wisconsin with a fleet of more than 235 trucks, NTB will continue to operate independent of the Ruan family of companies and will maintain its name and brand, leadership structure and facility locations. Prior ownership, the Koster family, will transition from the business. “My father built this great organization from the ground up, and it is our desire to chart a long and prosperous road ahead for the company,” said Rick Koster, one of Dan Koster’s three sons and chairman of the board for NTB. “Sometimes charting the best path to accelerating progress and sustainability requires taking strategic leaps like joining forces with the right parent company. This agreement with Ruan provides a great opportunity for NTB to continue to grow and provide stability for our team members and customers.” Ruan is one of the largest family-owned transportation and logistics companies in the U.S. with extensive experience serving a variety of industries. “Growth through acquisition has been relatively uncommon at Ruan, but we have done so selectively when there’s a true, strategic fit and the opportunity to sustain and strengthen relationships with important customers. We’ve found these positive elements at NTB,” said Ruan’s Chief Executive Officer Ben McLean, a member of the third generation of Ruan family leadership. “Both companies were founded by their first truck drivers, Dan Koster and John Ruan, so the two organizations have shared a foundational focus on safety throughout their histories." Over the next several months, NTB’s entire fleet of trucks will be replaced by late-model Freightliner units as an enhancement for NTB’s driving team members. This year has been a banner year for mergers and acquisitions among the country's largest fleets. There have been 24 deals among CCJ's Top 250 for-hire carriers since the beginning of June, and 30 Top 250 fleets have struck 32 deals this year. https://ift.tt/4tseMEr Fueled by billions of dollars in federal funding, hydrogen coalition groups across the U.S. are gaining steam as they aim to help facilitate production of the fuel that’s been mostly confined to California, where fuel cell trucks and cars offer a zero-emission alternative to all-electric. According to the Department of Energy, all 54 hydrogen stations in the U.S. are located in California, where fuel cell trucks have been busy in pilot programs the past few years at the nation’s busiest ports. Those trucks and future hydrogen combustion models now stand a better chance of finding work in other regions around the U.S. thanks to heavy federal funding that’s spurring interest in hydrogen production. [Related: Producing hydrogen on site provides increased flexibility] New York, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey comprise a multi-state effort that kicked off in late summer to focus on creating a clean hydrogen hub through the Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs program under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The coalition of six states and now more than 60 clean hydrogen ecosystem partners (Hyzon Motors is currently the only fuel cell truck manufacturer listed) are competing for up to $7 billion in funding from the Department of Energy to help pave the way for producing hydrogen from clean energy sources like hydropower, solar and wind. The Midwestern Hydrogen Coalition, which includes Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin, announced that it’s seeking “the potential development of one or more hydrogen hub applications” and upholds the region as having “the largest hydrogen infrastructure network in the nation in the form of ammonia production, pipelines, and ‘nurse’ tanks, given that ammonia is an ideal hydrogen carrier.” With hydrogen interest quickly building beyond the West Coast, the California Fuel Cell Partnership announced that it had expanded its reach and changed its name to Hydrogen Fuel Cell Partnership nearly 23 years after the government-industry collaboration was first launched. “The change in name further enables our members to work across the country to share information, best practices and lessons learned by all of our members,” said Joseph Cappello, chair of the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Partnership and CEO of Iwatani Corporation of America. Potential impact on truckingKenworth, which stands out as one of the nation’s biggest players in fuel cell Class 8, sees these expanding coalitions generating more market interest in fuel cell adoption. Kenworth fuel cell trucks have long been at work in California where air quality concerns rank high for local and state officials.A Kenworth T660 equipped with Toyota fuel cell technology first went to work at Southern California ports in 2017 under Toyota’s Project Portal. The Port of Los Angeles is now piloting ten T680 FCEVs (fuel cell electric vehicles) as part of the $82.5 million “Shore-to-Store” project funded by the California Air Resources Board and project partners. “It is great organizations are forming to accelerate the adoption of hydrogen fuel cell technology and production,” said Kenworth Chief Engineer Joe Adams. “It has long been a chicken or the egg situation with hydrogen fuel cell vehicles versus fueling stations/production. The more advocacy groups can bring both sides together and coordinate government incentives for the development and adoption of both, the faster each side can release commercially viable products in the marketplace.” Chevron also welcomes coalition efforts. No stranger to hydrogen partnerships, last week Chevron announced that it had teamed up with hydrogen players Air Liquide, LyondellBasell and Uniper to explore the possible development of a hydrogen and ammonia production facility along the Gulf Coast. Neighboring Interstate 10 provides plenty of truck traffic that could eventually benefit from the facility. “We believe that as demand for hydrogen increases, both in light-duty and heavy-duty transportation uses but for broader harder-to-decarbonize industries as well, the pace of expansion will continue to accelerate, and will be focused on regions that have a supportive policy framework,” said Chevron spokesperson Creighton Welch. Morten Holum, CEO, of Hexagon Purus, a provider of hydrogen fuel and distributions systems, pointed out that in addition to the $7 billion set aside to create hydrogen hubs, the nascent zero-emission industry is also getting a big boost from the largest U.S. climate and tax bill to date – the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed into law in August. “It aims to reduce carbon emissions by roughly 40% by 2030, and reach net zero carbon emissions in the U.S. by 2050,” Holum explained. “It unlocks $370 billion of funding for clean energy and domestic energy production and includes a hydrogen production tax credit of up to $3.0/kg.” Marco Wang, research analyst at Interact Analysis, pointed out that hydrogen coalitions have also been at work outside the U.S. helping to promote fuel cell adoption. “Establishing interregional hydrogen partnerships and coalitions is the current trend to develop the hydrogen industry,” Wang said. “Hydrogen supply systems and infrastructure, especially low carbon hydrogen, have high upfront costs and long ROI cycles. The supply and demand of hydrogen in different regions is likely to be unbalanced. “Thus, government funding and interregional cooperation are necessary to effectively promote the incubation of the green hydrogen supply chain,” Wang continued. “Europe and China are doing something similar, and industrial alliances are an important means to expand the infrastructure and promote the end-use of hydrogen.” https://ift.tt/4tseMEr |
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