Class 8 Heavy Duty Truck Orders Up 42%

Class 5-8 Truck Orders Up

Orders for Class 5-8 trucks rose to a 16-month high in March, according to data from ACT Research. Preliminary net orders rose to 47,300 units, ACT reported, which represents a 19% improvement year-over-year. “Against easy comps, March Class 8 orders were up 42% compared to March 2016,” said Kenny Vieth, ACT’s president and senior analyst. “On a seasonally adjusted basis, orders were booked at a 267,000 unit SAAR in the…

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Mack Wrightspeed New Electric Garbage Truck

Wrightspeed Mack Partner on New Electric Garbage Truck

Humans generate a lot of trash. Refuse trucks circulate through our cities and neighborhoods collecting that trash, typically starting and stopping every few yards. For trucks that can weigh up to 33 tons, all of the slowing down and speeding up uses a lot of fuel and generates a lot of emissions. At this week’s WasteExpo in Las Vegas, Mack Trucks and Wrightspeed are teaming up to demonstrate a plug-in…

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PG&E Plug-In Electric Class 6 Hybrid Truck

PG&E Unveils New Class 6 Hybrid Electric Truck

Pacific Gas and Electric Company and Efficient Drivetrains Incorporated (EDI) unveiled the utility industry’s first plug-in electric hybrid (PHEV) Class 6 truck featuring technology that has the potential to fundamentally change how the utility manages planned and unplanned outages. The vehicle, developed by EDI in partnership with PG&E, features a plug-in electric hybrid (PHEV) drivetrain that combines up to 50 miles of all-electric driving with 300 more miles of driving…

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BYD Supplies 20 Electric Buses to UC Irvine

BYD to Supply Electric Trucks and Buses to United States

BYD California’s truck and bus facility isn’t much to look at – an elderly concrete tilt-up in a mostly still unbuilt industrial center in Lancaster, a high-desert community about 70 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. But things are changing for the electric vehicle maker, a unit of China’s giant BYD Co. BYD has started a factory expansion on a 200,000-square-foot lot in front of the former recreational vehicle assembly…

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Navistar’s New Cruise Control Doubles MPG

Navistar Catalist Advanced Cruise Control System

Navistar on Wednesday announced its SuperTruck demonstration vehicle, CatalIST, achieved a freight efficiency improvement of 104 percent – more than double the 50 percent goal set by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for its SuperTruck program Against a 2009 base line model truck, CatalIST achieved fuel economy of 13 miles per gallon and demonstrated 50.3 percent Brake Thermal Efficiency (BTE) and a path towards 55 percent BTE, Navistar adds. Mark Stasell,…

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DOT Regulations for Autonomous Trucks

Autonomous Trucks

The U.S. Department of Transportation on September 20th, 2016 issued some regulatory framework guidleines for vehicle manufacturers, state regulators and other stakeholders regarding the development and deployment of autonomous trucks. The proposed policy initiative comes as both traditional automotive makers and tech giants march increasingly closer to readying such technology for public use. The 114-page document, which the DOT is accepting public comment on for 60 days, intends to set safety…

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Mitchell On Demand’s New ShopConnect Blog

Mitchell Commercial Vehicle VIN Report

Mitchell 1 is using its database of repair information for medium- and heavy-duty trucks, as well as the collective knowledge of its commercial vehicle editorial staff in its new ShopConnection blog, with the idea of offering tips to help truck technicians work more efficiently. In the blog, many of Mitchell 1’s ASE-certified trucking service experts address repair issues that truck technicians may face in the shop. Recent blog topics covered…

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ATA Releases 2016 American Trucking Trends

Class 8 Commercial Truck ATA American Trucking Trends

The American Trucking Associations (ATA) this week released the latest edition of the leading almanac of trucking – ATA American Trucking Trends 2016 – showing the industry posted gains in employment, number of truck drivers and truck sales through 2015. “In many ways, 2015 was a good year for our industry, and Trends clearly demonstrates that,” said ATA President and CEO Chris Spear. “Trends provides indispensable information to trucking companies,…

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