FCA recalls HD pickups, chassis cabs over potential engine compartment fire

read more

TMC Panel Educates Fleets on Real-World Electric Truck Operation

A policy of “opportunity charging” that has drivers putting trucks on charging devices during lunch, breaks and other downtimes is a key component in keeping the trucks' state of charge high for longer periods of time. Photo: Orange EV

ORLANDO, FL – Electric trucks are much simpler to maintain and operate than diesel units. But that doesn't mean there aren't challenges for fleets that elect to evaluate and/or operate them. A session this week at the Technology & Maintenance Council Fall Meeting offered advice and answers for fleets considering electric trucks for their applications.

Opening presenter Mike Saxton, chief commerical officer for electric truck manufacturer OrangeEV, said that “range anxiety” concerns aside, his company has all-electric yard trucks operating for more than 24 hours on a single charge. However, he added that a policy of “opportunity charging” — a policy that has drivers putting trucks on charging devices during lunch, breaks and other downtimes — is a key component in keeping the trucks' state of charge high for longer periods of time. Furthermore, Saxton added, most fleet facilities today, as well as existing structures that could be converted into a fleet facility, already have the necessary electrical capacity to handle charging electric trucks.

Saxton said all-electric truck drivetrains last significantly longer than comparable diesel drivetrains, and that a truck's battery pack should last as long as the life of the truck itself in most operating conditions.

“Lithium-ion batteries do degrade over time with repeated charges,” he explained. “However, it takes about 2,000 charges before your battery capacity degrades — usually about 80%. You won't notice this as a drop-off in performance. But you will notice you're having to charge the truck more often.” But, he added, it generally takes between 7 and 10 years before this become an issue.

One potential limiting factor that ...Read the rest of this story

Fleets Share Best Practices on Implementing New Technologies

TMC panelists Bill Brown, Colin Crowley, Peter Savage and Deryk Powell outlined what they've learned as more and more fleets struggled to adopt new technologies and make them work effectively. Photo: Jack Roberts

Selecting and implementing new technology and making it work can be a challenge for all of us. It's especially daunting for fleets, which must not only control costs during the implementation process, but also put new technology to work effectively to ensure downstream return-on-investment.

Four fleet experts with recent experience in adopting new technologies and making them work gave an overview of their experiences and hard-won lessons during a panel discussion entitled “The Challenges and Pitfalls of Implementing New Technology” at the Technology & Maintenance Council Fall Meeting in Orlando, Florida, this week.

Deryk Powell, president and chief operating officer of technology company Velociti, noted in his opening remarks that in our rapidly evolving tech world, “trucking is at the epicenter of all new technology today, because we enable this new economy. And while there is a lot of new, scary stuff coming your way today, you cannot afford to get wound up about it. Because you are going to have to deal with it.”

Powell said his first advice when talking with fleet customers (Velociti specalizes in " technology deployment services") is to suggest they “synergize” their technology adoption efforts in order to make them more complete and easier to handle. For example, he said, if your fleet is looking at putting collision avoidance systems on your trucks, why not put them on your yard tractors and forklifts at the same time? Likewise, instead of dividing the tasks of putting different safety systems on vehicles such as electronic logging devices, in-cab camera systems, and lane-departure warning systems, treat all those initiatives as a single, unified action plan.

“That way,” he said, ...Read the rest of this story

J.J. Keller Program Lets Fleets Reserve ELDs

Photo: J.J. Keller

With some industry observers worrying about whether the supply of electronic logging devices will meet the demand as we near the Dec. 17 deadline to install the mandatory devices, J.J. Keller & Associates announced it will make the transition earlier for fleets who want to wait until closer to the deadline.

The J.J. Keller ELD Reserve It Plan lets fleets reserve J.J. Keller ELDs with guaranteed shipment between November 1-10, 2017, and zero service fees until January 2018. The offer runs through October 31.

“Over 50% of the fleets we surveyed are waiting until November or December to switch to ELDs, or they're undecided,” said Tom Reader, director of marketing at J.J. Keller. “We created the J. J. Keller ELD Reserve It Plan to get fleets everything they need in time to make the switch and avoid violations from being out of compliance with the mandate. The fourth quarter is already a busy one for most fleets and it's easy for things to fall through the cracks.”

J.J. Keller ELDs, which are on the FMCSA's ELD registry of self-certified compliant devices, are part of J.J. Keller's Encompass Fleet Management System with ELogs, which includes an online dashboard for HOS compliance, an ELog app that's compatible with most smart devices, and service options ranging from stand-alone ELogs to full performance management. For more information visit JJKeller.com/ReserveELDs.

Related: What You Need to Know About ELD Mandate Enforcement

Follow @HDTrucking on Twitter

Is Hurricane Harvey the Lead-in to Something Significant in Trucking?

How have the after-effects of Hurricane Harvey affected trucking? FTR has quantified the numbers, gauging the impact on the overall trucking market and the Texas and Houston markets in particular.

During the first week, almost 10% of all U.S. trucking was affected in some manner. That number jumps to near 100% for the Gulf Coast region west of the Mississippi. After a month, the numbers will ease but still remain significant. The largest effects were regionalized, but transportation managers across the entire U.S. were scrambling.

As we moved into the second week of the Hurricane Harvey drama, we saw three things happening, all reflecting supply chains and trucking operations thrown out of normal routines by this long and powerful storm.

It's apparent that people are working very hard in Houston, because the spot market trucking statistics are showing strong positive moves, in some cases to levels above pre-storm benchmarks.

Beginning with day 13 (Tuesday, Sept. 5), the recovery clearly had started. Outbound volumes in Houston were up for the week and would have been back at pre-storm levels if not for Labor Day. Outbound prices still lagged pre-storm levels. The outbound volume situation was very good news, because it implies that the Houston manufacturing sector, so important for U.S. fuel and chemical supplies, had begun to roar back to life.

On the inbound side we saw clear evidence of the beginning of ...Read the rest of this story

Dissecting the trucking distress surrounding ELDs

So I had the good fortune to chat with a good number trucking company personnel this week at the McLeod Software 2017 User Conference in Atlanta and none-too-surprisingly, electronic logging devices (ELDs) proved to be the “talk du jour” of the show.

read more

Celadon Trucking Services Getting Out of Driver Training Business

A Celadon Driving Academy student practices his driving skill on a TransSim simulator. Photo: Celadon

Days after it announced it was selling off its flatbed division, Indiana-based Celadon said it's getting out of the driver training business.

Celadon Trucking Services said it will exit its three Celadon Driving Academy locations in Indianapolis, Laredo, Texas, and Richmond, Virginia, later this year. One of Celadon's third-party driving school partners plans to establish accredited driving schools at each of the three locations. Celadon says while it will continue to need new drivers, it has decided a third-party model is more effective. It notes that most over-the-road trucking companies use a network of accredited driving schools rather than running their own.

“Highly qualified professional truck drivers are the lifeblood of our organization,” said President and CEO Jon Russell in a news release. “After a thorough review, we determined that using third-party programs and making additional investments in driver compensation and advanced training would afford a better investment of resources than continuing to operate the schools ourselves. We are trucking specialists, and we will focus on our core business."

It's the latest in a number of moves the struggling company has made this year to deal with mounting losses.

In May, Celadon announced changes in its top management and a new line of credit, as it said it expected to report a $10 million operating loss from the first quarter.

Also in May, the New York Stock Exchange said problems with Celadon's financial reporting could result in the company's stock being delisted.

In July, Celadon Group named Paul Svindland CEO, succeeding Paul Will.

Celadon founder Steve Russell died in April of 2016.

Follow @HDTrucking on Twitter