A pair of entrepreneurs have signed an agreement to market an innovative truck trailer with movable side panels in North America.

Bob Hakken and Duke De Leeuw of Holland, MI, signed a deal with Wingliner International to distribute Wingliner System kits in the Canada, Mexico and the U.S., according to web site Rapid Growth. The venture, dubbed Wingliner North America, will produce and sell the Wingliner kits in the hopes of revolutionizing the market.

“We just really believe in this product and see a bright future,” says Hakken. “This could really snowball into something really big because it’s cost effective. We’re very excited.”

The side walls of a Wingliner, which is popular in Austria, can be moved into nearly any position, including flat in less than 10 seconds by using hydraulics. The sidewall lifts up, folding in half as it goes up to eventually sit flat on the roof of the trailer, exposing the entire trailer.

The kits retrofit onto a chassis of any type of commercial vehicle, the guys said – truck, trailer, semi-truck, swap trailer, container or dump. The advantages of the trailers, they claim, is that goods can be accessed easily resulting in a reduction of time and operating costs associated with the loading and unloading process.

“In the trucking industry, pent-up demand is growing,” Hakken says. “So many fleet owners have been sitting on the sidelines due the economy. But as that turns, they’ll be faced with replacing equipment on the road. They’ll be looking for ways to become more efficient.”

Currently, Wagner Wood Products, owned by Hakken and De Leeux, uses one of the trailers; although there are a handful of others in operation the U.S. According to the Rapid Growth story, the pair learned of the Wingliner when they were looking for a more efficient trailer for hauling plywood.

If the product catches on here in the U.S., Hakken and De Leeux could become very rich men.

For all of us who believe that companies want to do right by the environment first and foremost, a lesson was delivered on Friday that being green is still about making money.

Smith Electric Vehicles and its parent company Tanfield Group pulled out of its agreement to supply Ford Motor Co. with battery electric technology to convert the Ford Transit Connect into an all-electric model in the second half of 2010.

The reason: Tanfield doesn’t want the competition. It admitted as much in a press release announcing the move.

In the release, Tanfield stated “it was concerned that the market for electric car-derived vans would become increasingly competitive.” See Tanfield, through Smith Electric Vehicles, recently debuted the electric Smith Newton and according to the release, the company “believes that investing in the existing Smith platforms represents a better use of its financial resources, allowing it to take full advantage of a potentially very sizeable market and to gain market traction more quickly.”

In other words, Smith didn’t want to be supplying a competitor with the technology it was basing its own vehicle on. I don’t necessarily blame them, but sometimes the greater good should prevail.

For Ford’s part, it quickly partnered with Azure Dynamics and delivery of the electric Transit Connect should not be delayed. It was, and still is, slated for a debut in the second half of 2010. That’s the good news.

Let’s not cast a cloud over all companies because there are plenty of businesses willing to share their technological developments with any and all competitors because they believe it is the right thing to do. And it’s certainly not wrong for any company to want to keep its proprietary technology in-house.

In the end, the U.S. and Canadian truck market should still see an electric Transit Connect sometime next year, and perhaps with Smith going it alone, there will be viable competition in the electric van market. Let’s hope.

I haven’t had a chance to thank the fine people at Fontaine Fifth Wheel for a visit I and other journalists made to their new facility in Trussville, AL, last week. The trip was wonderful and the management of Fontaine could not have been nicer.

The trip served as a bit of an eye opener for me when it comes to fifth wheels. Like so many other people within the industry, I sometimes forget the importance of fifth wheels. It’s almost like fifth wheels are the Rodney Dangerfield of trucking. Everyone knows they are there, so as long as the trailer stays attached to the tractor, no one cares.

But to the employees of Fontaine, that is the furthest from the truth.

“Here’s this 80,000 lb. rig rolling down the road, a 20,000 lb. truck, a 60,000 lb. load potential and it has a 2 inch pin and something’s got to grab that and hold it under all conditions - stopping, slamming, whatever - so we take safety and performance really, really seriously,” one executive said.

To ensure that all their fifth wheel products withstand whatever road conditions are thrown at them, Fontaine created what they said is the largest research and development facility for fifth wheels in the world in the Trussville building.

“Aside from safety, the second most important thing in our entire operation is research and development,” said President Henry Bell, “and I wanted to dedicate a huge space to those guys for whatever they wanted to create. And we’ve had to cut back significantly, just like every business has, but one area that we didn’t decrease a penny was R&D, and we’re real proud of that; that’s our future.”

Fontaine has a number of different testing scenarios, including some that are unique to their operation, just so that drivers of both cars and trucks can be safe on the roads.

So next time you purchase a truck, remember that the fifth wheel is not just a throw-in, but a vital piece of safety equipment. Fontaine certainly believes that.

As trucking fleets continue looking for ways to cut costs while becoming greener, Recaptured Energy Technologies (RET) says it has a solution. A hydraulic braking and propulsion system that can be retrofitted onto your current vehicles.

The advantages of such a system, which use wasted brake energy and converts it into power used to propel the vehicle, is a reduction of fuel while also cutting emissions, the company says. According to RET, the hydraulic option is advantageous over hybrid electric alternatives because of its energy efficiency, enhanced acceleration characteristics and its retrofitting capability.

“The unique benefit of our system is that it can be retrofit to existing vehicles, so there is no need to purchase new alternative-energy vehicles that may not provide anticipated fuel economy,” says Sam Jones, president of Recaptured Energy Technologies. “Because the system is specifically designed to be retrofit, existing vehicles will see lower emissions, less engine management and reduced fuel consumption.”

Jones also touts the economic benefits of retrofit technologies.

“Retrofitting existing vehicles makes economic and environmental sense and would create jobs immediately as the evaluation and conversion process could begin right away,” Jones says. “Purchasing new hybrid vehicles is a costly endeavor and does not bring jobs to the area.”

Of course, RET would prefer you choose the retrofit option as that’s what it’s banking its livelihood on. Ask a provider of new vehicles which option is best and they will tout a new hybrid, citing its advantages. Either way, though, the environment wins. And with grants and tax credits available, the final choice may have a lot less to do with short-term economics and a lot more to do with what makes the best long-term business sense.

T. Boone Pickens is at it again. The entrepreneur, who is a proponent of wind power and alternative fuels, has thrown his support behind the New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions (NAT GAS) Act, introduced into the U.S. Senate by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ).

The bill is designed to promote natural gas through the extension of tax credits for vehicle purchases, including trucks, and infrastructure improvements by 10 years. The bill provides credits for 80% of the price difference between a natural-gas only vehicle and a non-natural gas equivalent and 50% credit for a vehicle that can run on natural gas or gasoline.

According to Bloomberg News, the credits could amount to as much as $12,500 for passenger cars and light trucks, and $64,000 for trucks.

Pickens told Bloomberg Television he thinks the bill will pass right after Congress’ August recess.

“We saw last summer how the wild fluctuations in oil prices helped to wreck our economy,” said Menendez. “By making it easier and cheaper to own a vehicle that runs on natural gas, we can help families save money on energy, create new manufacturing jobs and clean our air.”

While natural gas is not the end-all solution for trucking, one obstacle that exists – for the industry as well as for the automotive industry – is the price. There is little infrastructure in place in the U.S. to support natural gas vehicles and as a result, sales are low and that means higher purchase prices.

Most major truck OEMs now offer natural gas tractors, and natural gas fueling stations have begun to open near the California ports, where the fuel is most commonly used. That’s a positive.

Another positive, according to reports, is that the legislation would provide tax credits up to 100% of the cost, or $100,000, to build refueling stations. Now that’s an incentive. And the more refueling stations available, the more companies that will take advantage of natural gas and drive the purchase price down.

That’s good for everyone.

In an effort to catch overweight trucks skipping past weigh stations, Wisconsin will be adding “virtual scales” on I-43.

“We wouldn’t be issuing tickets just based on that information,” Sgt. Gary Bauer of the State Patrol told the Janesville Gazette. “A weigh-in-motion scale isn’t as accurate. But we could stop trucks and weigh them on portable scales or the scales at La Prairie Township.”

It will be the third “weigh-in-motion” scale the state has employed. According to the state, the scale is designed to catch overweight trucks that otherwise might jump off the highway to avoid scales.

According to the state, when a truck drives over the scale, it will weigh it, record the id number and send that information to a computer database which police can use to determine whether to pull over the truck at a weigh station for a more accurate reading.

My question is why? Why spend this money on this technology? If the state is going to pull over trucks that are overweight, that means staffing the weigh stations regularly. If Wisconsin is going to do that, why not just have all trucks pull into the station? If the argument is to identify and find trucks taking alternative routes, that will require resources as well. Do the ends justify the means?

Besides, if a truck drives over the virtual scale and is not found not to be in violation of weight limits, will that truck be allowed to skip the weigh station? Just wondering.

Mack Trucks announced last week plans to provide Bendix’s upgraded adaptive cruise control to its Roll Stability Advantage safety system at the Mid-America Trucking Show.

Fleet Owner Senior Editor Sean Kilcarr has a video on the product here.

I’m all for safety, and this product sounds like potentially a life-saver. Basically, it’s designed to detect if the truck is following too closely to the vehicle in front of it and will throttle down the engine, apply the engine brake or if needed, the truck’s foundation or service brakes.

I’m a firm believer in technology and if technology can make driving safer, we need to take advantage of that. My concern, though, is training. Many people believe truck drivers are not adequately trained now. With the addition of more technology, even technology designed for safety reasons, into the cab, the potential for training to slack off further is there.

The accounting department and CEOs may justify cuts to training budgets by purchasing new technology, but that’s the wrong approach. Despite the advances in technology, training needs to keep pace. For every new item installed, new training needs to be implemented. Fleets can’t lose sight of that fact.

The truth is, like everything else, the technology is only as good as the people using it. We can’t rely on technology to protect us from ourselves. Instead, we need the technology to supplement what we already know and act as a second line of defense.

The more fleets remember that, the safer we will be.