The United Auto Workers (UAW) union announced late Friday it had struck a favorable new contract deal for 7,300 Daimler Truck North America workers. The union had threatened a strike starting at midnight when their last contract expired.
Read MoreRVs Experiencing Record Sales Numbers
The RV market has seen record sales in the time of coronavirus. According to a new report from the RV Industry Association, wholesale shipments of RVs reached their highest monthly total in June since October 2018, leading to record sales numbers. In June, more than 40,462 RVs were shipped out, the industry association reported — a 10 percent increase from the same time last year. For context, in April the RV…
Read MoreAurora to Test Autonomous Trucks in TX
Aurora, the autonomous trucks technology startup backed by Amazon, is expanding into Texas as it aims to accelerate the development of self-driving trucks. The company said it plans to test commercial routes in the Dallas-Fort Worth Area with a mix of Fiat Chrysler Pacifica minivans and Class 8 trucks. A small fleet of Pacificas will arrive first. The trucks will be on the road in Texas by the end of…
Read More15 States to Electrify Trucks, Vans & Buses
Fifteen states and Washington, DC have announced that they will follow California’s lead by doing away with diesel in favor of switching to electrify all heavy-duty trucks, vans, and buses, in what could be one of the most significant efforts to reduce harmful diesel engine pollution in the United States. It could also be a big development in the fight for environmental justice because emissions from diesel-powered commercial vehicles disproportionately harm…
Read MoreNJ Cracks Down on Selling Dirty Trucks
Multiple car dealerships in New Jersey turned profits in recent years by selling dirty trucks that lacked pollution controls, placing public health at risk. Now the state wants to make them pay. New Jersey officials announced on Wednesday that the state is taking car dealerships who sold polluting vehicles — particularly diesel trucks — to court. The action comes after a two-year investigation by the state Department of Environmental Protection.…
Read MoreEmergency Declaration for Relief Supplies
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on March 18 issued an expanded national emergency declaration to provide hours-of-service regulatory relief to commercial vehicle drivers transporting emergency relief in response to the nationwide coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, including adding fuel and raw materials needed to manufacture essential supplies to the list of freight covered under the order. While the order added some clarification to the first such declaration issued less than a week earlier,…
Read MoreTechnician Shortage Increasing Labor Rates
The Heavy Duty Truck maintenance and repair industries are experiencing a skilled labor shortage as those working the technician positions in the Baby Boomer demographic retire in greater numbers than those replacing them, causing the unintended consequence of higher shop labor rates. “The key differences impacting maintenance costs today are skilled labor shortages combined with advancements in vehicle technology. Employees with advanced technical skills are becoming more difficult to find…
Read MoreManufacturers Betting on Hydrogen vs Electricity
Hyundai Motor Co. has an ambitious plan to wean the global trucking industry from fossil fuels by creating green commercial trucks with the same power and range as their diesel counterparts, choosing hydrogen over electricity. The South Korean automaker unveiled the cornerstone of its strategy in Atlanta last month by showing the concept of its planned HDC-6 Neptune hydrogen fuel cell truck. Styled like a 1930s Art Deco steam locomotive,…
Read MoreGM Sued for Selling Duramax Motors that Can’t Run Diesel # 2
General Motors Co. has been hit with a class-action lawsuit alleging it equipped 2011-2016 GMC and Chevrolet diesel trucks with 6.6-liter Duramax engines that are not compatible with American diesel fuel, also known as Diesel # 2. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in Detroit, alleges GM sold “hundreds of thousands” of diesels with high-pressure fuel injection pumps designed by German auto supplier Bosch that pumped metal shavings into the fuel…
Read MoreFMCSA Denies ELD Exemption for Small Carriers
A group representing trucking and other companies with 50 employees or less has been denied an ELD exemption from the FMCSA and their federal electronic logging device (ELD) mandate. The exemption, filed by the Small Business in Transportation Coalition (SBTC), received nearly 2,000 comments after it was posted in June 2018, with the vast majority – roughly 95 percent – in favor of the exemption. However, the Federal Motor Carrier…
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