Equipment
VW shows interest in majority Navistar stake
MUNICH, Germany – Volkswagen is showing interest in acquiring a majority of Navistar “at some point,” building on a minority stake that has already been secured. Volkswagen Truck and Bus acquired 16.6% of Navistar in 2016, and has already committed to developing a joint big bore powertrain for the North American market, as well as a medium-duty electric powertrain. Now Volkswagen's commercial arm is also preparing for a potential stock listing as it looks to take on other global manufacturers including Daimler and Volvo.
Here Comes the Sun: Does solar have a role as an alternative fuel?
TORONTO, Ont. -- In some corners of North America, the idea of adding solar power to a truck or trailer is a no-brainer. You'd be forgiven for thinking that none of those corners are in Canada. That's mostly true, but it doesn't necessarily mean that solar has no place here. Just that you must be careful in assessing manufacturer claims about what their solar gizmo can actually do. Almost all of Canada gets an average of 4.2 hours of solar sunlight a day. Two areas -- a small stretch of the southern prairies and a little ribbon of central B.C. -- crank that number up to 4.5 hours. Compare that to as many six hours in Arizona, New Mexico, and a patch of southeast California. Doesn't sound like much of a difference, but it's a big deal. A 300-watt solar setup that can help to run a tractor's electric APU in that part of the U.S. would probably have to be a 600- or 800-watt setup for a rig running, say, a Toronto-Montreal-Halifax route. It also means that manufacturer claims can be rather idealistic if calculations were based on experience in warm and sunny parts of our world. There's no subterfuge involved here, but “your mileage may vary,” as they say.
Think Tanks: There’s a right way and wrong way to fill up
MONTREAL, Que. -- Some truck components have been around for so long that they rarely receive a second thought, and dual fuel tanks are a perfect example. Introduced to extend the range of trucks between refills, the tanks are usually mounted on opposite sides of the frame rails. But this also introduces hazards that emerge with two separate filling points.
Mack VP: Will construction labor shortage harm growth?
LOUISVILLE, Ky.-- With truck order intake expected to hit near-record levels in 2018, Mack's senior vice-president for North American sales, Jonathan Randall, is worried about who will drive all the trucks the company is building. Speaking on the opening day of the 2018 Mid-America Trucking Show, Randall said the construction sector is seeing record spending, lots of job growth, and correspondingly strong order intake from the sector, but he says there are a couple of potentially dampening factors on the horizon. "There's a shortage of labor in that sector today, or more specifically, a shortage of construction workers," he said. "Who is going to drive all the trucks that we're selling?" Randall says U.S. GDP is expected to grow by 2.8% this year, and the strong economy is reflected in the strong order intake the industry is seeing this year. To says the economy is robust would probably be an understatement based on what Mack is seeing in truck orders
Truck sales projections face ‘upward pressure’: Randall
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Mack Trucks continues to show confidence in North America’s truck market, identifying upward pressure on current projections for 280,000 Class 8 truck sales this year. “There’s significant upward pressure,” says senior vice-president of sales and marketing Jonathan Randall.
