kscarbel2

A lot of people being thrown under the bus to protect one "untouchable" man.......Herr Piech.

Audi CEO Stadler arrested Reuters / June 18, 2018 FRANKFURT -- Munich prosecutors said that Audi CEO Rupert Stadler was arrested on Monday because investigators saw the risk that he might seek to suppress evidence in connection with a diesel emissions probe. Volkswagen's supervisory board has nominated sales and marketing head Bram Schot, 56, as interim CEO at Audi. VW’s supervisory board plans to suspend Stadler. "As part of an investigation into diesel affairs and Audi engines, the Munich prosecutor's office executed an arrest warrant against Professor Rupert Stadler on June 18, 2018," the Munich prosecutor's office said. A judge in Germany has ordered that Stadler, 55, be remanded in custody, it said, to prevent him from obstructing or hindering the diesel investigation. The prosecutors' office last week widened its emissions-cheating probe against Audi to include Stadler among the suspects accused of fraud and false advertising. Volkswagen Group and Audi confirmed Stadler's arrest this morning, adding that the presumption of innocence applied to Stadler's case. Munich prosecutors and Stadler himself were not immediately available for comment. A spokesman for Porsche SE, the company that controls VW and Audi, said Stadler's arrest would be discussed at Monday's board meeting. VW admitted in September 2015 to using illegal software to cheat U.S. emissions tests on diesel engines, sparking the biggest crisis in the company's history and leading to a regulatory crackdown across the auto industry. The U.S. filed criminal charges against former VW CEO Martin Winterkorn in May, but he is unlikely to face U.S. authorities because Germany does not extradite its nationals to countries outside the European Union. The Munich prosecutors said Stadler's arrest was not made at the behest of U.S. authorities. The executive was arrested at his home in Ingolstadt, in the early hours on Monday. The Munich public prosecutor's office said last week it was investigating 20 suspects, and that it had searched the apartment of Stadler and one other current board member. The second suspect is Bernd Martens, Audi's head of purchasing. Martens led a diesel task force at Audi, which was set up to coordinate the handling of the crisis with the parent company. In the U.S., Audi sales have been on a hot streak for more than eight years under the watch of Stadler, who became brand head in 2007. In May, the brand recorded its 103rd straight month of year-over-year sales increases.

Seriously, Detroit is an extremely dangerous city. It's speaks volumes about the state of the United States that such a dangerous place can exist within it.

Ford plots future in a relic of Detroit's past Michael Martinez, Automotive News / June 17, 2018 DETROIT — Bill Ford was a child the first time he stepped through a bronze door into the marble-floored concourse of Michigan Central Station. The Fords were catching a train to California, and Bill was awestruck by the sea of travelers passing under the cavernous lobby's high arches and ornate chandeliers. "I remember walking in, just taking a look and going, "Wow," he said. Decades later, as the towering depot sat derelict and crumbling, it evoked a much different emotion. "I've seen Detroit at its best and at its worst," Ford, 61, said, "and one thing I hated was when the national media was writing about the decay of Detroit, the poster child for that was always the train station. That always really bothered me, because I remembered as a young boy when it was amazing. They kept using that as a metaphor for what happened in Detroit." Now, he's making Michigan Central a metaphor for what his company, and the city where his great-grandfather started it, could become. The automaker last week confirmed its purchase of the 1913 depot, which has marred Detroit's skyline since even before the first Ford Explorer arrived almost 30 years ago. Ford Motor plans to use the 18-story building to anchor a one-of-a-kind research and engineering campus in Detroit, where it envisions having thousands of workers developing autonomous and electric vehicles. It's paying for the project using money earmarked to overhaul its offices, and with the help of substantial tax incentives. Renovating the depot is estimated to take about four years. Ford plans to put around 2,500 employees into the depot and surrounding properties — it's amassing space for up to 5,000 people — and envisions using autonomous shuttles to ferry workers between the campus in Detroit's Corktown neighborhood and nearby cities such as Dearborn, the home of Ford's headquarters. "We're in a war for talent," Bill Ford said in an interview with Automotive News and affiliate Crain's Detroit Business. "And there will be no place in the country that anybody will be able to work that's a place like that. It's a very important branding thing for Ford. It's also important in terms of our intent. We wouldn't have done it if the cost didn't make sense." Community destination Ford Motor hopes the train station will be more attractive to in-demand talent than the cookie-cutter campuses of Silicon Valley or isolated suburban office parks. The company intends to rehabilitate the decrepit concourse into a community gathering spot that's open to the public — akin to San Francisco's Ferry Building, complete with restaurants and retail. Ford workers could be joined by supplier partners or software startups in the office space. And the company said it's considering residential space, potentially putting condos on the top floors. "I want this to be, and believe it will be, a really fun destination for people — both Detroiters and people coming in from outside of Detroit," Ford said. "It would be great if this was one of their first stops. It would be a great place to meet friends and family and then go from there." In addition to the train station, Ford bought a nearby low-rise building and plans to acquire other properties to create a campus totaling roughly 1.2 million square feet. Of that, Ford said three-quarters will be split equally among Ford and its partners, with the rest a mix of retail and residential space. Crain's Detroit Business has reported Ford is working to buy nearly 50 total properties in Corktown, many of which are empty lots and abandoned buildings. Bill Ford declined to divulge a price for the train station or how much it will cost to repair. (Its previous owner spent $8 million to replace its 1,100 broken windows and put in a freight elevator.) He said the project is being absorbed by an undisclosed amount of money the automaker set aside in 2016 to transform its Dearborn campus. Ford said the Dearborn renovation, which outside experts have estimated to cost $1.2 billion, will continue and the company's headquarters will remain in Dearborn, seven miles west. "We're spending no extra money than we already had in our forward budget," he said. Business case Some, including Ford shareholders, have questioned the business case for such a costly project while CEO Jim Hackett orders billions of dollars in cuts to improve the company's "operational fitness." Bill Ford said he thinks the effort will be well worth it. "We are again reinventing the future of transportation, just as we did 115 years ago," he said at his office in the automaker's 1950s-era headquarters known as the Glass House. "And that, to me, is going to be the power of this building. It won't just be a stand-alone, very beautiful building. It will very much be part of the fabric of the new transportation model. And our future at Ford will be largely invented there." 'What if?' Bill Ford first thought of buying the train station in 2017 as he was driving scouting out the Factory — a newly renovated brick building near the depot that now houses about 200 workers on Ford's electrified and autonomous vehicle teams. "I'd always had this vision that we would build the future of Ford Motor Co., particularly as it pertained to autonomy, in a city setting — because that's where these vehicles will be deployed and that's where we need to really try them out," he said. "And so, I would drive by the train station and I started asking myself: 'What if? Is this fantasy?' " It wasn't. Negotiations between Ford's real-estate arm and the depot's owner began in October and went smoothly, he said. The train station marks Bill Ford's third high-profile real-estate project in the region, following extensive renovations of Ford's historic Rouge complex and construction of Ford Field, a football stadium that brought the Detroit Lions back downtown after 27 years in suburban Pontiac. "This dwarfs them all, in my opinion, because of what it means for the future," Bill Ford said. "The future of mobility should be created in Detroit — and I believe it will be." .

Bob, this is the China market variant of the H62X, the JH62X. http://www.360che.com/news/180616/96799.html

There's no such thing as Bosch/Cummins common rail. The superb "XPI" high pressure common rail fuel injection system on ISG and ISX engines, and the entire Scania engine range, is design and produced by a joint venture between Cummins and Scania. The high pressure common rail fuel injection system used on Mercedes-Benz/Detroit Diesel engines is Bosch, and it's quite good. The medium duty ISB and ISC use Bosch-sourced common rail.

Ford's train depot purchase has ties to founding family's heritage Alexa St. John, Automotive News / June 14, 2018 DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co.'s purchase of a blighted former train depot in Detroit as the centerpiece of an urban technology campus carries symbolism that likely factored into the automaker's decision to undertake such an ambitious rehabilitation project. The depot, abandoned 30 years ago, is in a part of Detroit known as Corktown, which has ties to company founder Henry Ford's Irish heritage. Corktown is Detroit's oldest surviving Irish neighborhood, and thus a natural place for Ford Motor to play a role in the city's revitalization. Ford ancestry Most of Henry Ford's ancestors left Ireland in the early 1800s. Ford's grandfather, John Ford, and father, William Ford, were among the 1 million U.S. immigrants from Cork, Ireland, in 1847. Henry Ford, born in 1863 in what is now Dearborn, Mich., grew up with a curiosity for machines amid Detroit's industrial boom. Henry Ford's heritage influenced even his early automobile business decisions. He selected Cork as the site for the first purpose-built Ford factory outside the U.S. in 1917. Much of the Cork factory was dedicated to Ford tractor production. The last Model T ever built, Ford's most iconic contribution to the auto industry, came from the Cork factory's production line in the 1920s, along with the Model A, Model BF, Model Y, Prefect, Anglia, Escort, Cortina and Sierra. Though the company name has since officially changed from Henry Ford & Son, it still uses that moniker in Ireland — the only place in the world it does so. Ford also has the biggest network of dealers of any automotive manufacturer in Ireland, the company said in a statement, with 52 dealerships across the country. Bill Ford, Ford Motor executive chairman and a great-grandson of Henry Ford, celebrated the company's centennial in Ireland last year. "Ford has deep roots in Cork, not only through my family's historical connection, but also through the impact that the Ford factory has had as an engine for prosperity for the area over many decades," Bill Ford said in a statement during the family's travels to Ireland last April. Neighborhood Bill Ford spoke nostalgically of that connection last year, when Ford Motor revealed plans to put about 200 employees into a former hosiery factory in Corktown that it bought and renovated. More than 30 years after Ford closed its Cork factory in 1984, the company is re-emphasizing its cultural heritage, but this time in Detroit. "Henry Ford is synonymous with Detroit," former Detroit mayor Roman Gribbs once said. The train depot Ford bought, known as Michigan Central Station, opened in 1914, 11 years after Henry Ford started his automobile company. Both entities thrived in parallel for much of the 20th century, though Ford's success in making cars more accessible to people contributed to the eventual decline of rail travel and the station's closure. The train station isn't the only Corktown property in which Ford has expressed interest. It has promised to reveal its plans for the area in more detail next week. The family that had owned the depot since 1995 said on Monday that it began having discussions with Ford in October. Ford, whose headquarters in Dearborn are seven miles west of the depot, has many ties to Detroit that go far beyond Corktown. Henry Ford's Piquette Avenue Plant, known as the birthplace of the Model T, is on the city's east side. Detroit's Renaissance Center, a series of 1970s office towers fronting the Detroit River that now house General Motors' headquarters, was conceived by Henry Ford's grandson, Henry Ford II, and financed largely by Ford Motor.

Senate Bill Aims to Repeal Federal Excise Tax on Heavy-Duty Trucks and Trailers David Cullen, Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT) / June 13, 2018 A bill introduced in the Senate on June 12 is the latest attempt to repeal the12% federal excise tax (FET) on the sale of heavy-duty trucks and trailers. The FET-- originally imposed in 1917 to help finance U.S. military operations in World War I-- has grown steadily over the years. It currently tacks $12,000 to $22,000 onto the price of a new heavy-duty truck, according to the American Truck Dealers division of the National Automobile Dealers Association. “This burdensome tax creates excessive costs that are passed on to truckers, who play an essential role in maintaining our nation’s economy,” said Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO), who is the sponsor of the new bill (designated S. 3052), which seeks to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. “I was happy to introduce legislation to repeal it.” ATD noted in a statement supporting the Senate bill that it is similar in scope to the Heavy Truck, Tractor and Trailer Retail Federal Excise Tax Repeal Act (H.R. 2946), introduced by Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) in June 2017, which ATD also supports. The House bill currently has 17 bipartisan cosponsors. The dealer association said that from June 20-21, it will host its annual ATD Legislative Fly-In to Capitol Hill to rally bipartisan support for S. 3052 and H.R. 2946. “It is the highest excise tax Congress levies on a percentage basis on any product, including alcohol and tobacco,” said ATD Chairwoman Jodie Teuton, vice president of Kenworth of Louisiana and Hino of Baton Rouge. “It’s time for Congress to repeal this tax, and we thank Sen. Gardner for his leadership on this important issue.” ATD noted that other supporter of FET repeal include Bendix Commercial Vehicles, Daimler Trucks North America, Mack Trucks, National Trailer Dealers Association, Navistar, NTEA, Truck & Engine Manufacturers Association, Truck Renting and Leasing Association, Truck Trailer Manufacturers Association, and Volvo Trucks North America.

Ford says fuel cell venture with Daimler will close Reuters / June 13, 2018 DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. and Daimler AG are winding down a joint venture formed to develop automotive fuel cell technology, Ford said on Wednesday, as both companies plan to take their respective fuel cell technology development in-house. The Automotive Fuel Cell Cooperation Corp venture, based in Burnaby, British Columbia, will close this summer, Ford said in response to an inquiry by Reuters. Despite years of research and investment by major automakers and startups, vehicles powered by fuel cells remain a tiny niche in the global vehicle market. Honda Motor Co. and General Motors Co. are collaborating on fuel cell development, and Toyota Motor Corp. is ramping up efforts to mass-produce fuel cell stacks. Earlier this week, Ballard Power Systems Inc. extended a contract with Volkswagen AG's Audi unit to work on fuel cell development. Ford "will take fuel cell stack development in-house, as well as leverage the supply base, and close Automotive Fuel Cell Cooperation Corp. by summer 2018," the company said. "Both companies will continue to explore ways to cooperate on developing fuel cell stack modules." Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche earlier this year indicated that the German automaker was shifting its focus toward battery-electric vehicles. The venture employed about 200 people, according to its website.

Germany orders Daimler to recall 774,000 diesels in Europe Bloomberg / June 11, 2018 Daimler AG was ordered to recall 774,000 vehicles in Europe after two meetings with Germany’s top regulator failed to allay concerns about irregularities in the Mercedes-Benz maker’s diesel emissions. The carmaker will upgrade engine software in Vito vans as well as the GLC SUV and C-Class sedan, Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer said Monday in a statement from Berlin, after meeting with Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche for a second time in two weeks. The government is ordering “an immediate formal recall because of prohibited shutoff devices,” Scheuer said. While a setback for a company that’s steadfastly denied cheating on diesel emissions, the software-focused recall means Daimler escaped more costly measures such as fines or a hardware fix. Speaking with reporters after the announcement, Zetsche said talks with the government had been “constructive.” Government pressure Germany has ratcheted up pressure on Daimler to specify models and the number of vehicles that needed recalling to adjust their exhaust systems, criticizing the company’s piecemeal response to concerns about excessive pollution from its diesel vehicles. The recall comes nearly three years after Volkswagen AG’s sweeping emissions violations. Unlike VW, which admitted duping official emissions tests and faces costs of some 26 billion euros ($31 billion) in fines, buybacks and recalls globally, Daimler has rejected wrongdoing. As the diesel fallout rumbles on, German prosecutors also on Monday named Rupert Stadler, head of VW’s Audi unit, a suspect in the cheating scandal. Unapproved functions Germany’s automotive regulator KBA found five unapproved software functions in Daimler’s Euro 6 diesel engines, affecting as many as 1 million vehicles in Germany, Bild am Sonntag reported Sunday. This follows the KBA instructing the carmaker in May to recall 4,923 Vito vans worldwide that don’t comply with regulations. Daimler at the time said it would go to court if necessary to overturn the order. The company said Monday it’s considering an appeal. The models aren’t currently available in the U.S., according to the brand’s U.S. site. “We don’t see any evidence that Daimler was designing software to deliberately cheat on emission testing,” said Arndt Ellinghorst, an analyst with Evercore ISI in London, who estimated the cost to be less than 100 million euros. “With this recall, fines are off the table.” Daimler already voluntarily recalled some 3 million vehicles in the EU last year, alongside similar moves by VW and BMW, for software updates to improve emissions performance. Liberal interpretations of loose European Union rules on car emissions, ultimately resulting in many cities failing EU pollution limits, have led to a number of spats between authorities and carmakers. Daimler relies on diesel vehicles for profit and to lower the carbon-dioxide output of its vehicles to meet environmental regulations. Threat of fine Scheuer had threatened the carmaker with as much as 3.75 billion euros in penalties related to diesel-engine emissions irregularities, Spiegel magazine reported following Zetsche’s earlier meeting. For context, during previous standoffs on diesel practices, the ministry failed to make much headway on holding carmakers accountable. In 2016, Opel, then owned by General Motors Co., didn’t end up facing sanctions after then-Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt raised doubts about the legality of devices used in its engine software. The same year, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV snubbed Dobrindt’s request for a meeting to discuss emissions. The country’s automotive industry has been under intense scrutiny since Volkswagen revealed in September 2015 it had rigged as many as 11 million diesel-powered cars to cheat on official emissions tests. Municipalities, battling excessive levels of smog-inducing nitrogen oxide mainly produced by diesel vehicles, have been considering bans. Hamburg made the first move last month with restrictions on two streets. Mercedes recalled more than 3 million cars across Europe almost a year ago for a software patch for their emissions systems.

When you asked your local Mack brand distributor for the name of their regional sales, service or parts representative (whoever you seek), what was their response?

https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/44430-new-common-rail-mp8/?page=2&tab=comments#comment-330572

2019 Ram launch slows to a trickle Larry Vellequette, Automotive News / June 11, 2018 Delayed EPA approval for key versions of the redesigned Ram 1500 could spoil the brand's plan to flood the market with old and new pickups this year and possibly overtake the Chevrolet Silverado in sales. Nearly five months after the start of production of the 2019 Ram 1500 — known as the DT — the only models EPA-certified for sale are two- and four-wheel-drive versions equipped with the standard 5.7-liter Hemi V-8. DT model Ram 1500s began arriving at U.S. dealerships in the second half of March, but dealers haven't yet received the 3.6-liter V-6 version or the 5.7-liter V-8 with an optional 48-volt belt-start generator. The belt-start generator, a fuel-saving mild-hybrid device, is standard with the V-6. "I have customers looking for them and asking about them every week," said one Ram dealer in Michigan. It's unclear why 2019 Rams with belt-start generators are not available. The delay also could result from the EPA being far more stringent with automakers in its testing in the wake of the Volkswagen emissions scandal. FCA and the EPA remain locked in litigation over the automaker's previous use of its 3.0-liter EcoDiesel engine in the Ram 1500 and Jeep Grand Cherokee, which resulted in delayed certification for the 2017 and 2018 EcoDiesel Ram 1500s. Still, after a high-profile launch at this year's Detroit auto show, the slow rollout of 2019 Ram 1500s appears to be suppressing the pickups' sales. The lack of a V-6 this long after launch is a problem. In the old truck, the V-6 represented about 20 percent of sales. Though Ram pickup sales were up 4.3 percent in May compared with 2017, it was the first monthly sales increase this year. Year to date, sales are down 8.4 percent. However, FCA US said retail sales of the Ram 1500 pickup were up 18 percent in May to 27,011. Last year, Ram appeared to hatch a plan to knock the Silverado out of the No. 2 spot in the full-size pickup segment in 2018 by continuing to build the previous-version DS, backed by discounts — while ramping up production of the new Ram 1500. But while Ram sales are off this year, Ford's F series, the top seller, is up 5.7 percent; Silverado sales are estimated to have increased 11 percent. This time a year ago, Ram and Silverado were running almost neck and neck. Like Ford and General Motors, FCA reports sales of its half-ton light-duty pickups together with its heavy-duty three-quarter and one-ton pickups and normally does not differentiate model-level retail sales. Its monthly totals also do notbreak down sales by DS or DT versions. With the DS Ram still in production, FCA has been able to wage an incentive war with GM and Ford, beginning last month after a fire at a magnesium supplier in Michigan interrupted Ford F-150 production for a short period. In Texas, for example, Ram was advertising $4,000 in bonus cash on top of $13,500 in savings on a 2018 Ram 1500 Lone Star Silver crew cab. Through May, average incentives of $6,578 per vehicle are 11 percent higher than in the first five months of 2017, according to Motor Intelligence, citing Autodata Corp. data. But Motor Intelligence said that average factory incentives for Ram pickups in May had dropped to their lowest level since January. Dealers say interest in the redesigned Ram 1500 remains strong, even if customers can't yet buy or order one equipped with the more fuel-efficient 3.6-liter V-6 engine. Indeed, according to suppliers, FCA's Sterling Heights Assembly Plant, where the redesigned Ram 1500 is built, is scheduled to operate six days per week through Sept. 4, including two scheduled Sunday operations in July and scheduled holiday shifts on Independence Day and Labor Day.

Scania Group Press Release / June 8, 2018 The bright yellow Scania Citywide gas buses in the Arctic city of Akureyri are powered by methane gas from a nearby landfill site. Learn how the buses help the local community, while also lowering their carbon footprint and their use on fossil fuels. .

Volvo Trucks Press Release / June 7, 2018 . . . . .

Freightliner Trucks Press Release / June 8, 2018 . . . .

99 percent of energy production in Norway comes from clean hydropower.

This suspension has a reasonably good ride.

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GM powertrain exec says diesels can be saved Christiaan Hetzner, Automotive News / June 8, 2018 TURIN – Tumbling diesel sales in Europe do not signal a grim future for the technology, General Motors powertrain executive Pierpaolo Antonioli said, citing new evidence suggesting nitrogen oxide emissions can be cut to an absolute minimum. GM, which kept its Turin [diesel engine] engineering center despite selling Opel/Vauxhall to PSA Group (Peugeot/Citroen) last year, was first to market a truck with an EPA-certified 30 mpg highway rating with the diesel versions of the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon. In January, the automaker announced a 3.0-liter inline-six turbodiesel planned for the next-generation Chevrolet Silverado. “Internal combustion engines, including the diesel, can still play a role in the years to come," Antonioli, who bears global responsibility inside GM for development of diesel engines, said Wednesday at the Automotive News Europe Congress here during a panel discussion titled “What is the Future of Diesels?” “Bosch said just a few weeks ago that they can already achieve very low emissions, especially for NOx, without increasing the cost of the combustion system,” Antonioli said. Robert Bosch, the world’s largest auto parts manufacturer and a leading supplier of diesel injection systems, said it has developed a method to cut on-road NOx emissions to just 13 milligrams per kilometer, far below the 80 mg/km test bench limit under Euro 6 regulations and the 168 mg/km limit that takes effect in September as part of the introduction of RDE real-world testing. Sales of diesels continue to plunge after threats in February 2017 of potential diesel bans in Germany. In May, domestic registrations of diesels amounted to just 31.5 percent of the overall figure in Europe’s largest car market. This was the second-lowest level in Germany since the outbreak of the crisis, as news of Hamburg’s first ban helped suppress demand. Diesel adoption rates in the U.K. were not much better at a 32.5 percent share. Greg Archer, a director responsible for clean vehicles policy at the Brussels-based advocacy group Transport & Environment, said the industry had only itself to blame because of a comprehensive abuse of regulatory loopholes. “The blame lays not only on Volkswagen but every OEM that thought thermal windows and other strategies to turn down their exhaust treatment systems’ effectiveness were legitimate -- they,” said Archer, an avowed diesel opponent. “The more your lawyers try to defend the indefensible, the more the brand and the product are discredited. “The pain is not ending. It will go on and on, and the bans will proliferate unless OEMs constructively engage to sort out the mess.” To redeem their reputation, Archer recommended four initiatives. First, carmakers should clean up the 40 million Euro 5 and Euro 6 diesels on the road, including making hardware modifications. Then they need to support new regulations, such as Euro 7 emissions standards, which ensure diesels pollute no more than gasoline-powered cars. Third, a Europe-wide fund must be introduced to financially support cities’ clean-air plans. Last, the automakers should submit their cars to the scrutiny of credible, nonpartisan organizations that independently test diesels. “Diesel won’t disappear in Europe,” Archer said, “but whether the market share in 2025 is 10 percent or 30 percent depends on how the industry responds to the crisis.”

Ford to mine, monitor vehicle data to enhance commercial fleet performance Michael Martinez, Automotive News / June 7, 2018 DETROIT -- Ford Commercial Solutions, a branch of the automaker's mobility unit, is expanding digital services to help fleet operators better monitor and maintain vehicles. One is a product that wirelessly beams information on a vehicle's GPS location, mileage, fuel usage, operating conditions, and driver behavior and more to the cloud without the need for third-party plug-in devices. The second service is similar but is specific to law enforcement agencies and lets them collect data about a vehicle's fuel consumption, carbon dioxide emissions, health and driver seat-belt usage. Ford Motor Co. is working to connect all of its vehicles by 2019 and has partnered with Verizon Connect to do so. The automaker said it has reached service agreements with connected-vehicle companies Geotab and Spireon to give fleet operators a choice of what telematics service they use. "Our new products are tailored to serve fleets of all types, whether they're run by law enforcement, composed predominantly of Ford vehicles, or are large multi-make fleets that want more insight from their Ford vehicles," Lee Jelenic, CEO of Ford Commercial Solutions, said in a statement Thursday. The products are among the first offered by Ford Smart Mobility since the automaker reorganized the unit this year. Executives have said mobility services could deliver higher profit margins than Ford's core automotive business, and Ford is working on how to monetize emerging technologies. Commercial fleets are one of the automaker's largest targets because it dominates the U.S. market with the Transit and Transit Connect vans and the F-series pickup. The products introduced Thursday are powered by Ford's open cloud-based platform, the Transportation Mobility Cloud, which is built and operated by Autonomic, a Silicon Valley startup Ford acquired this year. The goal of the Transportation Mobility Cloud is to provide fully established, back-end technology so Ford and other automakers can focus on creating products customers want. Sundeep Madra, a co-founder of Autonomic and vice president of Ford X, which oversees Autonomic's work, said dealers and fleet operators are increasingly interested in how the cloud can help them. He said dealers could use the cloud to alert customers of maintenance issues and schedule appointments to a time when the repair shop would have loaner cars available. "They're really excited about that coming together," Madra said Thursday at the TU-Automotive technology conference in Novi, Mich. "The cloud enables all that to happen." .

They were, last time I was in Johannesburg. It's long been popular there.....with the 60 Series.

The 'real journey' is just beginning for Shell's Starship truck Fleet Owner / June 6, 2018 JACKSONVILLE, FL. The Shell Starship ended its 2,300-mile trip from San Diego, CA, to Jacksonville, FL, on Tuesday with a presentation highlighting the tractor-trailer’s efforts to improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions. But, as Shell’s Chris Guerrero pointed out, the real journey is only beginning. The goal with the ship’s maiden voyage was to explore the Class 8 truck’s potential to increase freight-ton efficiency by transporting a 39,000-lb. payload of artificial reef material from California to Florida. The long-term goal is to drive the fuel-economy conversation into the future. “There’s more work left to be done,” said Guerrero, the global marketing director for Shell Lubricants. “Four years ago, when we talked about the possibility of working with Bob Sliwa and AirFlow Truck Company, we recognized there was an opportunity for us to do more than test low-viscosity fluids in fuel-economy applications. That’s something we do regularly. We thought there was an opportunity to raise the level of discourse and dialogue around fuel economy, and what’s possible. “Through perseverance and hard work – something every truck driver is well-acquainted with – we arrived here today, not in Jacksonville, but at a crossroads of where we move going forward.” The trip Sliwa, who partnered with Shell to design and build the “hyper-aerodynamic, super fuel-efficient” truck, also piloted the Starship across the country, battling real-world conditions truckers see daily, like traffic, bad weather and even a tire blowout, along with unique challenges. The truck was bombarded by curious passersby throughout its journey, both on the highway and during stops along the way, including a state trooper who pulled the truck over as it entered Florida. “We weren’t doing anything wrong, he was just so enthralled and intrigued by the truck,” Sliwa said. “He told me during our stop autonomous vehicles are allowed in Florida now, and he didn’t know if it was autonomous, and I guess he wanted to see if the robot would stop when he lit him up.” Sliwa said the trooper, who does training for the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, eventually let them go, after taking plenty of pictures – to document the vehicle and, most likely, for himself. He wasn’t the only one, either. “All day long cars were coming by with cell phones, taking video (and) pictures,” Sliwa said. “The truckers were some of the worst. Going through California, a trucker was going 49 mph in the fast lane with his four-way flashers because he wanted us to pass him on the right so he could make a movie. “The guy wanted to see the truck, but that raised my stress level through the roof.” The technology The truck took three years and 18,000 man-hours to conceive and construct, all with Shell Rotella financing, and Sliwa’s company not only built it, but he was charged with delivering it to Jacksonville intact. Mission accomplished. Even the extremely low-profile trailer skirts – only 3-4 inches off the ground – made the trek undamaged. “This is a very expensive truck,” Sliwa quipped. “Shell paid a lot of money for me to build it – although way less than the SuperTruck folks.” The “co-engineered” Starship features a custom-made cab crafted entirely of carbon fiber; active grill shutters that open for cooling, when necessary, and close to improve aerodynamics when not; boat tail, trailers skirts and automatic tractor fairings for streamlining; automated tire inflation system; and a 5,000-watt solar array covering the trailer roof that powers the cab’s air conditioner. Shell intended to use Hyliion’s hybrid electric axle system, which provides a power boost uphill and captures braking energy downhill to recharge the tractor’s battery pack, but the project ran out of time. “The technology’s not on the tractor yet,” Hyliion CEO Thomas Healy said. “It was one of those things where, as we were coming to the completion of this, timing-wise it didn’t work out. But in the next couple of months here, we’ll replace the rear axle of the tractor with a fully electric axle, and then mount our battery-box control systems on it, and make into a hybrid truck.” The results The Starship truck’s first-of-its-kind testing concluded May 24 and was third-party verified by the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE). The truck achieved an average fuel economy of 8.94 miles per gallon compared to the average U.S. fuel economy for transport trucks of 6.4 miles per gallon. They averaged 10.2 mpg during one 100-mile stretch in Texas. Those results were with a gross vehicle weight of nearly 73,000 lbs., which is 28% heavier than average, according to joint statistics compiled by the EPA and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. But the most important number, said Bob Mainwaring, Shell Lubricants’ technology manager for innovation, is 178.4, which is the ton-miles per gallon for freight-ton efficiency, a more relevant measurement of energy intensity that combines a cargo’s weight with the amount of fuel consumed. The North American average for trucks is 72 ton-miles per gallon, according to a NACFE report. “Our goal with the Starship Initiative is to challenge how the trucking industry is defined,” Mainwaring said. “Through this road trip, we were able to test the Starship truck along with a number of technologies available today to provide insight into what trucking fleets and owner/operators could consider adopting to help reduce fuel use and emissions as they haul heavy loads. “This includes optimized aerodynamics, drivetrain and operational efficiencies, and low viscosity lubricants.” With Starship technology on all the 2 million trucks in the U.S., Shell extrapolates an estimated 229 million less tons of CO2 entering the atmosphere per year – a 60% reduction in emissions. “These and other learnings are not the final results,” Mainwaring said. “They are simply the start of our ongoing learning.”

Freightliner Unveils All-Electric eCascadia, eM2 Models Transport Topics / June 6, 2018 PORTLAND, Ore. — Freightliner Trucks introduced the first all-electric versions of its heavy-duty Cascadia and medium-duty M2 models here, a major step toward bringing a full lineup of electric trucks to the North American market. The first-generation eCascadia and eM2 test vehicles were unveiled here June 6 at the Portland International Raceway during Daimler Trucks’ capital market and technology day. Freightliner plans to deliver 30 of the trucks to customers later this year. This “electric innovation fleet” will further test the vehicles in real-world operations, the company said. The manufacturer intends to begin series production of the two models in 2021. The Class 8 eCascadia, which offers 730 peak horsepower and a maximum range of up to 250 miles on a single charge, is designed for local and regional distribution and drayage operations. The vehicle can charge up to 80% in about 90 minutes, the company said. The eM2 has 480 peak horsepower, a range of up to 230 miles and can charge to 80% in about 60 minutes, the company said, adding that the vehicle is well-suited to local distribution, pickup and delivery, food and beverage and final-mile delivery. Martin Daum, the head of Daimler’s global truck and bus business, said the company has set out to be the clear industry leader in e-mobility. “We were the first movers on electric trucks and we strive to provide the leading electric truck in each relevant segment,” said Daum, who arrived at the presentation in a Fuso eCanter model, a fully electric Class 4 cabover that already is in production. “These innovative trucks reflect DTNA’s commitment to bring practical, game-changing technology to market,” said Daimler Trucks North America CEO Roger Nielsen. Nielsen asked the event production crew to cut the music as the eCascadia and M2 drove into view to illustrate how quietly the vehicles run. Nielsen entered in a Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley, an all-electric school bus from Thomas Built Buses, another division of DTNA. The bus, which has a 100-mile range, is set to enter limited production in 2019. .