Trucks at Work Blog

“It is the financial issues that most often resonate with consumers, whether it is the higher price of the vehicle itself, the cost to fuel or charge the vehicle, or the fear of higher maintenance costs. The bottom line is that most consumers want to be green, but not if there is a significant personal cost to them.” –Mike VanNieuwkuyk, executive director of global vehicle research, J.D. Power and Associates

Here’s a shocker: when push comes to shove, cost outweighs environmental worries in the minds of most consumers when it comes time to buy a vehicle. That means most consumers will pick a vehicle with a gasoline-powered internal combustion engine over a hybrid electric, all-electric, or even diesel-powered model solely because the sticker price for the gasoline-powered option is the lowest.

The end result of these cost-concerns, according to the 2011 U.S. Green Automotive Study from J.D. Power and Associates, is that the share of hybrid and all-electric vehicles is expected to remain below 10% of the U.S. market through 2016.

The study – based on a poll of 4,000 consumers that were in the market for a new vehicle this past February – nicely sums up the conundrum facing vehicle manufacturers when it comes to selling more so-called “green” vehicles: While consumers often cite saving money on fuel as the primary benefit of owning an alternative powertrain vehicle, the reality for many is that the initial cost of these vehicles is too high – even as fuel prices in the U.S. approach record levels. more

“Our stakeholders have keen interest in the Smart Grid because it’s the infrastructure needed to recharge hybrid and electric vehicles [so] accelerating more meaningful standards will drive greater improvements in market access, cost reductions and technological innovation.” –Jack Pokrzywa, director of global ground vehicle standards, SAE International

One of the big hurdles that needs to be surmounted in the global effort to make electric vehicles (EVs) practical technology for cars and trucks alike deal with how to recharge them – in effect, how to ensure the electrical power supply network or “grid” is “smart” enough to deal with the extra demand that’ll be imposed by wider use of EVs.

That’s one reason why the standards association within the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE-SA) and the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) are forging a strategic in order to create what they call “a more efficient and collaborative standards-development environment” for the so-called “Smart Grid” of the future.

[Here’s a good overview of what the “Smart Grid” is all about.]

Both SAE International and IEEE-SA have already worked together to help generate standards for plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) plus vehicle-to-grid (V2G) communications. In fact, some 24 SAE International ground vehicle electrification committees with over 780 members have developed 46 standards and are currently working on over 30 new standards in process. more

Truckers know well the value of retreading their tires – and you can visit the Retread Tire Association to get more facts about the inherent savings offered by retreading than I can print here.

But what happens when tires reach the end of their usable life? Unofficially, in my conversations with fleets and various tire experts, the average truck tire can be at most retreaded twice – three times if you take really great care of them. So then what?

In the past, most tires ended up in landfills – to the tune of some 242 million per year, which includes truck, car, and equipment models. But now there’s a growing list of alternatives to the dump – some of which have been around for a while and some that are brand new. more

“What gets measured gets improved.” –Robin S. Sharma, author of The Greatness Guide: Powerful Secrets for Getting to World Class

It’s a well-known axiom in trucking that everything needs to get tested, for that’s how one confirms whether or not the item in question – be it an engine, tire, suspension, entire trailer, whatever – delivers on its promise.

Maybe you’re expecting better fuel economy, or better vehicle handling for your drivers. Maybe you want more load-carrying capacity out of your trailers, or improve ease of maintenance for your technicians. The only way to do any of that, of course, is to test out the new products you’re considering, to see if they meet those expectations.

TL carrier Schneider National figured this out a while ago – back in 1989, actually – and has spent the last 22 years honing its in-house testing program to help it gain every ounce of advance possible from its equipment. more

Eilen & Sons Trucking is one of those family-owned firms I wish I knew a lot better, simply because of the iron they put out on the road every day.

Tom Eilen founded the company that bears his family’s name over 25 years ago and his fleet of 50-plus trucks still operates out of Hampton, MN, pulling end dumps, van trailers, flat beds, and tankers.

But the thing is, this isn’t your every day collection of rolling stock – oh no. Because the Eilen family has a reputation for crafting some of the most eye-popping rigs you’ll ever see operating out on the roadways – that goes for the sons as well as the father, I might add.

As luck would have it, I got to briefly meet Jonathan Eilen (at right) – one of Tom’s sons – a few weeks back at the 2011 Mid American Trucking Show, right after his 2010 Peterbilt 389, dubbed “Iron Affliction,” and 2008 custom Mac trailer took top honors during the National Association of Show Trucks (NATS) annual competition. more

“There are a lot of really smart and innovative fuel-efficient ideas to be seen on and off the track.” –Anthony Bernier, a member of Quebec’s Université Laval team competing at the 5th annual Shell Eco-marathon Americas event

Anyone in the trucking business understands the vital importance of fuel economy. And what better way to search for improvements in vehicular fuel economy than turning teams of high school and university students loose on the problem?

That’s the thinking behind Shell’s Eco-marathon Americas, a competition wherein students design, build and test fuel-efficient vehicles with the aim of traveling the farthest distance using the least amount of energy – without breaking down of course.

High school and university students from Canada and the U.S. battled it out during the 5th annual two-day Eco-marathon Americas this year in Houston, TX, and – surprising – for the third year in a row and beating last year’s mileage by 77 mpg, the team from Université Laval in Quebec, Canada took home the internal combustion First Prize with an astonishing best run of 2,564.8 miles per gallon (mpg) in the Prototype class. In the UrbanConcept class, the team from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, LA, took First Prize by achieving a best run of 646.7 mpg.

In all, 62 teams participated in Shell’s 5th Eco-marathon Americas, entering 56 vehicles in the “Prototype” class and 12 vehicles in the “UrbanConcept” class – with some teams bringing multiple vehicles to the event to enter in different categories. more

“Our industry has taken many punches. In addition to the economic downturn, we’ve had to weather a series of regulatory changes that magnified the ups and downs of our already cyclical business.” –Kyle Treadway, president of Kenworth Sales Co., Salt Lake City, UT, and chairman of the American Truck Dealers (ATD) association

“Normal” is a term very much in flux these days within trucking circles. Many experts I’ve talked to say that after the cataclysmic downturn of the past few years, trucking won’t necessarily return to “normal” but rather to a “new normal” where the time span between this industry’s historic ups and downs gets shorter, more intense, and makes survival for fleets that much more challenging.

Still, despite all that, confidence in the short term is blooming – and no sector of the industry exemplifies that more than truck dealerships right now.

Kyle Treadway, (at right) president of Kenworth Sales Co., Salt Lake City, UT, and chairman of the American Truck Dealers (ATD) association, pointed to some of the factors bolstering the confidence among dealers during the group’s 48th annual convention in Phoenix, AZ, this past week. more

“The best crash is the crash you avoid.” –Bret Dick, GMC performance engineer

Light trucks are getting safer and safer to drive these days for a whole host of reasons. Yet perhaps the single biggest boost to their safety profile comes from technology that’s now rapidly becoming a standard system on trucks up and down the model spectrum, from SUVs to 18-wheelers.

We’re talking about stability control technology, which is called by a host of different names by the various manufactures out there – “StabiliTrak” by General Motors for its light trucks on up to “Electronic Stability Program” or “ESP” by Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems for heavy-duty Class 8 tractors.

[Below, you can watch a video about how StabiliTrak works.]

Recently, Brent Dick, a performance engineer for GM’s GMC division, provided a nice overview of how stability control systems enhance light truck safety and performance – wryly referring to such technology as like having a “control freak” riding in the vehicle with the driver. more

It’s not every day you get to see police vehicles and fire trucks in action – and usually, when they are in action, it means bad things are happening so the average person would rather be as far away as possible.

Luckily, during the 2011 NAFA Institute & Exposition held April 9-12 in Charlotte, NC, fleet managers got to check out both types of vehicles without a whiff of danger being in the air.

First up, some of the latest models of cop cars get put through their paces, including Ford Motor Co.’s brand new police interceptor sedan, which only looks like a Taurus on the outside. The vehicle comes equipped with all wheel drive (AWD), which helps it hug the road during high speed turns, as you’ll see below.

NAFA held its public safety vehicle rodeo at the Michael Waltrip Race World facility in Cornelius, NC, about 20 minutes outside of Charlotte – giving attendees a glimpse of what a NASCAR racing shop looks like. (We’ll take our own look inside Waltrip’s shop in a future post.) more

“The carpet underfoot in homes sometimes ends up in strange places, and now [it’s] landed in another unique spot – the cylinder head covers on some Ford engines.” –Brett Hinds, manager, engine design for Ford Motor Co.

Here’s a rather unique (and somewhat bizarre) recycling story – taking old carpet and turning it into engine cylinder head covers.

And not covers for some underpowered one-liter lawn mower engine, either – we’re talking about cylinder head covers for the 3.0-liter Duratec engine powering Ford Motor Co.’s Fusion sedan and Escape sport utility vehicle (SUV), along with the big 5.0-liter monster found under the hood of Ford’s new Mustang and F-150 pickup truck.

The stuff in question is called “EcoLon,” a nylon resin made from 100% recycled carpet by Wellman Engineering Resins used as the raw material to craft cylinder head covers for Ford by Dana Holding Corp.

By using EcoLon within these engine models last year, Ford saved over 4.1 million pounds of carpet from landfills – the equivalent of nearly 154 football fields –saving more than 430,000 gallons of oil in the process as well. more