Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/959367
24 commercial carrier journal | april 2018 Workhorse, UPS collaborating on electric delivery truck U PS announced it will deploy 50 plug-in electric delivery trucks and collaborate with Workhorse Group to design the vehicles from scratch. UPS and Workhorse said that following real-world test deployments on urban routes in Atlanta, Dallas and Los Angeles, they expect to fine-tune the design in time to deploy a larger fleet next year. Carlton Rose, UPS president of global fleet maintenance and engineering, said he expects the electric vehicles to be priced competitively with conventional-fueled trucks without subsi- dies. Rose said the all-electric trucks will deliver by day and recharge overnight. "With our scale and real-world duty cycles, these new electric trucks will be a quantum leap forward for the purpose-built UPS delivery fleet," Rose said. e goal is to make the new electric vehicles a standard UPS selection, where appro- priate, in its fleet of the future, he said. Steve Burns, Workhorse Group's chief execu- tive officer, said the Class 5 vehicles will feature a range of about 100 miles between charges and provide a nearly 400 percent fuel-efficiency improvement. "is innovation is the result of Workhorse working closely with UPS over the last four years refining our electric vehicles with hard-fought lessons from millions of road miles and thou- sands of packages delivered," Burns said. "Our goal is to make it easy for UPS and others to go electric by removing prior roadblocks to large- scale acceptance, such as cost." – Jason Cannon Volvo introduces new VNX heavy-haul series V olvo Trucks North America completed the overhaul of its heavy-duty truck lineup as it introduced its VNX series trac- tors for the heavy-haul market. The new three-model VNX family replaces the previous four-model VNX tractor lineup that VTNA stopped producing in conjunction with the D16 engine in early 2017, citing adverse market conditions. The new series is available in three configurations — VNX 300 daycab, VNX 400 42-inch sleeper and VNX 740 70-inch sleeper. Engine choices include the Volvo D13 and Cummins X15 Perfor- mance Series. The VNX rebirth follows VTNA's launch of its new VNL long- haul and VNR regional-haul tractors in 2017. This third phase completes the company's "Shape of Trucks to Come" initiative. The timing couldn't be better for VTNA to regain its footing in the heavy-haul segment, as the manufacturing, construction and housing markets continue strong growth and create increased de- mand for heavy-haul and severe-service tractors. While the new VNX shares many of the aggressive design cues and premium interiors as its VNL and VNR siblings, it is much more than a repurposed heavy-haul model. VTNA applied the lessons learned from its previous VNX tractor by offering a host of axle configurations, longer fifth-wheel slides, two engine choices, a 45-degree wheel cut, optional crawler gears and gross combination weight ratings from 125,000 to 225,000 pounds. Axle options include front axles with 16,000- or 20,000-pound ratings and 6×4 tandem, 8×4 tandem and 8×6 tridem rear axles with ratings from 46,000 to 55,000 pounds. "Customers wanted a little more rugged truck," said Magnus Koeck, VTNA's vice president of marketing and brand manage- ment. "The previous generation was too similar to the VNL series at the time. We had the appropriate engine with the D16, but we didn't have the appropriate chassis and truck. The new VNX is much more purpose-built." – Jeff Crissey This artistic rendering of a plug-in electric delivery truck shows what the newest UPS delivery vehicle could look like. The new Volvo VNX series includes a daycab and two sleeper configurations. Production is expected to begin in May.