The return of the medium-duty market: Where will vocational trends go when the market booms?
It’s often hard to tell, in the moment, the difference between a passing fad and a trend that’s here to stay. Those Beanie Babies people hoarded in the late ’90s didn’t end up paying for anybody’s college education, and despite all the hype, Bitcoin has not exactly deposed the U.S. dollar as our go-to trusted
Podcast: How telematics can help in last mile delivery, with electric fleets, and more
The growth of the last mile delivery market and the ascendancy of electric trucks have rarely been out of the news for the past year. With that in mind, joining me in this episode of the Fleet Future podcast is Travis Hunt, business development manager for Ford Commercial Solutions. Our conversation focused on telematics, from
Onfleet announces carbon emissions initiative, partnership with Pachama
Onfleet has announced an initiative to offset the impact of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions resulting from deliveries powered by its platform. Dubbed “Onfleet Offset,” the program will calculate the CO2 impact of its customers’ delivery operations and share in the cost of offsetting emissions by investing in Gold Standard, VCS, CAR and ACR verified nature
Tracking last mile delivery truck trends
It’s fun to talk about the buzz of the last mile delivery segment, but you get to a point where you think: What is the actual growth and makeup of the segment, and what does that mean for fleets? For answers to those questions and a closer look at the booming trucking segment, I connected
Quality Custom Distribution takes delivery of Volvo VNR Electric
Quality Custom Distribution (QCD), a national food service logistics provider, recently took delivery of a Volvo VNR Electric—the first zero-emission, battery-electric truck to be deployed in QCD’s fleet of more than 700 vehicles. The Volvo VNR Electric model from Volvo Trucks North America will begin running last-mile delivery routes to restaurants and coffee stores throughout
Amazon begins testing electric vans in San Francisco
One year after announcing the purchase of 100,000 custom electric delivery vehicles, Amazon has begun testing its electric vans on delivery routes in the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco is one of 16 cities where Amazon will be using these vehicles for customer deliveries in 2021. Amazon says the city was chosen because of
Cooper Tire’s Gary Schroeder talks Goodyear deal, new tires and the road ahead
Raise your hand if you saw the Goodyear acquisition of Cooper Tire coming? It was just one of the latest surprising industry announcements in a year full of surprises. A lot has changed since we talked with Gary Schroeder, executive director of Cooper’s global truck and bus tire business, for our executive interview in February
The latest lighting advancements for last-mile delivery vehicles
It’s easy for fleets and, at times, even the drivers themselves to take for granted the variety and complexity of lighting necessary to deliver goods for that final mile. Interior lights, headlights, perimeter lights, taillights, brake lights – none is less important than another, and all are necessary every day for the last-mile delivery driver.
Don’t get blinded by the light: A lighting guide for last-mile delivery vehicles
Imagine you’re on the set of Hollywood’s next big blockbuster. The media can’t stop talking about it, and you’re in the director’s chair. You’ve hired the actors and built the props; now it’s time to shoot your first scene. What’s the first word you yell to the production crew? “Lights,” of course! There is no
Hercules Tires talks local support for last-mile delivery, regional-haul
Tire management is a fleet managing fundamental—and that’s true regardless of the fleet size. The trick is finding the tire management strategy that’s right for your application, which can be a moving target in the quickly evolving last-mile delivery segment, where light-duty vans roam suburban streets. It’s populated by both established fleets who are diversifying
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
Podcast: Volvo Trucks on the growth of regional haul trucking
One of the major trends of the last few years in the trucking industry has been the growth of the regional haul segment. Bolstered by factors ranging from the driver shortage to the growth of e-commerce, regional routes are becoming a larger percentage of the industry’s routes driven each year, and in 2020, this trend
