Scanning The Trucking Twitterverse

Diesel News has been scanning the Trucking Twitterverse for a few snippets about what is going on our world. This school kid in Norway got away with a lucky escape after the driver of the truck whose dash cam recorded the incident, flashed the oncoming Volvo just in time.
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Everything Has To Do With Scale

In the Northern Territory everything has to do with scale – it represents 18 per cent of Australia’s land area but is home to just one per cent of the country’s population. Diesel News talked with an operator tasked with distributing fuel across the Territory. Sitting in a modest industrial unit in Katherine in the Northern Territory, and talking to the owner of the operation, John Fraser, it’s easy to think of the operation run by the genial, relaxed man in battered shorts and a shirt, with a dusty baseball cap, as a small concern. However, start talking about the task the company handles, plus the area covered and customers serviced, and you soon realise this is a big operation in a big country, using big trucks. Read More

Top Power From Sweden

There’s a lot of talk about trucks with top power from Sweden. However, the arrival of a new Scania V8 diesel gives Diesel News’ European Correspondent, Brian Weatherley, an excuse to examine the real-world demand for high-horsepower super-trucks in Europe. “Just don’t take it personally down-under,” says Brian. I’m going let you in on a secret. I’m struggling to stay enthusiastic about high-horsepower, big-displacement diesels. There, I’ve said it. Considering how many words I’ve written about them in the past (including such clunking adjectives as ‘fire-breathing’ and ‘stump-pulling’) it’s all rather embarrassing. It dawned on me after having recently learned of Scania’s new V8 engine, launched at the same time as its G-Series, the latest in its ‘Next Generation’ of heavies.
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LNG And All That Gas

The price of diesel goes up a little bit and immediately LNG and all that gas comes back into the reckoning. The margins in road transport are so slim, only a small incremental change can tip the balance between fuel options.
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Autonomous Trucks Are Unstoppable

Whether we like it or not, autonomous trucks are unstoppable, the progress being made is substantial. Diesel News talks to one of those working hard behind the scenes, Hayder Wokil, who runs the Volvo autonomous research program. The job title held by Volvo’s Hayder Wokil doesn’t really tell us much. He is the Mobility and Automation Director, but when asked what exactly it is he does do, the laconic Hayder replies, “the question really should be, what doesn’t he do?” This suggests the role is a wide-ranging one and one which will change as new developments come along.
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New Scania, Trucking Optimism, a Major Fine and Electric Axles

The news from Diesel this week shows evidence of a new Scania, trucking optimism, a major fine and electric axles, with stories from around the world. Images of the next generation Scania driving on Australian roads have started to appear on social media, as the Swedish truck maker run the new models in a, far from secret, evaluation program.  Read More

Electric Inter, Volvo and LNG, Iveco and Suttons

Not only is there an Electric Inter, Volvo and LNG, Iveco and Suttons, plus a New Auto from Eaton/Cummins in Diesel News, but also Daimler Platooning and an Electric Van. Eaton Cummins Automated Transmission Technologies has introduced the new Endurant TM 12- speed automated transmission at the North American Commercial Vehicle (NACV) show in Atlanta, in the US. Claimed to be the lightest, most efficient 1,850 ft lb–capable heavy-duty transmission on the US market, it has been designed for line-haul applications where weight savings and efficiency can add to a fleet’s bottom line, Endurant weighs nearly 50kg less than competitive automated manual transmissions (AMTs).
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In the Trucking Twitterverse This Week

What’s happening in the trucking twitterverse this week? Bad media treatment, good media coverage, smart glasses and smart trucks, that’s what! Truckright’s Rod Hannifey tells yet another tale of the misrepresentation of truckies in the media.
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Top Female Driver, Australian Truck Manufacturing, Penske Dealership Change and Autonomous Trucks

In the news this week have been a Top Female Driver, Australian Truck Manufacturing, Penske Dealership Change and Autonomous Trucks and the need for supporting infrastructure. Tasmanian Kerri Connors, of Caltas, was named winner of the 2017 Volvo Drivers’ Fuel Challenge on-road category in a competition which put Australia’s most fuel-efficient drivers head to head. The off-road title was claimed by Cameron Simpson of Simpson’s Fuel in Victoria. Over a two-day event at Mt Cotton in Queensland, the competition was whittled down from 17 drivers in the semi-final, to nine in the final.
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