John G Smith
John G. Smith is Newcom Media's vice-president - content and design, and previously served as the editorial director of Today's Trucking, trucknews.com, and Transport Routier. The award-winning journalist began covering the trucking industry in 1995.
Daimler rolls out electric trucks for North America
PORTLAND, Ore. – Daimler Trucks North America has unveiled electric Class 8 and medium-duty trucks today, with plans to have a 30-truck “innovation fleet” working in selected applications before the end of the year. “It is our target at Daimler to have the broadest – the absolute broadest – e-truck fleet in North America by 2021,” said president and CEO Roger Nielsen, as an electrified version of the Class 8 Cascadia rolled by.
Daimler to open automated truck research center
PORTLAND, Ore. – Daimler Trucks will create an Automated Truck Research and Development Center at its North American headquarters in Portland, Ore. – focusing on automated driving technology and its effect on society and customers alike. The new center builds on the company’s established research and development presence, and will be at Swan Island, where a full-scale truck wind tunnel can already be found.
Ulch wants alcohol interlocks in all trucks
ST. MARYS, Ont. – Ian Parsons says he has never driven while drunk. There’s no DUI on his record, and he’s a firm believer in Ontario’s zero-tolerance policy around commercial vehicles and alcohol. If someone has been drinking, he doesn’t want them anywhere near a highway...
Newcom South Asian Media Co. launches
TORONTO, Ont. – Newcom Media Inc. has formed Newcom South Asian Media Co. – a 50/50 joint venture with Road Today Publishing Inc. – that will serve the rapidly expanding South Asian community within Canada’s trucking industry. The venture will be based out of Newcom Media’s new Toronto headquarters. Manan Gupta, the founder of Road Today Media Group, has been named general manager, effective July 1. Newcom South Asian Media Co. will relaunch the regional Road Today magazine as a national publication this fall and will create a series of recruitment and resource expos at Toronto’s International Centre. The first expo has been set for Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018. Dates for two more events, in Spring and Fall 2019, will be finalized in coming weeks.
Dirty Secrets: Carriers call for emissions crackdown
TORONTO, Ont. -- Clean air comes at a cost, and it involves the emissions-related changes to exhaust systems and engines, sometimes introducing added maintenance costs and reduced fuel economy in the process. That’s led to one of the trucking industry’s worst-kept dirty secrets. Many truck owners are reprogramming electronic control modules to bypass SCR (selective catalytic reduction) systems, which reduce unwanted NOx by introducing diesel exhaust fluid to the combustion process.
