Fleet profile: Beck Trucking is growing and enjoying ongoing success
It was a good problem to have. With a rapidly growing trucking company, Nick Beck, owner of Beck Trucking, knew he had to streamline communication with drivers and customers. “We were steadily adding trucks, so checking in with drivers by phone was no longer efficient,” he says. “At times we were spending hours just waiting
Catch up with the electrification podcast series from Fleet Future
All throughout September and October, the Fleet Future podcast from FE has been focused on electrification, speaking with people throughout the industry on the details of electrification, the trucks that are coming to market and what interested fleets will need to know. Brush up on your electric truck knowledge below with all seven episodes of
Watch: Is biodiesel a good fuel choice for diesel engines?
These days, it seems as though there’s always a shifty stranger – The Invisible Fuel Man – whispering in my ear: “Hey Fleetkeeper. Let’s talk about electrification today.” I guess it makes sense – some of the biggest names in trucking are making some huge advancements in electric trucks. But what about all the other
Why more collaboration means moving to the cloud
If we’re being honest, the most difficult thing about truck technology isn’t spec’ing it—it’s actually using it. You’ve got data in spreadsheets, repair orders, emails—heck, even faxes in some cases. It’s hard to see how your engine repair costs,—say, replacing alternators—impact your engine’s operational efficiency and total cost of ownership. On top of that, if
Checklist: Make sure your fleet is prepared for winter
Preparation is key when it comes to facing the cold weather that lies ahead. Creating a thorough checklist to ensure your safety is vitally important. You’ll want to include steps that cover best practices, make sure your vehicle is performing optimally, and confirm that all essential tools are on board. The following checklist provided by
Where you see DTNA’s renewed vocational focus in the Western Star 49X
When Daimler Trucks North America announced that it was reorganizing its entire organization to focus more on the application (on-highway; vocational) vs. brand (Freightliner; Western Star), the big question was: Where will we see this in the product? We now have the answer in the Western Star 49X. Fleet Equipment sat down with the Western
Finding the cause of truck tire failures
Think about the last time you dealt with a truck tire failure. Maybe there were huge safety consequences, maybe it hit your operating costs harder than anything else. Regardless of what happened after the failure, can you remember why the failure happened in the first place? What about the cause of the last five truck
Kenworth talks hydrogen fuel cells, battery electric trucks and where both fit in
If you’ve been following electric truck development news over the last few years, you likely heard that Kenworth was focusing its efforts on hydrogen fuel cell trucks, rather than battery electric power. So it may have come as a surprise in early September when Kenworth announced the availability of the battery electric K270E and K370E
Three ways telematics can reduce truck fleet maintenance costs
There are a few variables to look at when calculating the total cost of ownership (TCO) of your vehicles, including acquisition cost, operating costs, depreciation and more. However, the one variable that carries some of the largest cost is maintenance. Maintenance cost will increase during a vehicle’s lifetime, ultimately affecting lifetime costs of ownership. According
Watch: The key to reducing trucking service downtime
Out there, where trucks are in need of service, there lurks an evil entity – one who keeps us wrapped up in the past and refuses to let some of us move on from ancient methods of information gathering. But, open up the lines of communication with your service providers, and you will have a
The secrets to spec’ing your next vocational truck chassis
If you have ever found yourself with your hands on your knees, nose three inches from a model ship in a glass bottle, you have no doubt silently contemplated the same question everyone else has in this position – how did they possibly build that? It begins with preparation. As each combination of ship, bottle
Podcast: The State of Sustainable Fleets
In today’s episode of Fleet Future, we’re going to zoom out a bit from the electric truck discussion and talk about alternative fuels and sustainability in general. Why might fleets be interested, and how do they get started? A recently released study tackled some of those questions. The “State of Sustainable Fleets” report from Gladstein,