Are pusher axles a good fit for over-the-road trucks?
Traditionally, pusher axles have been used primarily in vocational applications to distribute the vehicle weight and ensure the other axles are not overloaded. Tony Sablar, Peterbilt vocational marketing manager, says a pusher’s on-highway 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
Fleet Profile: TCI Trucking’s recipe for success
“It takes a forward-thinking philosophy to build success,” says Jeff Louis, president of TCI Trucking and Warehousing. “If we focus on what we do best we can address inefficiencies and create opportunities. That’s how we’ve grown our business from an intermodal company with one driver and one truck into a full service logistics provider with
What the last mile delivery segment will look like in 2021
The early parts of 2020, fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic, wreaked havoc on the economy, including many aspects of the trucking industry. One segment that escaped this economic fate was last mile delivery, which, fueled by people staying home and the resulting growth in e-commerce, continued to become a more prevalent segment of the industry
Hyliion: Renewable natural gas prepares to take the wheel as trucking fleets pursue a lower carbon footprint
As the world continues down the path of clean energy and corporate social responsibility (CSR), the commercial trucking industry face immense pressure from all sides to follow suit. But do they have enough gas in the tank to meet those demands? Government regulations in the U.S. and abroad are changing the paradigm in commercial vehicle
Watch: Truck electrification’s ‘messy middle’
2020 was a pivotal year for the emergence of electric trucks onto our roads, but for all the hype, electric trucks aren’t going to meet all application needs. It will take time for a nationwide infrastructure to be built and for battery life to be improved. This leads us to a period of time the
Podcast: The importance of coolant maintenance in the winter
We are smack in the middle of winter, and for fleets, that means it’s time to get those winter maintenance checklists updated. If your trucks run in areas of extreme cold and snow it is a crucial month for maintenance on all components of the vehicle. Let’s zero in on one specific component today: coolant.
Truck transmissions have evolved: Here’s where they’re going next
Automated manual transmission (AMT) and automatic transmission manufacturers are crushing assumptions and setting new expectations in all trucking industry applications. Automatic transmissions are getting smarter and, in the AMT world, gone are the days of clunky, reverse-engineered AMTs. Today’s AMTs are, as PACCAR Vice President Landon Sproull put it, “purpose built.” “The gearing—overall ratio and
‘What’s an e-fluid?’ and other electric truck maintenance topics
We’re just beginning to understand the operational and maintenance nuances of electric trucks. They aren’t a one-to-one replacement for diesel-powered trucks. Even topics as innocuous as greases and fluids (yes, fluids are potentially still a part of electric trucks) require new considerations when running electric trucks. Case in point: Shell recently announced its line of
Five truck trend takeaways from December
We know it’s not easy to keep up with everything that happens in the world of trucking. So here are the biggest stories from December focused on the latest truck trends, all in one place. 5. Volvo Trucks sounds the horn on the start of VNR electric truck’s availability During a recent virtual press conference,
Let’s get visible: Telematics and visibility are FE’s 2020 Truck Trend of the Year
Every December at Fleet Equipment we write a “Trend of the Year” piece summing up the year in trucking, and of course, in 2020 the mind immediately leaps to the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s no way around it: Between shutdowns, travel restrictions and affected businesses, the pandemic has shaped everything about this year, both in and
2021 and beyond: What truck telematics will look like in the future
Telematics and visibility may have been FE’s 2020 Trend of the Year, but the trend didn’t stop on Dec. 31. Beyond the ongoing trends outlined in that story, here are a few teasers from our group of technological experts on what technology fleets may be able to take advantage of in the next year and
Don’t miss what FE has planned for 2021
So, I think it’s safe to assume that we’re all extremely glad to turn the page on 2020, right? Though a resilient trucking industry managed to power through, this was not a fun year for anybody. Being able to put this year in the rearview mirror and put our hopes in 2021, which brings with
