Navistar
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.
International goes to work with MV
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- International Truck has unveiled the MV Series vocational truck, with the promise of a model that will “work harder all day, every day." Features include new cab doors with lower bottom glass edges and removed vent windows for better visibility, reshaped doors and side glass, a new premium gauge cluster with digital driver display, and up to 15 customizable digital gauges.
TMT integrating Navistar orders
ATLANTA, Ga. – Ordering parts through Navistar dealers will be more seamless than ever, using a new integration module for TMT Fleet Maintenance software from TMW. Traditionally, the orders would be sent by fax or email, but now there’s an e-commerce solution. The new module sends electronic purchase orders that are fulfilled by Navistar dealers.
Context: Understanding electric trucks
Electric trucks seem to be all the rage today, just as natural gas was to be the industry's salvation just a few years back. There's not much excitement in natural gas today, though it remains a viable alternative fuel. Electric trucks, on the other hand, are just beginning their climb to prominence. Interest in electric trucks peaked in November with the world's first look at Tesla's Electric Semi. Whether Tesla can carry the torch for battery-powered heavy trucks remains to be seen, but Elon Musk isn't only player in the market. Transpower's electric Class 8 tractor uses a conventional drivetrain, but with a 400-horsepower electric motor. It has a range of up to 160 kilometers at full load. I drove a fully electric plug-in Transpower USA Class 8 tractor back in 2015. That truck had been in field tests at the port of Long Beach, California, for two years prior to that. The company made headlines recently announcing a partnership with Meritor that will make its technology commercially available in the spring of this year.
REVIEW: International’s driver-centric LT
NEW CARLISLE, IN -- Looks can be deceiving. International's new LT highway tractor may look much like the 11-year-old ProStar it replaces, but the resemblance is barely skin deep. The LT retains the signature International grille -- though it's shaped differently if you look closely -- but almost everything behind the grille was touched in some way by the sweeping overhaul of the company's best-selling highway truck. The primary drivers in the reshaping exercise were increased fuel efficiency and driver appeal. "If drivers do not want to drive the trucks, fleets aren't going to buy them," noted Denny Mooney, International's senior vice president - global product development.
Navistar executives looking ahead
NEW CARLISLE, IN - Backed by a new family of products and a robust economy, Navistar executives are clearly feeling positive about the future. "We have [introduced] a lot of new products in the last two years, and we got a lot of new products coming in the next two," said Denny Mooney, senior vice president - product development, during a briefing to industry media. Those new products include the LT linehaul tractor, its RH regional hauling counterpart introduced at the Expocam trade show in Montreal, the heavy vocational HX tractor launched last year to replace the PayStar, and the new HV that replaces the WorkStar. The HV was unveiled at the recent North American Commercial Vehicle Show in Atlanta, Georgia. The HX itself represents a market segment that Navistar saw drop in half after it stopped producing 15-liter engines. "Our [13-liter model], because it was an EGR engine, we couldn't cool it at some of the power and torque ratings we needed," he said.
