Freightliner Offers New Cab Configurations for Cascadia

Photo: Freightliner

The Freightliner Cascadia is now available in mid-roof cab configurations for regional overnight haulers and segments such as bulk haul and flatbeds, the company announced at the North American Commercial Vehicle Show in Atlanta.

The configurations include 48-, 60- and 72-inch mid-roof XT sleeper cabs in both 116- and 126-inch BBC platforms. All three configurations offer two levels of aerodynamic packages, the Aero or AeroX, Freightliner's most fuel-efficient specification.

The new configurations are available to order now, for delivery in Jan. 2018.

“The addition of the mid-roof configuration allows more customers in different applications to experience the benefits of the new Cascadia,” said Mike McHorse, manager, on-highway product marketing, Freightliner Trucks. “Since the new Cascadia debuted in September 2016, it has earned praise as the most productive, efficient and driver-friendly truck Freightliner has ever offered to the industry.”

Features of the new Cascadia include:

To customize the Cascadia ...Read the rest of this story

BorgWarner Talks Hybrids, Electric Trucks at NACV Show

BorgWarner offers the growing hybrid and electric commercial vehicle market a broad product portfolio to help meet emissions regulations and fuel economy goals. Image: BorgWarner

ATLANTA — BorgWarner expects the hybrid and electric commercial vehicle market to see a 32.9% compound annual growth rate, increasing from 49,000 units in 2017 to 115,000 units in 2020. The company based its forecast on the Global Commercial Vehicle Engine, Aftertreatment and Transmission Forecast Annual report by Knibb, Gormezano and Partners (KGP).

BorgWarner says it is already offering the commercial market a broad product portfolio in this segment to help fleets meet emissions regulations and fuel economy goals. It is showcasing its range of combustion, hybrid and electric technologies this week at the North American Commercial Vehicle Show, in Atlanta.

“The growth drivers in commercial vehicle propulsion systems are changing. While environmental impact and fuel economy continue to be key concerns, truck and transit fleets are now confronted with new challenges from a growing list of urban areas where combustion engines are restricted due to zero-emissions zones and noise-sensitive areas,” said Christopher P. Thomas, chief technology officer, BorgWarner. “BorgWarner's latest technologies will help bring new, cleaner hybrid and electric options to larger fleet vehicles.”

Featuring High Voltage Hairpin (HVH) stator winding technology, BorgWarner's HVH410 and HVH250 electric motors provide a power output of up to 402 horsepower and peak efficiencies of over 95%. HVH410 electric motors deliver a maximum torque of 1,475 lb.-ft. for class 7 and 8 hybrid and electric applications, while HVH250 electric motors deliver a maximum torque of 314 lb.-ft.

In addition, BorgWarner's 48-volt high-efficiency motor/generators provide high system efficiency and improved energy recovery capability to meet increasing power demands.

BorgWarner's eBooster electrically driven compressor has already been applied within the market and is designed for smaller commercial engines with less than 5 liters of ...Read the rest of this story

Hendrickson Partners With Freightliner on 6×2 Liftable Forward Tandem Axle

Image: Hendrickson

ATLANTA — Hendrickson Truck Commercial Vehicle Systems has partnered with Freightliner Trucks to offer the OptiMaax 6x2 liftable forward tandem axle on the new Cascadia, the company announced at the North American Commercial Vehicle Show taking place this week in Atlanta.

The OptiMaax axle can help fleet customers optimize the movement of variable loads, as well as assisting carriers with diminishing loads, such as bulk haulers and delivery vehicles that may have empty back hauls after carrying items such as groceries, livestock, beverages, and fuel. It also helps fleets that focus on weight reduction and those who want to improve fuel efficiency.

Automated controls sense the load capacity and either lift or lower the axle without relying on the driver, maximizing time with a raised axle and enhancing traction. The OptiMaax 6x2 design is compatible with drum and air disc brakes and is unique because the axle is fully welded, not bolted, adding strength and durability according to Hendrickson.

The benefits:

“This combines a leader in heavy trucks with a leader in suspension technology,” said Gerry Remus general manager sales and business development for Hendrickson Truck Commercial Vehicle Systems. “It's one more way we're focused on engineering our product for efficiency, and are lowering the overall running costs for fleets.”

Related: Hendrickson Introduces OptiMaax Liftable Forward Tandem Axle System for 6x2

Follow @HDTrucking on Twitter

Volvo sees connectivity, electricity, automation shaping trucking’s future

ATLANTA. Volvo Trucks is having a solid year, with truck sales remaining strong and the company updating its truck lineup and opening a new customer center.

However, much of the focus at its Sept. 25 media event at the North American Commercial Vehicle show was not about the present, but what is to come.

“The future is coming faster than we all expect,” said Goran Nyberg, president of Volvo Trucks.

read more

New Lytx Video Services arrives in early 2018

read more

Daimler Announces Public Highway Platooning Tests

Roger Nielsen said at the NACV Show that Detroit Assurance Safety Systems are the enabling platform for the company's current platooning tests in Oregon and Nevada. Screenshot via DTNA

ATLANTA — For the first time in North America, Daimler Trucks showcased its entire lineup of commercial vehicles, from mid-sized vans to school buses to Class 8 long-haul tractors at a press event kicking off the opening day of the North American Commercial Vehicle Show (NACV) in Atlanta today.

The collection of vehicles, highlighted with a concept model of a next-generation Sprinter van, was a clear indication that Daimler views the future of logistics as coordinated, data-driven chain dependent on the efficient deployment of all sorts of vehicles with different sizes, shapes, and capabilities.

During the press briefing, Roger Nielsen, president and chief executive officer of Daimler's North American Truck business division also noted that the company has been testing advanced platooning systems on public roads in both Oregon (near Portland, where the company's North American headquarters is located) and in Nevada, which was an early adopter of autonomous vehicle regulations in 2014. The tests are based largely on the Detroit Assurance suite of active vehicle safety systems, Nielsen said, which enable coordinated vehicle movement at close following distances in platooning applications to take advantage of increased fuel efficiency brought enabled by shared aerodynamic efficiencies.

Nielsen noted that Daimler engineers have been testing platooning systems on test tracks and select U.S. highways, demonstrating how the new technology can improve fuel efficiency, driver productivity, convenience, and safety.

The first step of platooning is called “pairing,” where two trucks travel in tandem at distances closer than what is possible under manual operation. A team of engineers is testing the system in trucks under controlled circumstances in both Oregon and Nevada highways, driving in cooperation with officials in those ...Read the rest of this story

Voice of Retreading Brodsky Passes Away

Brodsky

Harvey Brodsky, the longtime managing director of first the Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau (TRIB) and then the Retread Tire Association (RTA), has died in Pacific Grove, Calif. He was 81.

He died on Sept. 17 of complications from lung cancer, which he had been battling since March of this year.

"One of Harvey's many sayings has become a guidepost for RTA: 'Always be better than you need to be,' says Managing Director Jeffrey Parks, who knew and worked with Brodsky for 35 years.

He would also say, “There's never a wrong time to do the right thing, and there's never a right time to do the wrong thing.”

"All words to live by, every day," says Parks.

Brodsky was born Dec. 16, 1935, and raised in Philadelphia, "and like most guys from Philly, was a friend for life once he got to know you," says Parks. "He made lifelong friends there and he loved them all to the end.

"As a boy, he loved baseball, collected statistics, cards, news clippings and could name any player or team. He took his first job in his father Max's auto upholstery business, and was a devoted son to him and his mother, Gertrude, along with his sister and his brother Frank."

After a stint in the Army, he started his own company, a one-man upholstery business. "He sold himself door to door, to the finest and also the simplest restaurants and bars of LA, upholstering booths that would be occupied by the movie stars of the day, at Musso and Frank, Bordner's, The Rainbow Room, Formosa Café, places of Hollywood history, and countless more," says Parks.

Over the years, Brodsky shared stories of his encounters with famous people with his friends in the tire industry. He lunched with author Ayn Rand; met actor and future president Ronald ...Read the rest of this story