The final Phase 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) rules governing heavy-duty trucks and engines issued today by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) – a rule that covers 1,690 pages – will seek to tighten oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and methane emissions as well as “clarify” the classification of natural gas engines and other gaseous-fueled he
read more
Here's probably what should be a well-known – if highly ironic – strategy when it comes to protecting trucking's information technology (IT) systems from data breaches and hack attacks: you need detailed and repeated employee training.
Yep, the best data defense is once again the human beings who use IT systems every day, in every way, to perform their freight-related tasks.
read more
Orange EV's all-new Class 8 pure-electric terminal truck. (Photo courtesy of Orange EV.)
">Orange EV's all-new Class 8 pure-electric terminal truck. (Photo courtesy of Orange EV.)
">Orange EV, a manufacturer of electrification solutions for industrial fleets, is now accepting orders for its all-new T-Series pure-electric terminal truck.
The new T-Series pure-electric truck has 24-plus hours of use per charge, and can be fully charged in as few as two hours.
In addition, fuel savings depending on moderate or heavy use can be from $10,000 per year, per vehicle up to $60,000 per year, per vehicle (using 2015 average diesel prices). A fleet of 20 vehicles, with moderate use, can save from $200,000 to $400,000 per year overall, according to Orange EV.
Orange EV's initial T-Series, a complete remanufacture of existing trucks, has been operating up to 24-plus hours per charge at sites from single-shift to 24x7 in railroad intermodal, LTL freight, manufacturing, retail distribution, waste management, and warehouse container handling fleets.
By placing a $10,000 refundable deposit by Dec. 31, 2016, fleets lock in the price, receive production priority, and Orange EV's telematics service free of charge on trucks (the telematics service will be provided free of charge on all trucks ordered by March 31, 2017.)
“With the addition of the new truck and rise in overall order volume, production capacity is at a premium,” said Wayne Mathisen, CEO at Orange EV. “Fleets have been telling us for two years that they want a new truck option. Now they can get it in the same industry-leading chassis they already know and rely on. Orange EV's Priority Program will help us gauge the demand and allocate resources while rewarding fleets that help us plan ahead.”
Fleets in the Priority Program place $10,000 refundable deposits and enjoy:
Orange EV will continue taking orders as fleets are ready. Each month, the company will query program participants in sequence for their orders to help new fleets begin the process while ensuring ready units begin their deployments as soon as possible.
Financing, incentives, carbon credits, and other programs provide fleets additional assistance and incentives to accelerate deployment of Orange EV's pure electric terminal trucks. Traditional equipment financing helps reduce initial cash outlay and fund the balance of purchase from cost savings. Federal and regional programs exist to further reduce purchase price and spur adoption.
According to the company, Orange EV has consistently been the first OEM approved for and delivering commercially available terminal trucks under incentive programs that can pay more than half of vehicle purchase price. Carbon credits on the emissions eliminated by Orange EV electric vehicles can generate even more savings.
“Even without incentive programs, the total cost of ownership for Orange EV's electric vehicles is often less than what many fleets spend to purchase and operate their diesel trucks,” according to Mike Saxton chief commercial officer at Orange EV. “The incentives help fleets invest in their initial vehicles, but it's the per truck savings of up to $60,000 annually that will drive fleet-wide adoption."
Follow @HDTrucking on Twitter
Overall shipment volumes and pricing are persistently weak, with increased levels of volatility as all levels of the supply chain continue to try to work down inventory levels, according to the Cass Freight Index report for July.
This measure of activity in all domestic freight modes shows there have been a few areas of growth, mostly related to e-commerce, with lower levels of expansion in modes serving the auto and housing/construction industries.
All of this added up to slightly lower shipment volume in July, down 2.6% from a year ago and the 17th straight month of year-over-year declines. There was virtually no change in July from the month before, but the reading of 1.111 is the highest since September 2015.
What specifically drove July's decline in volume? According to Donald Broughton, senior transportation analyst at the investment firm Avondale Partners, who provides analysis of the figures, July year-over-year overall traffic for major U.S. railroads declined 6.1%, as intermodal units fell 5.4% and commodity carloads originated declined 6.9%.
As for trucking, he said tonnage itself appears to be growing, with the three-month moving average increasing 2.75% (not seasonally adjusted). However, he notes truck loads have contracted on a year-over year basis three out of six months in 2016.
“No matter how it is measured, the data coming out of the trucking industry has been both volatile and uninspiring,” Broughton said. He also noted the trucking industry provides one of the more reliable reads on the pulse of the domestic economy – and how it's changing.
“It gives us clues about the health of both the manufacturing and retail sectors,” he said. “We should note that as the first industrial-led recovery (2009-2014) since 1961 came to an end, and the shift from ‘brick and mortar' retailing to e-commerce/omni-channel continues, we are becoming more focused on the number of loads moved by truck and less focused on the number of tons moved by truck.”
When it comes to freight expenditures, the Cass Freight Index shows a July drop of 0.6% from the month before. It's also down 5.5% from a year earlier, with the measure registering 2.355, its 17th straight month of year-over-year declines. Expenditures are being pushed lower by a number of factors, according to Broughton.
“In part, this weakness is driven by the excess of capacity in most modes: trucking, rail, air freight, barge, ocean container and bulk. The weakness is also driven in part by the ongoing decline in diesel and jet fuel and corresponding fuel surcharges that influence pricing realized by shippers,” he said. “Although at first blush it appears that in most modes the gap between spot pricing and contract pricing appears to be closing slightly, this is more a function of slight declines in contract pricing than it is a function of improvements in spot pricing.”
Broughton sees little reason to predict a change in course or material strength in either the contract or spot rates for most modes. Exceptions to this do remain in the parcel marketplace and forms of expedited transit supporting e-commerce.
You can read the full report on the Cass Information Systems' website.
Follow @HDTrucking on Twitter
