TORONTO — Trucks need more real estate. Not as in parking spaces but as in places on the frame to put add-on devices like auxiliary power units (APUs).

And space behind the cab to allow B-train operators to have decent-sized sleeper berths.

That’s the gist of a recommendation that the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) is making to the people who make the rules about weights and dimensions.

Officially, the CTA is urging the National Vehicle Weights and Dimensions Task Force to amend the national Memorandum of Understanding on truck configurations.

Under the current regs, box length is limited to 20 meters (front of first trailer to rear or second) and overall length is limited ot 25 meters.

With maximum-sized trailers are used, there’s only five meters left over for the cab. Barely enough for a day cab.

So, if the government wants to encourage truck fleets to adopt GHG-reduction technologies like APUs and B-trains, it should let truck builders construct trucks appropriately.

“The current truck weights and dimensions regulations have and continue to serve the industry well," says CTA’s chief executive officer, David Bradley. "But like anything else they need to be tweaked in order to modernize them from time to time."

"The changes CTA is proposing with regard to the national standards for B-trains…which are a very productive configuration used in many sectors of the industry across Canada, and tractor wheelbase, which is also an issue for many fleets, are two areas where we feel more flexibility would be desirable in order to ensure those drivers who use sleeper berths have the maximum of comfort and carriers and owner-operators will have more flexibility in determining which fuel economy-GHG reduction options they wish to implement going forward," continued Bradley.

For more information on this issue you can watch this CTA-produced video.