VISIONS OF THE FUTURE

Whether you are driving a truck or running a transport business, there can be few things more important than having a clear view of where you are going and how you intend to get there.

And that is pretty well reflected in this issue of DAF Driver magazine. I won’t apologise for it being well loaded up with new product news, because that is a very important part of what’s going on at DAF at the moment. Two main strands to DAF’s development are making trucks safer and reducing their impact on the environment.

We’ve got a report from the launch of the construction versions of DAF’s new range of distribution trucks. It wasn’t long ago that tippers and mixers were seen as Public Enemy Number One on the streets ol London and other big cities, at least in the eyes of cyclists. The combination of high chassis and poor driver visibility of the trucks’ immediate surroundings saw to that.

Not any more! Incredibly, and showing DAF’s dedication to the British market, operators can now order a new DAF XDC 8x4 chassis-cab that meets Transport for London’s Three-Star Direct Vision standard straight out of the box, and, in the ultimate piece of future-proofing, an XD that meets the Five-Star standard without fitting third-party equipment or using a low-entry bin lorry cab. That’s an incredible achievement that bodes very well for operators who have to run their trucks in urban conditions.

The advantage here extends beyond road safety and reputational protection: the residual values of such a truck are likely to be far higher than those of its rivals when the time comes to move it on because it will be able to operate almost anywhere it is needed.

On the environmental front, DAF is now well on the way to normalising combustion-free trucking with the opening of a new production line dedicated to battery-electric trucks in its main assembly plant in Eindhoven. The technology has been extensively trialled, particularly here in the UK, and will become suitable for an increasing number of applications as time moves on.

All the latest DAF products were present at the mega ride and drive event held this Spring at the amazing Millbrook Proving Ground, including the electric trucks. A few years ago you would have expected most visitors to walk past the electric offerings to join the queue for the big 530 bhp beasts, but this year the situation was quite reversed. Most forward-thinking operators now seem to accept that electric trucks will play at least a part in their operations in the mediumterm future and are anxious to try them. The driving experience is actually quite inspirational: not least the seemingly bottomless torque of the electric motor, the silence of operation, and the knowledge that the truck is effectively refuelling itself free of charge everytime it slows up on the regenerative brake.

One thing is plain though, and that is that driver skill in managing the vehicle’s momentum, knowing when to use the regenerative braking and understanding what’s going on in the battery department, will play a key role in the success of the vehicles.

And returning to the subject of bottomless torque… that’s it from me for now! Enjoy the issue!