Truck lighting tips for increased productivity
Light! Who thinks much about light? Let me tell you, it can pay to think about light. Take this example: In an effort to evenly illuminate the largest area possible in the back of your truck, you might spec the cargo area with either one central lamp or maybe a few lights spaced out down
How much closer are we to the 3G sunset?
We harped on it all last year: The 3G sunset is coming–and that means that there are still a staggering number of trucks with older telematics devices that need to be upgraded to 4G LTE units. Connecting with Peter Mitchell, senior vice president, general manager, Verizon Connect, an update on the network sunset was at
How telematics can give truck drivers better work-life balance
Addressing a proper work-life balance, recognition and opportunities for training are important in any industry for keeping employees satisfied. In trucking, fleet managers have access to some unique tools to keep tabs on these employee satisfaction levels. Many of these fleet management tools can be customized to collect data insights that adapt to the needs
Training, retaining the next generation of truck technicians
Headlines across the web announce the challenge of a labor shortage, while truck service shops across the country say: “Welcome to the party.” While we have more company in the battle to find the right people with the right skills, the challenges remain. But remember: many of the benefits you offer a technician to join
What’s the commercial EV reality?
This is the second time that Volvo Trucks North America’s Allison Athey has turned the tables on me. When she last took over the FE Unscripted hosting duties, we busted trucking spec’ing myths. This time, the Volvo Trucks North America product marketing manager has me in the hot seat to talk about the reality of
Should you spec pusher axles on over-the-road trucks?
Traditionally, pusher axles are used in vocational applications to distribute the vehicle weight and ensure the other axles are not overloaded. Pusher axles on an on-highway vehicle… well, pusher use has been considered limited because tractor-trailers typically won’t be overloading the other axles. However, in recent years, over-the-road applications like linehaul and regional haul have
Will hydrogen fuel cell vehicles happen?
Folks, if we had that answer, we’d be buying lottery tickets because we could see the future. Our crystal ball technology isn’t at that point yet, but we have a solid idea of where both the commercial vehicle industry and the passenger automotive sectors are heading and where they cross over in this episode of
How renewable energy credits could impact your bottom line, sustainability goals
We’re at the point now where decarbonization efforts might not come at a premium. As more fleets focus on greater degrees of sustainability, there’s still a strong focus on profitability. Those that are looking at investing in electric charging infrastructure are taking a wholistic look at their energy spending–in both electrons and diesel. The challenge
Why you need to be using truck tire inflation load tables
Yes, I know that you know that maintaining the proper tire inflation pressure is important. But other ideas surrounding the idea of proper tire inflation pressure are also important. And I can’t stress enough the importance of understanding that the inflation pressure doesn’t need to be a set number all the time – it needs
Getting heavy-duty, medium-duty trucks to talk the same service language
When a truck service location is faced with both heavy- and medium-duty vehicles all sporting different name plates, there’s often a communication breakdown. Technicians interface with different trucks in different ways, they have to use various methods of pulling the needed service information off said trucks, and jumping back and forth between heavy-duty and medium-duty
Making sense of the 2021 trucking market and what might be ahead
Well, that was one trucking year. While the pandemic brought dark times in 2020, trucking was a bright spot. Trucks kept rolling, fleets kept delivering and the country and economy chugged along in an alphabet soup of letter-shaped recovery. Who could have guessed that 2020 would just be a prelude to the market madness of
When to use pusher axles over tag axles
Most commonly found in vocational applications like dump trucks, refuse trucks and mixers, pusher axles are in the same family as tag axles when it comes to 6×2 configurations. This means only one of the two rear axles receives power, as opposed to a 6×4, where both of a tractor’s rear axles are drive axles.
