PowerTorque March 2023

IS THE MAN A CONTENDER?

JUST A THOUGHT

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Perhaps the trucking industry should take a lesson from the Boy Scouts, always be prepared. This is something which the trucking industry doesn’t have a good track record on.

Where we do have a very good track record is reacting quickly and effectively to problems and issues and solving them in a straightforward and practical manner. It is this very can-do attitude of the trucking industry which has seen it become the predominant player in the transportation and movement of freight around this country, while other forms of transport have, pretty much, stayed the same.

Now, there are some problems which come along with this ability to solve problems quickly and effectively. There is a tendency to not look too far down the track ahead, because we are expecting things to go wrong and the conditions to change. Most of the time this is an effective strategy in the trucking industry, only concentrating on problems in front of you and not worrying about problems from a few years hence

The trucking industry does need to think now about how it’s going to be doing its business in 2040 and investigating what the likely legislative and economic limitations there are going to be to its activities at that point.

The big ticket item here is, of course, climate change and the restriction on carbon emissions. Statistically the only way to effectively bring down carbon emissions at the rate which the government has stated as its aim, is to go hard early on, to enable the more difficult carbon emissions to be reduced later, when technology exists to solve the issue.

This means there is going to be major change in the way that the trucking industry shifts freight soon. It’s not going to happen all at once, but it will happen over time, and we can be certain that the speed of change will accelerate as momentum picks up.

There’s no point in burying our heads in the sand. These things are going to change it’s not simply a matter of getting rid of your diesel truck and replacing it with a battery electric truck, or hydrogen truck, or a drone. There’s much more to it than that. The suitability of different forms of freight transport will have changed.

Transport businesses are likely to be organised in different ways into the future. The way that the vehicles powered by electric or hydrogen are used is likely to change the business model of any normal road transport business.

It may be that it’s smaller operations find it difficult to operate in the new environment, while the bigger larger national corporations find it easier to exist in the new paradigm. The thing is, we don’t know how it’s going to play out. What we need to be doing now is getting the best brains in the business to start thinking about this issue, creating models which will survive in the new era, and models which will make money for road transport businesses after 2040.

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EDITOR

THIRD GENERATION OPERATION

During a period when many multi-generational trucking businesses are selling up, it’s nice to find a thriving third generation operation looking to the future and looking to grow. Tim Giles talks to Mitch Kelly at his home base in Toowoomba, Queensland.

22 IS THE MAN A CONTENDER?

The latest on offer from the MAN brand brings the range bang up to date, they tick all of the boxes, but the question remains, in the B-double market, is the MAN a contender? PowerTorque takes the latest model out on the highway to test its credentials.

28 SEARCHING FOR HIGHER PRODUCTIVITY

Marcay Transport is always searching for higher productivity in hauling grain and fertiliser in rural areas of in country Victoria and Southern New South Wales, but the operation is hampered by the complex rules and the interstate differences.

32 SCANIA GO ELECTRIC

Every truck manufacturer in the world has to have an alt-power truck and some examples are starting to arrive in Australia, this

time Scania go electric and Tim Giles gets a chance to take the truck out for a test drive.

38 PREPARING A TRUCKING BUSINESS FOR ELECTRIC

There is a building inevitability about the move to alternative power, PowerTorque sat down with Paul Ilmer, Vice President Emerging Technology Business development at Volvo, so he could explain how to start preparing a trucking business for electric trucks, and a for a future without diesel engines.

43 FUSO FORWARD TO ELECTRIC TRANSITION

The next ten years are going to see major changes in the trucks on offer from the major truck manufacturers, so PowerTorque got a chance to ask some questions about how Daimler is taking Fuso forward in the next few years.

DEALERS

41

KEEPING TRUCKS UPRIGHT

One of the priorities for trucking operators, especially those in the livestock game, is keeping trucks upright and stable. PowerTorque test drives a new technology to assess its effectiveness.

Standard Issue

08 NEWS AND VIEWS

Three top awards for quick thinking, workshop management and technical achievement, plus there’s records broken in the truck market.

46 MINIMUM RATES, SAME DOG, DIFFERENT LEG

A leaked document has confirmed that the Albanese Labor Government is actively preparing to revive the RSRT.

52 CONNECTED ROADS ARE SAFER ROADS

To increase safety on our roads, we need to utilise all of the technology we have at hand, reckons Anthony Laras, National Manager of Transport, Teletrac Navman.

54 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ISN’T ABOUT TO MAKE US ALL JOBLESS JUSTYET

Warren Clark, NatRoad CEO is wondering whether artificial intelligence can do his job, instead of him, or your job, instead of you.

60 IDEAL ELECTRIC BREWERY WORKHORSE

PowerTorque’s European CorrespondentWill Shiers reckons battery-powered trucks might be the ideal brewery workhorse

64 TECH KNOW

Meritor explains just how simple looking after a Permalube driveline can be.

60

• Supporting drivers for more than 50 years

• Seating – on a higher level

A GENUINE HIGHWAY HERO

Adelaide truck driver James Rundle was recognised as a Bridgestone Bandag Highway Guardian after coming to the aid of a driver who had rolled off the side of a road and down a steep embankment in South Australia.

The Musico Refrigerated Transport driver was en route to deliver eggs when he came across suspicious tyre marks on the highway. After initially thinking it was a past incident, James doubled back to the scene to reinvestigate and discovered a driver trapped in their rolled over vehicle down the embankment.

He alerted emergency services and administered first aid to the crash victim, waiting alongside them until they were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The driver had been trapped for several hours when they were found, and James’ actions saved their life.

TRUCK SALES RECORDS FALL

Yet again the instability created by the pandemic and the extraordinary demand for trucks in the past couple of years has created a situation where most truck sales records fall yet again, according to the2022 results released by the Truck Industry Council.

The market has been skewed by the white hot demand for both trucks and trailers. In many cases it is not the truck itself which affects sales numbers, but the ability of the truck makers to manage their supply chains and maximise sales numbers by getting as many trucks as possible into the hands of the customers.

This anomaly was demonstrated in December when Volvo out sold Kenworth in the heavy duty truck segment of the market. Kenworth is limited by the sheer number it can push through its Bayswater manufacturing plant. However, for Volvo, the production numbers from the Wacol plant were supplemented by trucks built in the company’s plants elsewhere in the world and imported fully built up.

The end of the year still sees Kenworth as the number one heavy duty truck brand in the market, with 3,002 trucks sold in 2022, and Volvo coming in second with a total of 2,539. Third in the heavy duty race was Isuzu, followed by Scania and then UD Trucks.

Overall truck sales topped the charts with a total of 44,379 trucks sold in 2022, up from the previous record of 41,404 from last year. Both of these results put the long standing 2008 record of 36,620 well into the shade.

Isuzu demonstrated its highly organised and well oiled supply chain machine by registering 1,250 trucks in December 2022, but still short of the 1,521 the brand managed to achieve back in June 2022.

Isuzu also dominated the medium duty sector and gained a considerable lead in market share, up to 46.4 per cent (in December it topped out at 52 per cent). These figures are aided by the ongoing hiatus in truck sales of some models for Hino, as the company works through its emission testing issues.

TEAM GLOBAL EXPRESS GO ELECTRIC

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) announced $20.1 million in funding to Team Global Express (Global Express) towards a $44.3 million project, the ‘Depot of the Future’, to integrate battery electric vehicles within its transport and logistics operations.

The order from Team Global Express is the largest order, to date, globally, for Volvo medium duty electric and the largest order

of electric trucks in Australia so far. 36 Volvo FL Electric have been ordered. These will be equipped with four 66kWh battery packs and utilise a 600-volt single motor electric drive system with twospeed automated transmission and a range of up to 300km, a GVM of 16T. Payload for the quad battery FL is expected to be 5,900kg in this application.

24 all-electric Fuso eCanters are

CRAIG ROSENEDER AWARD

Jason Button, who works for CHS Broadbent, was named as the winner of the 2022 Craig Roseneder Award. Jason has been Maintenance Manager to CHS Broadbent for 8 years and has been in the technical and maintenance field for more than 30 years.

During his time at CHS Broadbent, Jason has implemented a system that has significantly

reduced down time for large fleet of vehicles. He also introduced an automated safety management system.

As the winner of the award, Jason will travel on an allexpenses paid trip to the US to attend the US Technology and Maintenance Council’s 2023 Annual Meeting and Transportation Technology Exhibition.

also part of a carbon reduction project. The pioneering eCanter was the first electric truck from an OEM in Australia and is designed for local distribution in high-density urban areas using six liquidcooled lithium ion batteries with 82.8kW/h of energy storage. Power output is rated at 135kW, while 390Nm of torque can be delivered the moment the accelerator pedal is pressed.

ELECTRIC BENZ

Mercedes-Benz Trucks will begin a local validation program for the zero emission eActros in Australia and New Zealand this year. An all-electric eEconic will also be subject to a validation program in Australia.

Four eActros and one eEconic electric trucks have rolled off the production line and will operate with a wide range of fleets in Australia, while one eActros will operate in New Zealand.

Both Mercedes-Benz electric trucks have received full approval to operate on Australian roads as both have been designed to fit within our region’s width restrictions. As a result, there are no operation restrictions and customers do not require any specific permits regarding Australian Design Rule exemptions for the Mercedes-Benz trucks.

STEVEDORES OVERCHARGING

GREG BROWN HONOURED

MaxiPARTS Engineering Support Manager, Greg Brown was awarded with the 2022 Castrol Vecton Industry Achievement Award. He has been with the company for more than 30 years and been an active member of Australian Trucking Association’s Industry Technical Council (ITC) and plays a lead role with the ATA-ITC rigid drawbar Converter Dolly project.

NatRoad welcomed a long-awaited Productivity Commission (PC) report calling for broad reforms to Australia’s waterfront. The report identifies inefficiencies at the country’s big container ports that directly cost the economy about $600 million a year. The report finds “considerable variation” in Australia’s container terminals that have large impacts on businesses and consumers. Sustained disruptions to imports or exports magnify these costs across the economy.

“The point is well made that there’s a lot to be gained by making some practical and incremental

operational changes,” said Warren Clark, NatRoad CEO. “For example, truck operators have no choice about which terminal they use when picking up or dropping off a container, so must pay whatever price a terminal operator sets.

“Soaring increases in terminal access charges have flowed through to cargo owners (and consumers). The PC says voluntary protocols to address terminal operators’ abuse of market power should be strengthened and NatRoad endorses a proposal to regulate landside port charges by way of a federal industry code.”

ROAD REPAIR FUNDING

A new $41 million injection of road repair funding by the Victorian Government is welcome but heavy vehicle operators need to keep reporting damage as it becomes apparent, according to NatRoad. It says truckies must continue to be the eyes and ears of state and territory road agencies as floodwaters recede and new road dangers emerge.

“The Andrews Government’s

roadworks commitment now stands at $165m but the extent of repair bills right around Australia isn’t yet clear,” said NatRoad Chairman Paul Fellows. “The best thing operators can do is keep reporting issues to the relevant transport authorities, whether they be states or local councils. Stay active on your UHF radio and let other operators know when you see a new road issue.”

HIGH INTENSITY BRAKE PADS

Bendix’s Protrans HD Disc Pads have been specifically developed for high stress applications such as the stop and start conditions experienced by waste collection trucks, concrete agitators and buses working on inner city routes. The pads also feature Titanium Bedding-in technology to further reduce installation time as they’re ready to use without a bedding in procedure.

Protrans HD Disc features friction material that is formulated to cope with the high temperatures found in constant braking environments at high GVM loading, overcoming any fear of premature wear.

EFFLUENT CODE IN PLACE

The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) has registered a new national code of practice developed in partnership with the Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association (ALRTA) to reduce the hazards and risks associated with effluent spillage during the transport of livestock.

“The ‘Effluent Code’ is a practical guide that helps livestock transporters and other parties in the livestock supply chain meet their primary duty and other obligations under the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) when managing livestock effluent during road transport,” said Sal Petroccitto, NHVR CEO.

“It combines industry knowledge and experience in suggesting measures to minimise effluent loss that can be implemented at each stage of a land transport journey –from preparing livestock for transit to unloading – without impacting animal welfare. I’d like to congratulate ALRTA and the other parties involved for addressing this difficult issue and helping make the livestock transport task safer for all road users.”

ALRTA President Scott McDonald said ALRTA had worked with a wide range of stakeholders – including livestock producers, transport operators and drivers, vehicle manufacturers, agents, saleyards, feedlot managers, processors, regulators, animal welfare advocates, government agencies and the community – to develop a code that was both practical and workable.

ELECTRIC MAN DEMAND

The new electric heavy-duty truck from MAN is already seeing high demand before the start of production. German transport giant, DB Schenker is driving forward the electrification of its fleet and road freight transport. It plans to add 100 new MAN eTrucks to its fleet by 2026. The first vehicles are to be handed over in

EMERGENCY SERVICES EXEMPTION

The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) has partnered with AFAC, the National Council for Fire and Emergency Services, to deliver a fatigue exemption notice enabling emergency service agencies to manage vehicle operations more effectively while preparing for emergencies.

NHVR CEO, Sal Petroccitto, said the National Heavy Vehicle Volunteer

Emergency Services Work Diary and Record Keeping Exemption Notice 2023 (No.1) – which comes into effect on 1 February – will exempt drivers of fatigue-regulated vehicles from Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) work diary and record-keeper requirements when they are performing an emergency management activity for emergency services.

the first half of 2024.

“DB Schenker and MAN are walking the path to an electric future together,” said Alexander Vlaskamp, CEO of MAN Truck & Bus. “We are very pleased to have our first customer for the new eTruck. The demand in the market for this fully electric vehicle is already enormous.”

FIRST ELECTRIC DEALER CERTIFICATION

CMV Truck & Bus Derrimut have become Australia’s first fully certified Volvo Trucks Electric Vehicle (EV) Dealer in Australia. A team from the Workshop, Parts and Sales departments at CMV Truck & Bus undertook extensive training to become the first certified Volvo dealer in the country.

“We’re thrilled to have achieved all elements of Volvo Group’s rigorous EV certification process, allowing us to be the first certified Volvo Truck dealership in Australia” says Ross Greig, CMV Truck & Bus Derrimut Branch Manager.

CMV Truck & Bus Derrimut’s investments in these facilities and equipment has been made in order to service and maintain electric vehicles, with the site including dedicated bays for servicing electric trucks in addition to on-site charging stations.

GOLDSTAR ECANTER

Goldstar Transport has added the zero emission electric Fuso eCanter to its fleet. Goldstar Transport Managing Director, Sean Carren, runs the Perth-based company, which employs 400 people and has a fleet of more than 150 trucks. Sean says Goldstar Transport is pleased to invest in advanced trucks such as the eCanter.

RIGHTHAND

“Goldstar really strives to look after our people and give them the best equipment to do the job and the eCanter is part of our ongoing commitment to our people,”

explains Sean. “We have a social responsibility to do our bit and a quality product like the eCanter makes that a reality.”

The eCanter has a GVM of 7.5 tonnes and uses six liquid-cooled lithium ion batteries mounted in the eCanter frame to store 82.8kW/h of electricity (with 66kW/h of usable power) and feed a permanent magnet synchronous motor. Power output is rated at 135kW and 390Nm of torque can be delivered the moment the accelerator pedal is pressed.

EURO7 IS A MISTAKE SAYS LUNDSTEDT

In a commentary article from Global Volvo Group President, Martin Lundstedt, he says the proposed introduction of Euro7 is a mistake.

“We are powered up and on our way towards rapid decarbonisation of road transport in Europe, its biggest transformation yet and a technological turning point in its history,” said Martin in the article. “But our ambition and this development are now in political limbo with the Euro7 proposal for new pollutant emission standards for trucks and buses. As both a leader of a global manufacturer of trucks and buses, and representing the EU commercial vehicle industry in my role as Chairman of ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA)), I am deeply worried.”

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2. RIGHTHAND PAGE

THIRD-GENE OPERATI

RATION ON

When I took over the business, I think we had 11 trucks and 25 trailers, and now we’ve got 22 trucks and 50 trailers and dollies,” says Mitch Kelly, who now runs John Kelly Transport. “So, we’ve grown a lot in eight years and that’s been hard to manage. We’ve had to expand into freight management software which we’ve just gone through in the last 12 months.

“We’ve done away with the old connote books and everything’s online. Now we’ve got the freight management and we’ve got a long-haul console, so we can build loads on the computer, all integrated into one system.

“When I started running the show, my main goal was to build the company, increase our turnover, increase our profit margins, and start getting our own primary freight, which I’ve done. We do a mix of that; we complement some jobs with other jobs and we still do a lot of subcontracting work to bigger customers.

“We really pride ourselves on providing a really good service. We do that by making sure that the drivers are looked after and by trying to help them out as much as possible by minimising waiting time. It’s not perfect and we still have it every now and again but we’re doing our best to try and combat that.”

When an operation grows the business in this manner the owner has to keep looking ahead and maintain a clear strategy around the issues which come along with that growth. Mitch and his team have had a good look at the skeleton of the business to make sure it can support further expansion. It is important to look into the relationship with its financial structure and ability to manage cash flow.

“When your accounts receivable goes from $400,000 to over a million, there’s a lot of money to look for and that was one learning curve for me,” says Mitch. “Then the next one was trying to keep track of all the movements, all the paperwork, and that’s where the freight software system came in.

“We’ve just gone through that now, and I’m happy with where we are at the moment. Twelve months ago, I wasn’t, I was really stressed, it was all getting

out of control. Everything got too big, too fast, and it was just really hard to manage.”

The growth came from a number of factors coming together. Customers’ businesses were taking off, other trucking operators pulled out of the general freight market in Toowoomba, there were potential customers looking for another option, and Mitch is one of those people who hates to say no. However, he has had to learn to say that word more often, it’s just been so busy.

“At the start, people would come and see me and even if it seemed a bit too hard and outside of what we normally did. I was like: Stuff it we’ll have a go at it,” says Mitch. “We’ll try and make it work and we’ll do those smaller jobs. Then they grew into bigger jobs and then customers’ word of mouth gave us more growth.

“One of our biggest customers – we started off doing one or two movements a week for them. Now we’re probably doing 20 to 30 full trailers a week. Everywhere from Cairns to Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne. We’re just grabbing the bull by the horns and having a good go at it.”

BUSINESS ROOTS

The business was started by John Kelly, Mitch’s grandfather, in 1974. They will be celebrating the business’ 50-year anniversary in 2024.

“We’ll probably do up a few trucks to mark the anniversary in style,” says Mitch. “We’ve got a different logo with a 50th anniversary ribbon on it. We’re currently prepping for all that sort of stuff.”

Before starting up on his own in the 70s, John Kelly had been working for the Anderson family. Cyril and Curly Anderson were Western Transport, an iconic yellow fleet of B model Macks from the Darling Downs

“He used to do the run down to Sydney in an old B-model V8 Mack with a fridge van,” says Mitch. “Then he used to bring ice cream home for Pixie Ice Cream to Toowoomba. When he retired, he took on a general store in Toowoomba but he sort of got itchy feet. He missed driving trucks and he went out and bought a little truck and started doing a run to Brisbane for groceries fruit and vegetables and stuff.

During a period when many multi-generational trucking businesses are selling up, it’s nice to find a thriving thirdgeneration operation looking to the future with prospects to grow. PowerTorque talks to Mitch Kelly at his home base in Toowoomba, Queensland.

“From a small operation picking up produce for the general store in Toowoomba it grew as people wanted other goods picked up from Brisbane. Then it sort of went on from there and he started doing a lot of work for Ansett and then NQX, with the Macks and the old UDs, and then it just went on from there.

“Then, we started doing Adelaide and we’ve always done a lot of Adelaide, for a long time and a little bit of Perth and Melbourne, and now we’ve branched into Sydney. We probably do 10 or 11 loads a week into Sydney.”

By the mid 90s Mitch’s Pop retired, he had become ill with diabetes and that’s when Mitch’s father took over. Since then he also retired from working in the transport business, going over to help with the general store in 2015.

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

Before taking on the business Mitch worked for someone else for a little while. He also tried university but couldn’t come to terms with the lifestyle and left. He then did an accounting diploma at TAFE. Later, he jumped into a body truck doing runs up to Kingaroy and claims that was the hardest job he ever had. He was 18 at the time and would start at 2am. Some nights

he didn’t finish until 8pm and would go home, get up and do the whole thing again.

“Everyone had pressured me into finding something else but it was my passion,” say Mitch. “When I was in school, I could hear a truck go past and could tell you what motor it was just from the sound of it. When I came back into the family business, I got my single licence, just doing local stuff, to Moree, out to Roma delivering chemicals, doing the cotton.

“That was a bit of an apprenticeship for 12 months. Then I got my MC and I was doing a lot of road train work out of Moree and Dirranbandi. Then I started doing Adelaide and Melbourne, and I did 10 years of interstate before I came off the road. I still love jumping in a truck and having a go.”

A GENERAL CARRIER

The John Kelly Transport business handles the chemicals, building supplies, plus a lot of work for Toll. It runs nine B-triples and road trains a week into Adelaide, loaded with freight from a wide selection of its customers. Loaded singles and B-doubles are consolidated in Toowoomba into the larger combinations for the haul South-West.

B-triples are able to run straight into Adelaide, unloading at a small, rented depot there. There is one employee based there, who organises all the trucks and loads in and out of Adelaide. This has become much more simple to manage using the freight management software, enabling them to plan and organise movements.

All of the work going elsewhere is full loads heading out from Toowoomba to their destination. Two or three full loads head into Melbourne each week, direct into customers premises. Return loads tend to be full loads straight back out. There is one road train direct into Melbourne each week running on Performance Based Standards, at 36 metres long.

South Australia has good access since it opened up all its road networks, making life a lot easier to run B-triples right into Adelaide.

“It’s given us the opportunity to be able to run at a profit and run three trailers instead of two,” says Mitch. “With two trailers, we didn’t have the time to swap trailers, it would add another hour or so, because of our time critical freight, but now it barely adds any time at all.

“We do a road train over to Perth every fortnight, for another customer.

Mitch Kelly, who now runs John Kelly Transport.

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The Northern Territory is really the only state we don’t service at the moment.”

In 2017, Mitch decided the business was switching over to Kenworth and Cummins as the truck and engine of choice.

“We had Freightliners with DD15s and then, I switched over to Kenworth and the Cummins engines,” says Mitch. “We’ve had Cats, we’ve had them all, we used to have Macks years ago. Realistically, the changes just came through with me.”

“I bought a lot of Kenworth T610 SAR trucks to do the Adelaide work and the B-triple work and they are smashing it, they’re fantastic. I highly rate them, the drivers like them. They’re comfy and they’re a bonneted trucks still.

“I’ve got a couple of manuals and we’ve got eight autos now, the ultra shift. I like them because of the fuel savings. We’ve got the Cummins Eaton ADEPT on them and we’re running them as down speeds, so they are 3.07:1 diffs. They are running B-triples at 80 tonnes sitting on 1400rpm, or thereabouts, all the way to Adelaide. It’s fairly flat road and they just plod along. With the Cummins Eaton ADEPT, they neutralise when they’re not using the engine.

“With the older trucks, we were putting in between 1250 and 1400 litres for a B-double from Adelaide to Brisbane. With the 610s, with the ADEPT in them, we’re putting in 1150 litres in at Adelaide with a B-triple, and it uses 1200 litres back into Brisbane. So, they are 100 to 250 litres a leg better off, and we’ve got an extra lead trailer.”

Even with the addition of the adblue needed on the newer Cummins X15 engines, the 1.85km/l is a major improvement on the previous trucks used.

“I’m definitely open to other options, I’m not blind,” says Mitch. “If there’s something out there that claims to be better fuel economy. I’ll give it every chance I can to make sure it is for real.

GETTING PERSONNEL

However, the Kenworth has other value for the business and workforce attraction is one of the reasons behind going with the brand.

“You can get that many blokes interested in them and people bang on about them,” says Mitch. “They look great, but they are great to ride in and they are smooth trucks. I used to think that they’re rough, because that’s what

people said, but when I got in one it was so smooth.”

The larger T909 trucks are manuals as is the Legend and a couple of the T610s, the rest are AMTs. This year will see another four trucks arrive as part of the business’ continued expansion.

“COVID changed our plans,” says Mitch. “I was happy at around 16 or 17 trucks and now we’re at 22. I’ve got four more coming. So, we’ll be at 26 in another six months’ time. That’s only because of the demand that we’ve had. I would have loved to have gotten rid of four or five of the older trucks between now and then.

“They’ve all had new motors in them now, new clutches and gearboxes. We do spend a lot of time and money on maintenance. I’ve got a full-time mechanic and we’ve got another mechanic, who’s a contractor, that we bring in, depending on what’s happening, two or three times a week. Outside of that we outsource it to Brown and Hurley, we’ve got a permanent booking every week there, if we need to, we book trucks in with Daimler.”

“We’ve got a fairly young crew. We’ve probably got two extremes, but I’d say that we’ve got a group between 23 and 35, and another group of 50 plus

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OPERATOR PROFILE

drivers, then maybe one or two in the middle. We actually have a fairly young crew. I’ve had a few young blokes that have given me a few grey hairs, and I’ve had plenty of old blokes give me some grey hairs too.”

A POST-COVID WORLD

Coming out of the crisis around COVID has brought challenges to the business it did not expect to deal with. After the initial shock, when it became clear the transport industry would continue even during shutdowns, operators knuckled down and kept the wheels turning. However, coming out of the pandemic has been a shock for many businesses.

As the economy emerged from the crisis, another one developed as the global supply chains couldn’t keep up with demand, and shutdowns elsewhere in the world meant limited imports of equipment and components.

“Instead of being told a new truck will be here in three or four months,

it’s going to be here in years now.” says Mitch. “We’ve had to plan ahead. I’ve put in orders for what I foresee for the next three years and everybody seems to be doing that. That’s compounded their issue. I wouldn’t have ordered trucks for three years away if it wasn’t needed.

“You can see why some of these companies that might not have another generation coming through who are interested in running the company. If they’re going to get out in the next few years, they might as well get out right now.

“There’s a lot of big companies like that out there, which is probably going to put even more pressure on the on the freight task. Who knows what’s going to happen, there is a lot of expertise walking out of the industry. They’re just putting the trucks up for auction because that’s where they can get the best money right now.

“I know a lot of companies couldn’t

get decent drivers. It’s so hard to get good staff, underemployment is through the roof. It’s the worse we’ve ever seen it with that many jobs available. The only young people coming through are those that have a family legacy and passion for it as opposed to the ones that are there just to grab money that don’t actually have a passion for it. It’s pretty hard to get them to actually be a good operator.”

It’s not just a job, it’s a lifestyle, reckons Mitch, and he would like to see some sort of apprenticeship development. There’s also a need to pressure the insurance companies to accepting those apprenticeships without massive excesses. He would prefer to take someone on who has been through an apprenticeship and is 20-years-old, and would let them jump into a truck, rather than someone who’s 30-years-old, completed a one-day course in Brisbane and thinks they’re a truck driver.

In honour of Mitch’s Grandfather the truck is named, ‘Poppy’s Pride ll’.

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IS THE MAN A CONTENDER?

The latest on offer from the MAN brand brings the range up to date; they tick all of the boxes, but the question remains in the B-double market: Is the MAN a contender? Tim Giles takes the latest model out on the highway to test its credentials.

Anew model and a new engine is always an exciting period for a truck brand. The arrival late last year of the TG3 for MAN was a big event, the range had been voted as the International Truck of the Year for 2021 after its launch at the start of the Covid pandemic in Bilbao, Spain, and was well received in the European truck market.

The time lag between that original launch in Europe, in 2020, until its arrival here does not help, and this has been the case for the brand over the years. In the past, MAN have seen high selling models on the European market arrive here a couple of years later and fail to engender a lot of excitement among Australian truck buyers.

There is no doubt about the truck maker’s design and engineering finesse and its ability to put a truck

together well. If there is one aspect of the truck’s development which may have hampered the brand’s progress it is probably an unwillingness to adapt a European design to Australian conditions.

The arrival of this new set of models for MAN presents the brand with an opportunity for a paradigm shift among potential Aussie buyers by demonstrating the effectiveness of these new technologies and designs in an Australian context.

Although on the outside, as you walk up to the truck, it retains a similar shape to its predecessors, the details become more obvious upon closer examination. There are tweaks to the exterior to improve airflow and overall aerodynamics, including a curved profile down low on the door to reduce spray on the side windows.

The catchphrase MAN use for the cabin is ‘driver fit’, emphasising the number of innovations and redesigns included in the TG3 range which are there because research has demonstrated their effectiveness for drivers.

Inside the cabin, the look has been transformed. There are a series of smart ideas included in the new cabin interior. One of the most practical changes is a bank of four switches positioned down low on the inside of the door which can be accessed when the driver is standing on the ground, and can be configured to activate hazards, light checks, work lights, or whatever you choose.

From the driver’s seat, there are

a number of innovations to be seen. Of course, the steering wheel now has a wide array of buttons, and the gear control and engine brake are on a stalk on the right-hand side of the steering column. The 12.3-inch digital display immediately in front of the driver features crisp visuals as well as a configurable layout.

Probably more intriguing is the triangular control sticking out of the dash to the left of the driver’s knee, with a shape having more than a hint of the fictional USS Enterprise starship about it. This is the MAN SmartSelect and it is used to control the information screens. The smartness comes from the fold out handrest which enables the driver to

“IT IS CLEAR TO SEE, FROM BOTH THE DRIVELINE PERFORMANCE AND THE DESIGN SMARTS INSIDE THE CABIN, WHY THIS MODEL HAS BEEN POPULAR IN EUROPE. THE CONUNDRUM IS WHETHER THAT ACCEPTANCE WILL BE REPLICATED HERE IN AUSTRALIA WHERE THE MAN BRAND HAS STRUGGLED TO MAKE ITS MARK.”

rest their wrist on this fold-out while driving. Even in bumpy conditions it is possible to smoothly switch between menus on the screen using the simple controller. This is clearly smart design with the driver in mind.

POWER AND TORQUE

The truck tested in this run, up and over the Cunningham Gap out of Brisbane, followed by a descent down the old Toowoomba Range crossing, is fitted with the D38 engine which meets the Euro6e emission regulations.

Power comes out at 640hp (477kW) from the 15.2L engine and it produces 3000Nm (2213 ft lb) of torque.

Emissions are controlled using SCR

and EGR, and the engine is fitted with a two-stage turbo.

With a loaded B-double set the truck began climbing Cunningham’s Gap after coming out of Brisbane and kept up a good pace, around 44km/h at 1650rpm. The quality of the torque available is clear and the truck settles down quickly to get the job done, with minimum fuss, it never rushes anything. The driver can just let it lug its way up the grade and it just continues to pull. Because the control systems are precisely monitoring everything all of the time. The driver has to leave old perceptions behind and learn to trust it.

It does not feel like the D38 engine is overworking itself at all. It’s clearly got

more capacity available. The engines are built to cope with a control system, which will keep it below 1600rpm, at the point where horsepower will match torque. Watching the truck haul itself up the varying gradient on the Gap, it obviously likes a point around 1600rpm and changes to get into its comfort zone.

This change to running trucks at lower rpm ranges has two factors behind it. One is the fact that the extremely sophisticated control of diesel engines has reached a point where it can cope with the strain put on an

engine hauling 60 tonnes up a climb in high temperatures. The second factor is that after many decades of talking about fuel economy, the trucking community in Australia is genuinely looking for frugal fuel use.

There is now an expectation that a B-double prime mover will achieve 2km/L all of the time. Whereas, in the past, they were happy with 1.65km/L.

The engine meets Euro6e emission limits and the control system which help the engine meet them also give it the flexibility to meet the challenge of a climb like the Gap. This is illustrated at the very top of the grade when the trailers are still hanging down the hill and the final kick of the climb tests even the best truck. This MAN lets the truck drop down to 33km/h and it just hangs on over the top in eighth.

Once over the top another strength of this latest design comes into play, the excellent retardation from the engine brake, the EVBec, which MAN claim generates 840hp of stopping power. This is a very high number for a compression brake to offer, but in the drop off the top of the Gap and then the steep descent of the old Toowoomba Range, the Brakematic, as it is known, showed just how much control it offers to the driver in a situation where control is paramount.

The engine brake has the exhaust flap positioned upstream of the turbo, allowing it to generate more back pressure when activated. The airflow creates an increased turbine speed on

the exhaust side, which, in turn, ups the intake side speed. Pressure level overall increases and the effect of the braking increases correspondingly.

That’s the theory, and the practice bears this out. The engine brake doesn’t have to be finessed to avoid overbraking when on a descent. It’s not a matter of full engine brake and see if it holds, it’s more about modulating the brake to maximise speed down the grade while retaining full control and the ability to pull up if required.

At the top of the old Toowoomba Range the driver just has to apply the brake, and the system knows that they don’t want to go any faster than that. The driver is setting their speed at the crest of the hill and for 5km it is able to hold that speed going down the grade.

There is no need for driver intervention to help maintain the speed, no riding the brakes. The sensation is different, the driver presses the brake to signal the speed and then the trucks overruns a little bit and then pulls it back to a km/h that they’ve set.

The descent of the Toowoomba Range saw the truck passing most of the other trucks heading down the grade but able slow down or speed up, at will, just using the control switch. The service brakes were not needed even when having to slow behind another truck before being able to overtake.

AN INSIDE TOUR

This model is fitted with an all-new cabin interior and although it has

One of the most practical changes is a bank of four switches positioned down low on the inside of the door which can be accessed when the driver is standing on the ground.

There is now an expectation that a B-double prime mover will achieve 2km/L all of the time.

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a familiar geography, it has been upgraded for the TG3. It uses full digital screens, both in the cockpit display, as well as to the left-hand side of the driver. The main 12.3-inch digital display, is one display, but it can be sectioned off into two separate screens.

Using the SmartSelect control the driver can go through the categories then hit the button at the top to select down to a sub-menu where the driver can find the item they want. This control proves to be easy to use even on some of the rougher roads because of the smart design of the handrest – something which probably originated in the luxury car side of the Volkswagen empire.

The control also features a break away hinge on the fold-out handrest, so that if a driver knocks it when it is folded out, it simply drops away undamaged. It’s designed well both for longevity and ease of use.

It also proves to be very easy to navigate around the sections and options. The driver can flick from navigation to the entertainment options or go to a split screen with a map on

one side and a list of music tracks on the other. The driver can control their phone through either the entertainment screen or the steering wheel controls.

The steering system is augmented with an electric input which gives the driver a slightly stiffer steering feel when driving down the highway. However, at slower speeds and when manoeuvring, the electric input makes steering easier and more precise. A system using this electric control to kick the truck back into the lane will be an option into the future.

The upcoming legislative requirements to include autonomous emergency braking in new trucks sees MAN include a full package of the latest safety systems in the new TG3 models. These include the Electronic Stability Program (ESP), which has been with us for some time, but has been augmented with a long list of other systems, most of which have the usual abbreviations.

There’s the Brake Assistant that optimises braking pressure and gives 100 per cent braking when an emergency stop is activated. Then we

have EBA, Emergency Brake Assist, which warns of collisions using radar and video and will activate retardation and emergency braking.

ACC is active cruise control, maintaining a set speed and then maintaining a safe distance to vehicles in front of the truck, also using the video and radar. LGS is the lane guard system which warns a driver drifting out of their lane.

These systems are becoming more and more familiar as they now appear in every brand of truck. They are also becoming easier to use as we are already into the second or third iteration of many of the modern electronic aids.

From the driver’s seat the way to monitor and control electronic equipment is made quite simple in this well-designed cabin interior. It is clear to see, from both the driveline performance and the design smarts inside the cabin, why this model has been popular in Europe. The conundrum is whether that acceptance will be replicated here in an Australia, where the MAN brand has struggled to make its mark.

The truck tested in this run, up and over the Cunningham Gap out of Brisbane, followed by a descent down the old Toowoomba Range crossing, is fitted with the D38 engine which meets the Euro6e emission regulations.

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SEARCHING FOR HIGHER PRODUCTIVITY

Marcay Transport is always searching for higher productivity in hauling grain and fertiliser in rural areas of country Victoria and Southern New South Wales. Its operations, however, are hampered by complex rules and interstate differences.

Based in Bolwarrah, about half an hour out of Ballarat in Victoria, Mark and Kaye Rix run a small rural bulk freight business from their small property on the edge of the settlement. This is rolling agricultural land and the local economy is based around small enterprises providing services to the agricultural community.

In this case, the business hauls grain out of the surrounding country, following the harvesting and transporting seasons around most of rural Victoria and across the River Murray into the Southern parts of NSW.

“We cart mainly grain and fertiliser around Victoria and Southern NSW,” says Mark. “We have a lot of regular work but it’s all over the place. A different place every day, although you might get a couple of trucks going to one place and carting out of there for the week. In the main, the trucks are pulling grain out of the Graincorp system, into the Port in Geelong.”

Mark started out in life as a spray painter by trade and then drifted into truck driving and back again into painting, before deciding to give it a go. Then when he decided he was going to drive trucks full time for a

living, he also decided he might as well do it for himself. The operation started life with the one truck and has now grown to a fleet of eight trucks. With the majority of tasks emanating from GrainCorp the balance is made up from other buyers and agents, however, the Graincorp work keeps the wheels turning. The fertiliser haulage comes through via an agent out of Benalla. The loads out of the Port, when they are available are mostly fertiliser, but there is also lime from January to April, in most years. Seventy-five per cent of the time the trucks return to country areas from the coast empty.

Mark Rix, owner of Marcay Transport.

“Up until a couple of years ago, it was pretty ordinary, because everywhere had been in drought,” says Mark. “We had a 2016 and 2017 which was big, there was heaps to do. Then 2019 started to taper off. Then we had a couple of pretty ordinary years and that’s when the good old COVID hit.

“After that China stopped buying grain. It was pretty bad for three or four months. Which, looking back, probably wasn’t a bad thing, because I think a lot of people realised they had to find more markets than just China.

“It hasn’t been a bad thing, but it certainly was at the time, because everything just went to zero, practically overnight. The phone stopped ringing and everything just stopped.”

RUNNING A FLEET

The Marcay fleet runs a mix of fiveaxle truck and dog combinations pulled by Freightliner Coronados and

the rest run as B-doubles. The trailers used in the fleet are a mixed bunch with some arriving second hand and others built specifically for Marcay.

Having grown to this many trucks, Mark can no longer be on the road all of the time. He and his son perform all of the heavy vehicle maintenance across the fleet. To compound the situation, there is a need for some relief with the driving – there is more than enough work to get on with for the business owner.

“The only thing we don’t do is rebuild motors, they go back to the manufacturer,” says Mark. “My son does a lot of it and we do all our tyres as well.

“The thing is, if we didn’t do all of our own maintenance and tyres, out of eight trucks, you’d have one off the road every week for a couple of days at least. You don’t want them off the road, and then you’re paying drivers to sit at workshops to get jobs done. The downside for us is that we do most of it on Friday, Saturday and

Sunday, but it is what it is.”

The business started back in 1998 with the first truck being a Kenworth, but when, some years later, Mark was looking for his first new truck, Freightliner offered him the best deal and he has pretty much stuck with them ever since.

The fleet runs three Cascadias, but the trucks over the years have included Century Class, Coronados and Columbias. The Coronados are the truck and dog combinations and the others, the prime movers, are now all Cascadias, bar one.

The engines used have been a mixture including Caterpillar and Cummins, but since 2007 most new trucks have consistently been fitted with Detroit engines. The last nonDetroit engine was a C12 powered Columbia, which was sold last year with two million kilometres on the clock.

One of the Cascadias is the 126inch cabin with a 48-inch bunk. Meanwhile, another couples the 126 with the 34-inch bunk and there’s also a 126 with the 60-inch bunk. The engines are all specified the same at 600hp with the Detroit DT12 AMT.

“You’ll never get your diehard Kenworth bloke into a Cascadia,” says Mark “I’ve got a mate who’s very Kenworth orientated and he had a Cascadia on demo for two weeks. He loved it, but said he can never buy

“THEY WANT US TO BUILD HIGHER PRODUCTIVITY VEHICLES. THAT’S WHAT THEY TELL US. THEY NEED TO REMOVE THE HURDLES. WE’RE ALL HAPPY TO BUY THEM AND ALL HAPPY TO RUN WITH THEM, BUT THEY NEED TO MAKE IT SIMPLE.”

one, because nobody would drive it.

“These trucks with the safety features on them, speak for itself. It really does matter and people need to grasp it and run with it. We bought our first AMT, which was a Gen2 back in 2005 and I haven’t bought a truck with a gearstick since. The Cascadia is so far ahead of the competition, in terms of quietness and comfort, as well.

“You buy what you think’s the best bang for your buck, and that’s why I’m happy with the Freightliner. I don’t monitor fuel as much as I should, but I check through them every fortnight and fuel use in the Cascadias is pretty consistent. It doesn’t fluctuate much, and they’re nudging around two km/L all of the time.”

“As far as the Detroits we have no trouble whatsoever, since the first one I bought. The Coronados have the DD15 and the Cascadias the DD16s. The 16 was a step up, probably quieter, and fuel consumption is better on the DD16 engines.

“Maintenance wise, on the first 500,000 I don’t even touch it. It’s part of the package. There’s no doubt it’s all incorporated into the cost of the vehicle when you buy it, but they’re still good value anyway. I get on really well with the team at Detroit, they have been fantastic. Always been good, couldn’t fault them.”

THE QUESTION OF ACCESS

With any mass sensitive tasks like bulk tippers, the question of access and the type of combination which can work on any particular route is always critical to the success of the operation. Crossing borders into other states simply complicates the issue further.

The fleet has moved over to working under HML rules and the trailers all have digital gauges, which can link into the VDaq system Marcay has had fitted in the trucks. This system is only needed to enable HML running in NSW.

Mark describes running in NSW

as a ‘challenging’, but admits, ‘it depends on what shire you are trying to get a permit in’.

“If you log on to look at the map system, you can see the stupidity of the whole system in NSW,” says Mark. “We had a couple of trucks which had to drop down off HML weights and go back to normal.

“This was because there was a road accident and detours in place. The detoured roads were not accessible for HML without a permit and it takes too long to get a permit approved.

“We were one of the first fiveaxle truck and dogs on the road in Victoria and one of the reasons I’ve moved away from PBS is because of the different laws when you cross the border. We started in 2011, when we built the five-axle dog sets and we’re now 2022 and the system still isn’t right. You’re still applying for permits to go places where you actually shouldn’t need to.

“They want us to build higher productivity vehicles. That’s what

they tell us. They need to remove the hurdles. We’re all happy to buy them and all happy to run with them, but they need to make it simple. With the five-axle dogs, now in Victoria, they’re pretty good. You don’t have to apply for many permits. Across the border, still has issues.

“We went back to B-doubles, because the system is still not right. If they want us to have these vehicles, they need to get the network right before we start buying vehicles to do the work.

This has become a major part of Mark’s work, simply organising where the truck can and can’t go. The operation bought the five axle dogs, and they’re not as useful as they should have been, because of access and permit issues.

The operation is not getting the utilisation out of a major investment that they should be.

According to Mark, the system functions in Victoria, but not in NSW. He has decided he will continue to apply for permits to run the trucks at HML in NSW, but will not apply for a permit, just for road access.

“You can drive a B-double or a road train in New South Wales on certain roads, but unless you get a PBS permit, you can’t drive a five-axle dog on the same road,” says Mark. “It’s like the A-doubles in Victoria, which are 30m road trains, that’s what they are. If they want us to run them. The governments need to get the system right.

“A lot of us in the industry, in 2013, when we heard the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator was coming, that it was going to be a national body, were very happy. The transport industry was excited about that, but it’s no closer to being national now.”

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Mark and Kaye’s son, Ben, at 34 is a good mechanic working in the business, but has told his parents that when they want to think about retirement, he doesn’t want to take over the business. He doesn’t want any part of the problems around regulations and having to

deal with bureaucrats.

Getting drivers gets harder every year and the business does not have any answers to the conundrum around making the job attractive to young people. In fact, the age profile of the drivers they already have is better than it is for many fleets. The oldest driver in the fleet is 60 and the youngest is 35.

“No matter how much money you offer to pay, you can’t get them,” says Mark. “You’ve got to be realistic because you can’t pay more than what you can afford. We wouldn’t want to grow any more than what we are. But even if we wanted to, and the opportunity is there, we can’t find employees, we just can’t.”

“I honestly think the way the industry is heading as a whole if we can stick it out for another five years we’ll probably be doing good. It’s not going to get any easier to get drivers, unless the whole system changes, the whole compliance situation, everything has to change. It’s just not going get any easier.

“When we employ a driver they are always told that you will probably leave home Sunday and get home Friday, if you get home in between, that’s a bonus. Young people are not prepared to make a few sacrifices and the partners aren’t prepared to put up with it either.”

AN ELECTRIC TEST: SCANIA

Every truck manufacturer in the world has to have an alt-power truck and some examples are starting to arrive in Australia. This time Scania goes electric and Tim Giles gets a chance to take the truck out for a test drive.

Demand for electric trucks in Australia is ramping up and the manufacturers involved are honing their expertise to be ready for the new technology when it starts to arrive in the years to follow.

It’s not just the new technology in the trucks, it’s also a different type of maintenance regime, ensuring there’s the right infrastructure to

support something like an electric heavy vehicle. There’s also an education process for the customers, bringing them up to speed on exactly how the new technology will handle their freight task.

This is the process Scania has engaged in to bring the first electric Scania, for evaluation and technician training, into the country. It will take time but operations like Scania need

to start preparing for the arrival of trucks in substantial numbers in the future.

The first introduction will serve as an evaluation vehicle and when the Scania organisation has become familiar enough with it, it will become a demonstrator for customers. So far, it has not had a body fitted because it has been busy visiting all of the dealerships.

Working on a battery vehicle is completely different, and Scania have had to rethink how they do everything to get the organisation prepared before it goes to market. There are many things to think about, like the provision at each site of a specially marked area where trucks with unstable batteries need to be placed, as a safety measure. There’s a whole different level of risk, one of those batteries has the same amount of power as the old electric chair.

Scania has always been a little bit more conservative than other truck makers and insists on dotting all of the Is and crossing all of the Ts before going to market.

“We are open for business on battery electric trucks,” says Ben

Nye, Director of Truck Sales at Scania Australia. “So, if people do want to order one, we’re set up correctly internally, if we sell one tomorrow and it comes back to us for work we know exactly what we have to do.”

The training means Scania now has M-techs, mechanical technicians, and E-techs fully trained to handle the electric technology when it arrives. When they work on a factory truck, they actually have to have two techs, one’s an observer and one’s a worker, as a safety precaution.

From Ben’s point of view, when trucks start arriving, customers will be able to work out the limitations of the technology in their business, from a payload perspective, and from a range perspective.

“WE ARE OPEN FOR BUSINESS ON BATTERY ELECTRIC TRUCKS. SO, IF PEOPLE DO WANT TO ORDER ONE, WE’RE SET UP CORRECTLY INTERNALLY, IF WE SELL ONE TOMORROW AND IT COMES BACK TO US FOR WORK WE KNOW EXACTLY WHAT WE HAVE TO DO.”

So far, it has not had a body fitted because it has been busy visiting all of the dealerships.

“The first thing that we do before we quote is discuss the routes and charging infrastructure,” says Ben. Charging infrastructure is a growing issue for any operation considering electric trucks. Scania has sold a number of bio diesel gensets to those wanting electric truck and bus charging. The lack of capacity in the local grid has meant this is the only way to reduce emissions. They can use lower emission bio fuel to charge and get a better, more reliable power supply.

OUT ON THE ROAD

The evaluation truck Scania have been using is the 25 P, a 4x2 truck with a 16T GVM. Both Swedish

truck makers are bringing their smallest trucks in at the start of the electrification process as this is the sector of the market where the business case, and practicality of introduction, will make the strongest argument for the first move to an electric truck.

This truck come with five 33kWh battery packs (in Europe with longer wheelbases, you can get up to nine). This means the truck can carry 165kWh total when fully charged. The driveline includes the electric motor and a two-speed gearbox (AMT), producing 230kW (313hp) continuous and 295kW (401hp) peak power.

Just looking at this power rating

and the masses the truck is designed to carry illustrates the strength and the practical considerations which come along with electrification. With all that power, the driveline also gets full torque at the get-go. There is no torque curve, just a straight line. This means the driveline is more than capable of handling the task, but in some circumstances it has a too much and needs to be tightly controlled to get a safe and stable result.

All of that power and torque needs strict modulation to ensure the safe operation of the truck and a pleasant ride for the driver and freight. First impressions, the computer control on the takeoff is fantastic. It doesn’t

matter what the driver does, even if they floor it, it will just take off at about the same acceleration rate as an ordinary diesel truck. This means it is stable, safe and it’s not wasting power.

Then there is the deceleration phase, where the system uses the regenerative braking to recharge the batteries. In this case, using the two-speed gearbox, the truck has not got that same level of modulation finesse it has on the pick-up. It tends to be less smooth, especially if it’s decides to change gear. A gear change during deceleration seems to introduce a small jump in the driveline.

Out on the road, the truck is eerily quiet, definitely a lot quieter than the other electric trucks in Australia, which PowerTorque has been able drive.

In terms of visibility, this is excellent, the new P Series form Scania is definitely a city truck. It’s even got a quarter light behind the passenger seat, plus an array of mirrors around the cab.

The screen right in front of the driver is a different one to the diesel version and it’s set up for electric drive – no fuel gauge but the level indicator tells this driver the battery has gone from 82 to 72 per cent in the past few hour’s driving.

It is difficult to get a real impression of how the truck will handle, especially when the truck tested is a cab chassis which means that it’s light on the rear end but that’s perfectly understandable. On a couple of occasions, the 25 P had to pull up quite sharply when the lights changed quickly and the truck pulled up really cleanly, even with a wet road.

Trying to find the most economical driving style it was possible to accelerate and move up to travelling speed quite quickly, then when it was necessary to slow down, just take the foot off and get some regenerative braking out of the electric motor.

The engine brake has got five positions. On this test, with little weight onboard, position five is way too harsh. even four is still too harsh.

The 25 P, a 4x2 truck with a 16T GVM.

It’s not just the new technology in the trucks, it’s also a different type of maintenance regime,

“The first thing that we do before we quote is discuss the routes and charging infrastructure.”

available, but they do occasionally. On a like-for-like comparison, there is no doubt which is more economical.

The future is not certain, but we can be sure that the technology in electric trucks is going to improve quickly, as the big players spend millions on research. Future models are going to be lighter.

At the same time, major companies are going to be looking for zero emission solutions. Government incentives are also likely to kick in and change the calculation around these trucks. City authorities may also start to charge carbon emitting trucks extra to work in the CBD.

Position one works okay, but position two is probably getting a bit more regenerative braking. It seems likely, with a load on, three or four would be prime candidates to get the best bang for your buck in conserving battery life. It is difficult to judge whether the retardation will bring itself in smoother in a real world, loaded situation.

This relatively low cab is a good design with a nice layout, well set up to run around in the city. It is so quiet that it needs some sort of warning sound for pedestrians in crowded urban situations. At pedestrian crossings, and traffic lights when setting off, this driver was just a bit nervous that people wouldn’t hear the truck coming.

Apart from the electric component, this truck is, basically, the same as any other Scania of this generation and it is just a comfortable drive.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

Currently, the 25 P weighs 2.5 tonnes more than its diesel equivalent at this 4x2 configuration, with the sevenlitre engine. The tare comes out at just below nine tonnes, whereas the current diesel model is around 6.4 tonnes. This tells us the business case to go all electric is not there yet. The customer will be paying a lot more for a truck which can carry less freight.

There are plenty of trucks delivering around our cities which rarely need all of the payload

Currently, the 25 P weighs 2.5 tonnes more than its diesel equivalent at this 4x2 configuration.

PREPARING FOR AN ELECTRIC FUTURE

The move to alternative power is inevitable. PowerTorque sat down with Paul Ilmer, Vice President Emerging Technology Business development at Volvo, so he could explain how to start preparing a road transport business for electric trucks, and a for a future without diesel engines.

Although Australia is only in the early stages of the lowcarbon-emission transition, the preparation needs to be done now, by both operators and those in charge of the energy infrastructure.

The Volvo Group team is looking at existing customers and reassessing their business to see how electric could fit into the mix. It may mean starting again, if you want to run electric, the change in driveline behaviour or weight distribution may

cause operators to reassess their vehicle strategy. For example, an operator who uses a truck and dog, may find the electric version to be too heavy on the steer axle. They may need to move to a semi tipper, so Volvo will engage engineering to look at that.

“The thing that surprised me is how, in 99 per cent of cases, the demand is due to sustainability goals,” says Paul. “It is hardly ever the customer looking for an operational cost adjustment. It’s all around

corporate social responsibility, 99 per cent of the time.

“Customers are looking for solutions that give them a similar experience to what they have today. They want to talk to the same salespeople, they want to use the same dealer network, they kind of want to replicate what they have today. They want the trucks to be on the Volvo Connect portal. They don’t want a lot of switching complexity, they don’t want the disruption.”

Demand is increasing across the

board and the Volvo experience is that it is not confined to a particular industry sector. Transport operators around the country are setting sustainability goals, as well as monitoring gender ratios, diversity, their CO2 usage, recycling. Options like electric trucks feed into that.

This is not just a green sensibility, they’re also seeing a commercial advantage, driven by the large corporate customers who will also display in their boardroom and annual reports similar goals and metrics.

Volvo is waiting for the Government’s National Electric Vehicle Strategy due early this year which should give some certainty to the future direction. One of the options could be a price on carbon, which would alter the economic equations around alt-power trucks. Those on the electric truck route will already have the experience and knowledge to embrace these kinds of changes more quickly.

“There’s been a lot of commitments made. So, the National Electric

Vehicle Strategy is going to start to put some colour on what that looks like, and it’ll only increase the demand,” says Paul. “I think it should be up to the customer how they do the carbon abatement. Then if they choose electric, if they choose hydrogen, HVO renewable diesel, smarter trailer design, or whatever, I think it should down to the customer how they solve that.”

BE PREPARED

Volvo is going through a process of preparing its truck dealers because it has a launch program for its electric range. All areas of the business are involved to enable them to start selling in 2023. The company is working on the assumption that the regulations will happen. At the same time as trying to control as much as it can, it needs to be ready for the green light when it comes.

“We’re getting called to a lot of engagement pieces at the moment around ourselves and Daimler, primarily,” says Paul. “We speak together as a united front to say:

Volvo has got trucks, Daimler’s got trucks. These are here now, we’re not waiting for anything. That message seems to generate a lot of enquiries. It’s an exciting time.

“Operators are setting themselves a 10-year horizon, normally. They’re trying to map it out, within their operation, and a lot of our customers have a mixed fleet of applications. They’re trying to work out, from an electric perspective, what works, what works for hydrogen? A lot of it is the customer trying to understand, within their operation, what energy type is going to work for what application when. We try and lay the roadmap out to 2030. We can say, battery electric is going to be completely suitable here, and you wouldn’t put hydrogen into an application that battery can take care of because you’re adding cost, weight and complexity. So, you let battery take care of that.

“Then for any application that’s long and heavy, we’re saying, you’ll have a switch over into hydrogen in

Volvo is waiting for the Government’s National Electric Vehicle Strategy due early this year which should give some certainty to the future direction.

the second half of the decade. For us, hydrogen is in the second half of the decade, but it’s too early to put a year on it. There’s so much R&D and testing and we need to work out what local adaptations we may have to make for our market because it is hot, with high average speeds and poor roads. But the lynchpin with all of this is the regulations.

“As soon as we get a regulation framework that supports zero emission trucks, what we’re hoping for is a lot more competition in the market. Competition builds confidence. Then we can see the development of recharging hubs, from private and government investment, with a growing population of electric trucks along the freight corridors. Then fast charging enabling those common freight corridors to become an EV corridor. But – they won’t invest until there’s confidence around a population of vehicles to take the energy or to take the hydrogen.”

A GREEN ECO-SYSTEM

“A lot of our customers are looking at a green ecosystem for themselves,” says Paul. “So, they’re looking at solar and charging trucks overnight, looking at battery storage to then use the energy that they have harvested during the day.

“The technology’s here now, it’s not difficult, and they’ve got big sheds with huge roofs. There’s an opportunity there. From an energy perspective, after they’ve paid off the investment, the solar is zero, it’s free energy.”

The perception is that maintenance costs are lower because there’s less maintenance required. However, at this point in time, all of the electric trucks Volvo have supplied in Australia are under a service agreement, a more secure option for companies putting their toe in the alternative power waters. There are few facilities able to service the latest electric trucks.

This level of security is in the

“The enquiries are coming from everybody, from the most traditional dyed in the wool generational trucking companies.”

nature of the transaction, for now, an electric truck owner can’t go to Joe around the corner and get a truck fixed. These concerns are going to make the fully maintained contract more attractive.

The increase in the number of electric trucks is going to change the nature of the truck maker’s relationship with its customers because currently quite a lot of customers prefer to work on their own trucks. In the transition to electric, the trucking operator is probably going to become more reliant on the truck dealers with specialist staff and equipment.

“It’s a hard one to forecast,” says Paul. “There is a requirement to bring these trucks in for proper diagnosis and to make sure that people are working on them safely.”

The trend in the big cities towards large super dealerships with many repair bays looks set to continue as electric and hydrogen appear on the scene.

“Is there an opportunity where the workshop goes to the customer more?,” asks Paul.

Working on a truck at customer premises would be a lot less complex of a procedure, apart from the isolating of the truck from other equipment and trucks. So, the customer would have to have an area which is properly set up to work on an electric truck, but there wouldn’t be that much equipment required.

This is an area where truck makers like Volvo are having to wait and see, gauge customer feedback and develop the new procedures which fit with the operator requirement and the capabilities within the truck dealership groups. The most likely outcome will be a mix of several strategies before we get a clearer picture of just how the new technology will play out.

“I do think that there will be that requirement for it to come into a Volvo Group workshop, because of the amount of competence training needed,” says Paul. “The technology is completely different, and to work on that equipment safely and successfully is going to be a proprietary job and I think it’d be the same for all the OEMs.

“Our training of technicians on the new trucks will be proprietary training, to Volvo and the Volvo product,” says Paul. “Moving forward, how much of it is transferable? Because the isolation of the 600-volt system is relatively universal but working on the individual truck is really unique to that vehicle. It differs on how each manufacturer packages the cooling system and hydraulic system, and even from a software perspective, so I think it is going to be quite proprietary.”

INTEREST IN ELECTRIC

“The enquiries are coming from everybody, from the most traditional dyed in the wool generational trucking companies,” says Paul. “Some very small and some are large, it is very surprising. I think the way that we work with common architecture and shared technologies with the Volvo brand, and we look at the heavy duty market, when we get to a maturity with electric power, we can lift that up and move it across to the other brands we have.

“Bus is a great example, our

batteries and electric motors, and now the transmissions in FL and FE came from the bus part of the business. That’s worked really well for us. I think that’s why we’re really confident about the heavy duty range. With the two FL models, we started with, there was a really good partnership with us and Linfox, a clear idea that this was a trial.

“We wanted to work out what we needed to change or do differently,

and then we worked out we didn’t need to do anything. But until we actually had the trucks here. You just don’t know environments.

“We have been completely surprised at the enquiry rate, how fast it’s gone. Also, the engagement from the dealer network, the engagement from customers, engagement from industry, as well as the various industry associations. The whole thing has

just completely surprised me.

“When I started doing this four years ago, if somebody said, ‘Hey, you’re going to commercialise these trucks in 2022, and you’ll sell the heavy duty 2023’ I could not have believed them, it’s taken us all by surprise.”

The momentum is increasing and the teams at both Volvo and Daimler, and the others offering electric trucks now, are struggling to keep up with a growing demand.

The question which comes to mind, at this point, is what sort of percentage of Volvo’s truck sales in 2030 are likely to be electric? The actual answer is very hard to judge and hugely dependent upon government’s interests and incentives.

“If everything lined up, I can see 50 per cent,” says Paul. “In my head, I’m going through the applications and the applications deployment, as a percentage of the current market.

If you look at the market, it’s split in the middle with 50 per cent B-double and above and 50 per cent is in single trailer and below. There’s not too many of those applications apart from heavy haul which couldn’t be converted to an electric truck or a hydrogen truck.”

What sort of percentage of Volvo’s truck sales in 2030 are likely to be electric?

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FUSO FORWARD TO ELECTRIC TRANSITION

The first of the global truck manufacturers to get an electric truck into the Australian market was Daimler with the Fuso eCanter. The entire thrust of the Daimler Truck organisation is to move away from fossil fuels and towards zero carbon emissions and the eCanter release was the first step on a long road.

In a statement the Daimler group announced its aim is to get to zero emissions from its products in all of the major markets, presumably including Australia, by 2039. The Fuso eCanter is already down under and the eActros is set to follow in 2023.

The man in charge, regionally, of this transition for us here in Australia is Karl Deppen, the CEO of Mitsubishi Fuso Bus and Truck and Head of Daimler Truck Asia. He is also a member of the Board at Daimler Truck.

“In the last three decades, I’ve been working with Daimler and have

spent about two thirds of my career in the truck industry,” says Karl. “I have worked in Japan and China before, so I’m somewhat familiar with the region and some of the special requirements from customers and markets there and really pleased to be part of this dynamic development.

“Especially in urban areas, the push for e-mobility is quite substantial and we are confident that we have a great product to offer for those markets. eCanter, really stands out in terms of versatility, in terms of range and in terms of affordability. We not only offer a modern battery electric truck here, but it comes along with a trusted network and service support.”

The eCanter has already covered more than six million kilometres in customer operations around the world. This real-world experience and feedback, has informed the design of the latest eCanter, unveiled

in September 2022 and heading to Australia sometime soon. Don’t forget, we have Brisbane Truck Show coming up.

“We are really excited to bring the next generation along and demonstrate how we have listened and how we have taken that into the product specs to make it even better to really offer reliable, dependable and competitive battery electric mobility for urban transport,” says Karl.

“We see a need to support customers to switch from current technology to better electric mobility and to make it as easy and smooth as possible for their operations.

“We will continue to face some challenges, we still see some headwinds, from the supply situation and raw material costs, which has been an ongoing issue, which we have experienced for more than a year.

“This has created some shortcomings on vehicle delivery, we were not able to fulfil all customer needs, but we are confident that this situation will start to improve soon. We will continue to monitor the situation and work closely with our suppliers and Daimler, to best

The next ten years are going to see major changes in the trucks on offer from the major truck manufacturers, so PowerTorque got a chance to ask some questions about how Daimler is taking Fuso forward in the next few years.

Karl Deppen, the CEO of Mitsubishi Fuso Bus and Truck and Head of Daimler Truck Asia.

allocate our resources.”

When asked about the electrification process moving up through the weight range, Karl would not be drawn to any firm commitments.

“We are currently having a discussion about how we want to extend the Fuso lineup into the medium duty and heavy duty segment for zero emission transportation,” says Karl.” However, the technology path is more difficult to determine in the medium duty segment which is rather small in scale and highly competitive.

“We are currently assessing whether to go for battery electric or hydrogenbased solutions. It depends on the infrastructure development in the various markets around the world. It’s too early to make any specific announcement but, rest assured, we are carefully watching how to proceed in the medium duty segment, going forward.

“We have to set priorities and, we want to start with light duty, because this is where we see the immediate benefit in urban transportation. It’s the locally-based zero emission vehicle, it’s a reduction of noise, it’s the safety we bring to city deliveries, now the next step is to look at the other segments.”

Currently all the eCanters coming to Australia have been built in Tramagal in Portugal. As demand in the Asian market grows for these trucks, production is set to move to Japan. The market conditions mean there is enough demand to justify tooling up a bigger facility than the plant in Portugal.

“We know, as we move to the next generation, we need to have full flexibility in all our plants and and service markets like Australia with deliveries from Japan,” says Karl. “That is our intention.”

Karl considers there are three preconditions which need to exist before the purchase of an electric truck can take place and outlines them to us.

“I think infrastructure is really a big part of the equation,” says Karl.

“No matter which markets we look at, we always need three ingredients to be in place. One is product availability, second is the infrastructure we need and the third one is to make an appealing business case for the customer, when comparing the truck with diesel.

“The infrastructure is always a piece of the equation that is needed. We think with the eCanter we have an appealing offer because it is well capable of utilising the AC charging network, which makes it much easier to charge. There are some sacrifices in time, but usually, if the vehicle is in the depot overnight, the AC charging is sufficient to get a usable range for the next day.

“This is different from medium or heavy duty trucks where much more powerful charging is needed, where the demand on the grid is much higher. Infrastructure is somewhat of a concern. Nevertheless, we are convinced with the light duty eCanter, we are at least offering a product that helps to make it possible to gain some experience with an electric truck.”

As the demand for electric mobility increases, infrastructure development will have to move forward. It’s another chicken and egg scenario, if you have no electric vehicles, you don’t need infrastructure and if there is no infrastructure, you have no electric vehicles. The only answer is to bring trucks like the eCanter in as it can cope

with the existing infrastructure and this should stimulate infrastructure to develop over time.

BUYING AN ECANTER

“The practice we’ve applied in all the markets is to lease out the eCanter first generation,” says Karl.

“With the next generation we will go to the full range of different purchase, financing and leasing options that customers are used to. In addition to that we have designed attractive packages to combine things, like the product, vehicle maintenance and service support. To really build it up in Japan, we also offer energy contracts.

“When we hit Australia, we are discussing with the sales team there, how are we going to open the flexibility for customers to find the best package for them.

“The future energy roadmap is not the same. It depends a lot on access to fossil fuels, energy, access to hydrogen processing and production. We see different roadmaps in different countries, but we also see this as a very dynamic development. The key point is to stay flexible, to be responsive.”

“We need to have full flexibility in all our plants and and service markets like Australia with deliveries from Japan.”

MINIMUM RATES, SAME DOG, DIFFERENT LEG

Aleaked document has confirmed that the Albanese Labor Government is actively preparing to revive the disastrous Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (RSRT), says the Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association. With a consultation process about to kick off and legislation possible by the end of 2023, it is timely to reflect on past mistakes in the hope they are not repeated.

The former RSRT was established by the Gillard Labor Government in 2012 and abolished by the Turnbull Coalition Government in 2016. The RSRT had extremely broad powers to set minimum rates and conditions for owner-drivers. It made two binding Orders.

The 2014 Order related primarily to conditions mandating payment timeframes, safe driving plans, drug and alcohol policies, training ,whistleblower protections and dispute resolution. Apart from concerns about red tape the Order was either well received or ignored by industry.

The 2016 Order established national minimum rates and unpaid leave provisions. Owner-drivers began receiving letters from head contractors advising that their services would no longer be required. People lost their work, their businesses. And sadly, some took their own lives.

There were flow-on effects along the entire supply chain. Truck and trailer orders were cancelled en masse. Small regional economies servicing ownerdrivers with fuel, tyres, servicing, food and clothing were left reeling.

ALRTA applied to the RSRT for relief from the 2016 Order, and when that was refused, we demanded that Parliament abolish the tribunal. The fact that an abolition bill successfully passed the

House of Representatives and the Senate in a single day, speaks volumes about just how bad the RSRT was.

The Order created a two-tiered freight market. It did not apply to transport businesses using employee drivers, enabling them to undercut owner-drivers. It did not recognise backloading, part-loading, multi-owner loading or empty running which are an important in the rural sector.

The Order did not apply to employee drivers because the Australian Government cannot legislate in respect of all freight operators, instead relying on limited corporations and interstate trade powers. The only entities covered by the RSRT were transport businesses operating as corporations or engaging in interstate trade. It did not cover employees, people in a partnership, sole trader or trust.

It was an unfair leaky system that couldn’t be fixed. It had to go.

But here we are again looking down the barrel of RSRT 2.0.

Federal Labor has made no secret of its intention to re-establish an authority to set minimum rates and conditions for owner-drivers. Federal Labor took the policy to the 2022 Federal Election and won.

ALRTA generally does not support the application of industrial laws to rural owner-drivers who have invested in their own business with the freedom to innovate, adapt and accept their own work on their own terms. Small rural operators often share work amongst each other and constantly change positions in the contracting chain. It is this short-notice, low red-tape, flexibility that enables the rural road transport sector to move seasonally unpredictable farm produce over vast geographic areas to domestic and

international markets as efficiently as possible.

Any minimum rate will also become the maximum rate. Unless it can be applied to the carriage of all goods, in all circumstances, it is doomed to fail.

Instead, ALRTA would prefer greater focus on practical safety measures, financial education, elimination of sham contracting, maximum payment timeframes and accessible dispute resolution.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the leaked document indicates that Federal Labor intends to confer additional powers on the Fair Work Commission (FWC) rather than establishing a separate tribunal. Given that many states have already referred industrial relations papers to the Australian Government, this may actually help to plug some of the gaps in the previous system.

However, at the fundamental level, the FWC is a part of the ‘industrial relations club’ run by unions, big business and registered industrial organisations. It is not answerable to a Minister and certainly not designed to cater for unrepresented independent contractors. Like the RSRT, we may once again find that it is the ‘industrial club’ deciding what is best for owner-drivers. If owner-drivers disagree, they can be summonsed, cross-examined, held in contempt and threatened with jail time. Does that sound like an environment conducive to fair outcomes for unrepresented little guys?

The Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association is concerned about the skills shortages affecting the industry.

KEEPING TRUCKS UPRIGHT

One of the priorities for trucking operators, especially those in the livestock game, is keeping trucks upright and stable. PowerTorque test drives a new technology to assess its effectiveness.

This story begins just after dawn at a transport yard in a country area just South of Oakey on Queensland’s Darling Downs. This is cattle country with feed lots dotting the landscape feeding the needs of the major abattoirs in the Brisbane area, driving the export of Australian beef around the world.

The yard is one belonging to Martins Stock Haulage and the plan is to test drive a couple of the company’s cattle hauling B-doubles, one with a standard suspension set-up, and the other fitted with the BaseAir system on its air suspension system. The system is claimed to reduce the lean of the tall 4.6 metre high livestock trailers when manoeuvring.

Not only are livestock trailers high, they also have a high centre of gravity, with the first level of cattle standing on the trailer bed, but with the second layer standing above the first layer, a high mass is placed at a substantial height from the ground, making the trailers more likely to sway when turning corners, hitting potholes or manoeuvring in any way

The height of the load also has the effect compromising the static

rollover threshold (SRT). There is no compromise on the part of physics. The SRT is calculated from the track width of the trailer and the height of the centre of gravity of the trailer. The lower the SRT, the more likely the trailer will fall over.

What the team at BaseAir have done is come up with a way to reduce that likelihood of falling over by adjusting the way the air suspension reacts when a trailer starts to sway.

This is the problem that brought PowerTorque to Martin’s yard, BaseAir have fitted a selection of the B-double combinations in the livestock haulers fleet with its air management system to reduce issues.

Out on the highway, behind the wheel of a Kenworth T909 with a couple of trailers in tow, the truck’s ride feels perfectly normal. This driver is used to way a trailer set will react on ordinary roads and in normal conditions.

Yes, it’s always a good idea to remain a bit wary of sudden movements of the steering wheel and to avoid dropping the trailer wheels into a pothole or get them too close to the road’s edge. Any false moves, and it’s always an idea to take a quick look

in the mirror to make sure the trailers haven’t gotten to far out of line or are swaying just a little too much.

After stopping en route, the drivers were swapped around and this driver got to experience the truck fitted with the new BaseAir air management system. Once the truck was underway, the difference was clearly discernible. Travelling along the road the prime mover seemed to feel more upright, if that’s possible. the line it was travelling along seemed truer.

Just to get an idea of the effect of the system on the trailers, it was simply a matter of giving the steering wheel a quick tug and then back to centre, followed by a glance into the mirror, to ascertain the amount of sway induced at the back end of the B-double. From the point of view of the driver that movement seems much less than that level of steering input would normally cause.

During the process of loading up the trailers at the feedlot, the Martins drivers whose trucks we are road testing consistently affirm that the way the truck and trailers sit of the road when fitted with the new system is a real safety improvement, and makes their lives much easier.

WHAT’S HAPPENING?

The BaseAir product comes in the form of a kit which can be fitted to both trucks and trailers. Initially, Martins were fitting the system just on the trailers, but later realised adding them to the prime mover’s rear suspension resulted in an even better solution.

In essence, what has been developed is an enhancement of the existing air suspension system. The normal system will be fitted with one height control valve (HCV). The combination of the HCV with the road conditions sees air flowing around a

unitary air system to keep the truck chassis at the desired height from the road.

What the BaseAir system does is separate it into two parallel systems, one on the left and one on the right. When the truck is running in a steady condition, the two separate air circuits are selectively combined to have the same effect as we would expect from a standard air circuit.

This situation changes when the trailer starts to lean over. There are two HCVs, one on either side of the truck and when a discrepancy appears, the

HCVs limits the movement of air from one side of the truck to the other.

At a basic level, in a normal system, as the trailer starts to lean to the left, for example, air would normally flow from the left across to the right, to equalise pressure across the unitary circuit. When this lean happens in the BaseAir system, the valves close and hold the air in the airbags on the left, to hold the trailer up and reduce the lean.

The Dual Pressure Protection Valve is placed at the point where the two separate circuits diverge at the connection from the air tank.

These are experienced operators who know how to get several decks of cattle from A to B safely and in the right condition.

The current technology simply needs a little help to make life a little easier for the driver.

BaseAir have fitted a selection of the B-double combinations in the livestock haulers fleet with its air management system to reduce issues.

The airlines to the two HCVs are the same length, as are the lines from the HCV to the airbags.

There is an extra airline in this system, the cross-flow line passing air from one side to the other, shut off and released by the HCVs on either side. Anytime the HCVs detect a lean of less than 1.5 degrees, the crossflow is fully open and allows air to flow feely between the two circuits, exactly the same as in a normal system.

Once that lean exceeds the 1.5

degrees the system will limit air flow, the cross-flow is no longer available, and the two sides of the suspension act separately. This is how the effect of holding the trailers and prime mover up straighter is achieved, by simply stopping the suspension from allowing the lean in the trailer when it reaches a certain level.

WHAT’S THE EFFECT?

Most of the time the current standard air suspension systems are more

than adequate to cope with just about anything the normal trucking life on the road can throw at it. There is no suggestion that the current technology is anything other than excellent.

The question here is about some of the vehicles which run at the margins of the safe parameters we need to set for trucks and trailers, especially multi-combinations. This is where the current technology simply needs a little help to make life a little easier for the driver.

This is the point which the Martins drivers PowerTorque spoke to emphasised over and over again. These are experienced operators who know how to get several decks of cattle from A to B safely and in the right condition.

Their driving experience has taught them to minimise risk at all times. They are extremely aware of dips in the road or corners which tighten up without warning and this is coupled with an astute awareness of just how a fully loaded livestock combination will handle.

When they talk about the BaseAir system on their trucks, they simply list all of the little issues, which could increase instability, they had to be aware of in the past, that are no longer a problem. This allows them to concentrate on the job in hand and get it done both more efficiently and safely.

CONNECTED ROADS ARE SAFER ROADS

To increase safety on our roads, we need to utilise all of the technology we have at hand, reckons Anthony Laras, National Manager of Transport, Teletrac Navman.

With over a million trucks on Australia’s roads, safety is imperative. The innovation and adoption of technology has proven it can create safer roads through a number of means, from real-time driver alerts of upcoming rest breaks to intelligent route mapping and reliable data to help make informed decisions.

In fact, the Australian transport industry is one of the most innovative in terms of technology, and our world-class tech is being noticed on a global stage.

Regulated programs like Smart OBM and TMA provide assurance around heavy vehicle access to the state road network. Many jurisdictions across Australia are moving to this intelligent transport technology, with Queensland, NSW and Victoria already using the systems.

Through these kinds of programs, Australian customers have seen direct benefits almost instantly. This new technology enables a greater ROI thanks to the lower cost of the set-up and allows Australia’s network of access for heavy vehicles to be connected.

A LONG ROAD TO SUCCESS

This is a significant achievement for me personally and our company because we’ve been there from the start. Thirteen years ago, our Teletrac Navman team began championing the Intelligent Access Program (IAP), a national program developed in partnership with all Australian road agencies.

By monitoring where the trucks move, transport operators can access the road network while carrying more weight. There is also the longterm benefit in our road network of governments being able to fix the roads that need to be fixed, which depends upon reliable data. For example, in watching truck movements, we may discover a bridge many trucks use, so authorities can prioritise that as the next to fix.

BENEFITS OF SMART OBM AND TMA

Certified by Transport Certification Australia, Smart OBM and TMA deliver a range of benefits, including:

• Smart OBM scale calibration requirements will align with the manufacturer’s specifications, resulting in a potential change from a 6-monthly to a 12-monthly calibration schedule

• In many cases, current In-Vehicle

Units (IVU) and OBM scales are already compatible with TMA and Smart OBM

• Often, the operating costs of TMA are less than IAP, resulting in potential cost savings for transport operators

Allowing transport operators to move more with less can generate more revenue by saving on fuel, driver hours and maintenance costs. It means fewer trips for drivers, fewer truck movements and CO2 emissions, less tyre wear and tear, more profit, and more safety.

WORLD-FIRST TECHNOLOGY ON A GLOBAL STAGE

The new technology is a world first and proves Australia’s commitment to road safety is at the forefront of global standards.

In 2022, I had the privilege to address a European Union delegation, who were fascinated with what was happening here. We are miles ahead of anybody on the planet in this space.

A CONNECTED COUNTRY

Late last year, Queensland joined Victoria and New South Wales in providing transport operators with this capability, and I’m hearing South Australia will be joining soon.

The transition to Smart OBM and TMA is a crucial step towards

national harmonisation and crossborder efficiencies with aligned and connected technology.

At Teletrac Navman, we’re proud to be the first to market to offer this to customers. We look forward to continuing to see the positive effects of this technology on our road transport network.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ISN’T ABOUT TO MAKE US ALL JOBLESS JUST YET

Warren Clark, NatRoad CEO is wondering whether artificial intelligence can do his job, instead of him, or your job, instead of you.

Most of us are hearing a lot about Artificial Intelligence and the prospect of it replacing humans in many types of work.

Artificial Intelligence – that’s AI for short - is the technology that enables machines (such as robots and computers) to think and act like humans.

And ChatGPT is an AI website that uses information it has learned to generate text in response to questions.

I asked it to write my column for this month and started by asking about Deals on Wheels:

When it comes to trucking, safety is a top priority. Even when it comes to saving money, you don’t want to compromise safety. Here at Deals on Wheels, we understand this and strive to give our readers the best deals while still making sure they’re getting the highest quality of safety and reliability. For starters, we always look for the best deals on trucks, parts, and accessories. We make sure to only feature those that are from reputable manufacturers and are designed for the safe operation of a truck…At Deals on Wheels, safety is our top priority. We want to provide our readers with the best deals while still making sure they’re getting the highest quality of safety and reliability.

So far, so good.

I was on a roll.

It did get me thinking about the enormous impact technology is already having on our industry.

AI is already here in the heavy vehicle sector. ChatGPT told me so:

AI has been used in the trucking industry for many years, and its uses are becoming increasingly more sophisticated. AI can be used to

automate navigation, loading, and unloading, as well as other tasks. It can also be used to optimise routes, reduce fuel costs, and minimise downtime. AI can also be used in truck maintenance and safety, as well as in predictive maintenance, which can save costs in the long run. AI is also being used for driverless trucks, which could potentially reduce accidents, reduce traffic congestion, and improve efficiency.

Since 2021, Australian company Mineral Resources has been piloting an autonomous triple road train platoon in the Pilbara, with each combination capable of hauling 300 tonnes of iron ore.

The National Transport Commission has been developing a regulatory framework for some self-driving vehicles. The Automated Vehicle Safety Law is due in 2026 and is expected to lay out national standards for autonomous vehicles.

You might expect this will result in sweeping changes to how road transport operates.

Not so fast.

American researchers at two universities have been assessing the impact of autonomous trucking on operator hours. They say there will be a profound impact on long-haul truckingbut it may take decades to come about.

In March last year, an autonomous 18-wheel truck spent more than five successive days hauling goods between Dallas and Atlanta, totalling 10,000 kilometres.

The same freight task would have taken a human driver (with mandated rest breaks) about 10 days.

Critically, a human “safety driver” was in the cab at all times…and had to

take the wheel many times.

It seems AI is up to the task when it’s straightforward but has a lot to learn when conditions are tough.

Anyway, I was emboldened enough to ask ChatGPT how long before AI replaces my role:

It is difficult to predict exactly when a CEO of a lobby group will be replaced by AI, as it depends on a variety of factors, including the specific organisation and its goals, the level of technological development in the field of AI, and the acceptance and adoption of AI within the industry. However, it is possible that in the future, AI could play a larger role in the operations of lobby groups, such as in the analysis of data and the development of strategies.

ChatGPT is unlikely to be able to attend meetings with Ministers any time soon, so I reckon my job is safe.

If you’re a competent heavy vehicle operator whose skills are very much in demand right now, I suggest yours is too.

AI clearly has a role to play in many facets of road transport – especially in route planning and management of bulk freight. Used properly, it’s going to make everybody’s job easier.

But humans with skills, finely honed by years of experience, aren’t going to vacate the scene any time soon.

And remember: governments at all levels are still trying to work out how to get us into electric trucks.

SCAN THE QR CODE FOR MORE FROM NATROAD

ADVANCED FATIGUE MANAGEMENT

Helping drivers to rest when they’re tired and drive when they’re fit

Managing fatigue flexibly is an important requirement in running a trucking business and Sal Petroccitto, National Heavy Vehicle Regulator CEO, outlines how operators can take advantage of the fatigue management scheme.

Our job as the regulator is to work with industry to provide the tools and support they need to do their job safely.

Industry will keep improving what they do in their business – finding efficiencies and better ways of working, and embracing new technologies.

With a modern and flexible law in place, we can be most effective in supporting safety advancements by putting in place the right risk-based regulatory approaches.

This is why the regulator has invested heavily over the last four years to help guide the development of the new law.

This is particularly the case with managing fatigue. We’ve learnt a lot about driver fatigue over the past 10 years, and we now have a much clearer understanding of the need to better recognise individual driver needs.

Just like all other aspects of your business, fatigue is an area where you can invest in tailoring fatigue work and rest hours to better suit your business and individual driver needs.

The prescriptive (or standard hours) approach to fatigue will always be available for those in industry who want to use it, and it’s long been an accepted community standard.

However, Advanced Fatigue Management (AFM) can provide

operators with a tailored approach to work and rest hours, provided they put in place additional controls and offsets to manage fatigue safety risks. Under tailored fatigue options, drivers can have better quality rest periods, are working when they’re most alert, and can take more rest in a shift if they need to.

Indeed, from our data, we know that AFM is typically used to get drivers to somewhere where they can get better quality rest at the end of their shift.

Even though AFM has been around for a long time, we’re aware that some operators may be put off by the

amount of paperwork and process involved in seeking accreditation.

To help address this, we’ve launched a dedicated project to remove unnecessary administrative barriers and make the process more user-friendly for businesses of all sizes.

I am not interested in how well an application is filled out – I am interested in knowing that you have the right safety controls in your business to manage fatigue risks.

Effectively managing fatigue – and underpinning AFM – is the genuine commitment from a business to work with its drivers to better understand

their needs and to put safety first. Our project focuses on providing better tools and greater support to help more operators become accredited in AFM – as I understand it, many operators are probably already meeting a lot of the requirements for AFM.

Getting formally accredited will just ensure they’re proactively managing fatigue safety risks and have this documented in their business.

Through this AFM improvement project, we’ll be sharing examples of the types of tailored options that other companies are currently using, so operators can decide whether there’s a pre-made example of hours that would suit their business.

We’ll also be sharing the types of controls and offsets operators can use to manage fatigue risks. There’ll be a library to choose from, and we’ll provide guidance on which best manages a particular risk.

We’ll also be providing a collection of templates and tools for operations manuals, and other required safety systems, which operators can implement in their business – just like with our approach to Safety Management Systems.

In addition, the AFM application form will move to the NHVR Portal, and there’ll be a built-in risk calculator, into which applicants will simply have to enter what hours they need to work.

Importantly, we’ll have a dedicated AFM case manager to step applicants though the process.

We’ll release more information over the coming months about how industry can get involved in AFM using the new process.

SCAN QR CODE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE FITNESS TO DRIVE: FATIGUE – REGULATORY ADVICE

SCAN QR CODE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (SMS)

I also recommend reading our Fitness to drive: Fatigue –Regulatory Advice, which provides guidance to all parties in the Chain of Responsibility on fatigue in the heavy vehicle transport industry and outlines their obligations under the Heavy Vehicle National Law.

It looks at the hazards and risks associated with fatigue, emphasises the importance of considering external factors that may influence the driver’s fatigue risk – not just those related to compliance with regulated work and rest hours – and proposes a range of control measures to ensure the safety of heavy vehicle drivers and other road users.

Our free Safety Management System (SMS) guidance material also provides tools and templates to help operators assess their fatigue safety risks and communicate effectively with their employees about their fitness for duty.

I look forward to keeping you up to date with the progress of our AFM improvement project, and contributing to safer drivers on safer roads.

SCAN THE QR CODE FOR MORE INFORMATION FROM NHVR

2023, A PIVOTAL YEAR FOR TRUCKING

needs a circuit breaker. A moment where we can catch our collective breath and make informed decisions about the future.

The Trucking Australia 23 conference (TA23) is shaping up to be that circuit breaker.

Importantly, two of industry’s key decision makers will be in the room.

Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Minister, Catherine King will deliver a keynote address. Opposition Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie will also be a keynote speaker.

This means that we will have industry and political heavy hitters in the same room at a key moment when decisions are being made that will shape our future.

There are so many issues on the table.

Have you ever looked back at your life and identified a year where everything turned?

It feels like 2023 could be one of those years for trucking.

Industry has certainly had a trying time of it recently, battling nearly every challenge imaginable, including the COVID 19 pandemic, bushfires, floods, heavy rain, damaged roads, supply chain issues and the AdBlue shortage.

It’s been close to impossible to keep from going under the waves and yet industry keeps bobbing to the surface like a cork in a tempest-tossed ocean.

Operators will tell you that it’s hard to look to the future when they’re busy dealing with yet another looming disaster. It feels like the industry

One is the seemingly ever-present problem of rest areas. The issue must be fixed once and for all.

Fifteen years ago, an audit of rest areas could not find a single route which met national guidelines on spacing.

While there has been some limited progress, there’s still not a single national freight route in Australia which would meet rest area guidelines.

The new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese understands the situation is serious. His government has injected some much-needed cash back into the system. The first budget earmarked an additional $80 million for rest areas over four years.

With this new funding specifically targeted at rest areas, the ATA estimates that Federal funding support for rest areas will triple over

the next four years.

That’s clearly a win but it’s important that big decisions are made and the rest area issue is fixed so Australia can have key national freight routes that meet national rest area guidelines.

TA23 will also cover the rise of zero emission vehicles. This is one of the biggest issues in the industry’s history and it’s not going away. TA23 will equip operators with the inside knowledge they need to make this historic moment in time an opportunity for their business rather than a threat.

The issue of workforce and diversity will also be a key focus of TA23, reflecting the request from our members to highlight ways to employ people of all different backgrounds. Embracing diversity is one of the most powerful ways to address the driver shortage and TA23 will equip delegates with the tools they need to diversify their workforce.

We also know there is a cost from the skills shortage, and the ATA’s member associations are working on development of a National Transport Workforce Strategy. TA23 will include a focus on training and recruitment.

According to the Australian Trucking Association, this year looks like being one where some big decisions are being made about the trucking industry.

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IDEAL ELECTRIC BREWERY WORKHORSE

Over Christmas I managed to sneak away to my home office for several hours, under the premise that I had some important deadlines to meet. In truth, I just wanted some respite from my mother-in-law, who as usual had outstayed her welcome.

Rest assured that I put this time to good use, enjoying a few pints of beer, and getting lost in the Commercial Motor digital archive https://archive.commercialmotor. com/. If you haven’t checked it out before, I highly recommend that you do. The magazine (which I’ve edited for 12 years) has been weekly since 1905, and there’s tens of thousands of

fascinating articles to read for free. When Commercial Motor was founded, it was with the sole purpose of persuading British hauliers to put their horses out to pasture, and invest in newfangled steam lorries instead. Although it was rather successful in its quest, with the majority of readers embracing the new technology, what I discovered looking at the archives was that one of the hardest groups to convince were breweries. With mainly local deliveries, horse-drawn drays were the perfect tool for the job. Some didn’t make the switch until as late as the 1960s, and to my knowledge three British breweries still use horsepower to this day, although mainly for

publicity purposes.

Now, more than a century later, it’s clear that hauliers will be making another major change, this time moving from internal combustion engines to zero-tailpipe-emission trucks. The difference is that now they won’t have a say in the matter. In the UK the sale of new combustionengined trucks weighing 26 tonnes or under will be banned by 2035, with all new HGVs needing to be zerotailpipe-emission five years later.

While some companies will no doubt delay the inevitable for as long as possible, like with all new technologies, there will be some early adopters. And in complete contrast

Having spent a day delivering Greene King beer, PowerTorque’s European Correspondent Will Shiers reckons battery-powered trucks might be the ideal brewery workhorse.

to the move from horses to lorries, one sector that’s likely to make the switch to battery-powered trucks sooner than most, is the brewing industry. With multi-stop deliveries, and comparatively short distances, electric trucks might actually make some practical and financial sense.

With this in mind, when I learned that Volvo Trucks would be loaning the UK’s leading pub company and brewer Greene King a Volvo FM Electric 4x2 tractor unit for a day, I made a trip to the east of England to see what they thought of it.

My host for the day was Greene King’s primary transport manager, Paul Brett. He has worked for the Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk-based brewery for close to 30 years. Although he’s been office-based for the past two decades, he spent the first 10 years of his career on the road as a drayman,

and later driving tankers as holiday cover. He’s a truck enthusiast through and through, and couldn’t wait to get behind the wheel of an electric vehicle for the first time.

Greene King runs a fleet of 75 drays across three English sites, which together with business partner GXO’s fleet, deliver to its 3,000-plus pubs in England, Wales and Scotland.

However, Brett is in charge of the primary fleet, which consists of 19, predominantly DAF XF, prime movers, 20 tanker trailers and 30 curtainsided trailers. The tankers are 28,000-litre ISO tanks, mounted onto skeletal chassis.

This primary fleet predominantly travels between Bury St Edmunds and Greene King’s two English distribution centres in Abingdon and Eastwood, its Belhaven Brewery in Scotland and a canning plant in Burton upon Trent,

in central England. Due to the long distances covered, and the fact that some of the prime movers are doubleshifted, electric propulsion is currently not viable. A Volvo FM Electric prime mover, with its six 90kWh batteries, will manage up to 300km on a full charge.

However, a handful of the prime movers rarely leave Bury St Edmunds, travelling the few kilometres between the brewery, its distribution centre and bottling plant, several times a day. Short journeys like this, predominantly through the town centre, are the natural habitat for battery-powered trucks. And it’s this work that Brett tried the electric Volvo at.

“This feels and looks like any other Volvo,” he exclaimed, having made himself comfortable in the driver’s seat. Like many people who drive an electric truck for the first time, he was

Greene King’s primary transport manager, Paul Brett.

no doubt expecting something far more futuristic. But the reality is that electric trucks don’t need to look like something out of a science fiction film. The more like a regular diesel truck they are, the easier it is for someone to jump out of one and into the other.

“Oh wow! This is amazing. Not hearing anything when you’re

driving is quite surreal,” he said, as he drove the solo prime mover from the distribution centre to the bottling plant, a journey of about 2km. As we drove, he told me that Greene King has recently announced that it will soon be moving to a new distribution centre on the outskirts of town, having outgrown the current one.

TECH SPEC

Model: Volvo eFM Globetrotter

Configuration: 4x2 tractor

Wheelbase: 3,900mm

Motor: ESS540 540kwh 3 Motor (378kw Usable 70%)

Transmission: EPT2412 12-speed I-Shift

Batteries: 6 x 90kWh batteries

Range: 300km

When we arrived, we saw several of the 20-strong tanker fleet parked up. They’ve all recently been wrapped by local firm Coastline Graphics, and look fantastic.

Brett began to reverse the FM Electric under a trailer, and was shocked by how easy the process was. “This is fantastic for lowspeed manoeuvring, as you feel like you have complete control,” he announced. The coupling process is exactly the same as it would be with a diesel truck, and the only challenge was trying to work out how to access the hidden steps onto the catwalk. On a diesel truck, the steps would be built into the fuel tank.

“The power is instantaneous,” said Brett, as we pulled out of the bottling plant and commenced the short journey to the brewery. “It means when you pull away at a roundabout, there’s no gear changing, and no risk of impeding anyone.”

The FM Electric has the equivalent of 666hp, and it’s all available from a standing start. Although it does in fact

The tankers are 28,000-litre ISO tanks, mounted onto skeletal chassis.

have a 12-speed I-Shift transmission, it actually only ever uses two gears. That said, there is a manual override should you want it.

The Greene King brewery was built over 200 years ago, and was designed for horse-drawn drays, so is incredibly tight for a modern semi. I was certainly glad it was Brett behind the wheel and not me, as he expertly turned it around in this restricted space, then reversed it into the brewery for filling.

Under normal circumstances we would have waited the 90 minutes needed to clean out the tanker and refill it with beer, before taking it back to the bottling plant. However, seeing as 28,000 litres of beer would make the outfit weigh 43,700kg, and the maximum GVW for a five-axle truck in the UK is 40 tonnes, we had to have to leave it there for one of the DAF XF 6x2s to collect.

I initially suggested filling it to 25,000 litres instead, which would have allowed it to come in at under 40 tonnes, but Brett politely informed me that this would not be a good idea. The tanks aren’t baffled, and allowing the beer to agitate inside the tanker would not be good for its condition, creating a lot of froth.

This year Volvo will bring its first 6x2 electric prime movers to the UK, which would allow for 44-tonne operations. However, it’s not as simple as that. Due to the physical space needed on the chassis to house the batteries, electrifying a 6x2 prime mover represents some significant issues. For starters, there isn’t enough space to put the third axle ahead of the drive axle, meaning a tag axle is the only possible solution.

Whereas an electric 4x2 prime mover has a 3,900mm wheelbase (as opposed to the diesel equivalent’s 3,800mm), a tag axle adds a further 1,370mm, giving a 6x2 FM Electric a bumper-to-bumper length of 6,000mm. When coupled to a standard 13.6m semi trailer, this puts it over the UK’s current maximum length of an articulated unit, which with a few exceptions is 16.5m.

Even taking the new European masses and dimensions regulations into account (which allows DAF to sell

its extended XG+ cab over here), a 6x2 electric prime mover with regular trailer would not comply with the turning corridor requirements.

The industry is currently in discussion with the UK’s Department for Transport to find a solution. That all said, there are some operations where a longer 6x2 electric tractor could work, and pulling one of Greene King’s short ISO tank trailers is one of them.

We ran solo back to the bottling plant, this time to collect a tri-axle curtainsider full of empty firkins. There were 700 empties on board, and we took them to be filled with beer. Although empty, they still weighed 13kg each, so there was a considerable weight behind us. That said, Brett discovered that the FM Electric had the same acceleration as it did when we were running empty.

“It’s peaceful and quiet, there’s no stress, and even when there’s a load on the back you’d think it was empty,” he explained.

Brett was hugely impressed by the experience. “But they would need to work from a commercial point of view too,” he said, upon learning that an electric FM costs roughly three times the price of a diesel-powered equivalent.

It’s clear that if battery-powered trucks work for Greene King, then it’s likely to be the same story for breweries all over the world. And with

Volvo set to launch its range of zerotailpipe-emission trucks at this year’s Brisbane Truck Show, it might not be long until your favourite pint arrives at the pub insilence.

They may have been late into diesel, but breweries look likely to lead the charge to electric.

HISTORY OF GREENE KING

Greene King was founded in 1799 and has grown significantly over that time to now being the UK’s leading pub company and brewer.

It operates c.2,600 pubs, restaurants and hotels across England, Wales and Scotland, of which c.1,600 are retail pubs, restaurants and hotels in the Locals, Destination and Premium, Urban and Venture divisions, and c.1,000 are tenanted and leased pubs in its Pub Partners division. Its leading retail brands and formats include Hungry Horse, Farmhouse Inns and Chef & Brewer.

The Brewing & Brands division covers the brewing sides of the business, with quality ale brands brewed at the Greene King brewery in Bury St Edmunds and the Belhaven Brewery in Dunbar. The industry-leading portfolio includes Greene King IPA, Old Speckled Hen, Abbot Ale, Ice Breaker and Belhaven Best.

TAKING A SHINE TO YOUR KENWORTH

Kenworth drivers take great pride in keeping their rigs looking good and a new range of genuine cleaning products that has been specifically formulated for Kenworth trucks makes it easier than ever to keep your truck’s paint and chrome gleaming.

Marcus Dunn, Senior Product Manager at PACCAR Parts said the Kenworth Genuine Cleaning Range has been specially formulated to ensure compatibility with Kenworth trucks, ensuring operators can use premium cleaning products on their premium rigs.

“We needed to move away from traditional truck washes and offer customers a cleaning range that will thoroughly clean their Kenworth truck, yet still be safe for use on the variety of heavy vehicle applications.”

The chemistry in synthetic polymers and detergents has evolved considerably in recent years, and with the inclusion of ceramic Silicon Dioxide (Si02) technology, the Kenworth Genuine cleaning product range is now the industry’s most advanced.

“This has resulted in more concentrated formulations that are softer on paintwork, plastics and alloys than traditional truck washing products. Several formulas also offer the latest ceramic technology that offers exceptional protection, gloss and water beading.”

By combining nano synthetic polymers with Silicon Dioxide (Si02), the main ingredient used in the manufacture of glass, the Kenworth team has created a durable protective coating that resists environmental contaminants and harsh UV.

“This formulation creates an extremely hydrophobic (water beading) surface. The microscopic polymers provide a much smoother finish creating

a higher gloss on all surfaces. With consistent use of the Kenworth wash, road grime will be removed much easier and the gloss will improve with repeated use,” Mr Dunn said.

There are two different wash products in the new Kenworth Genuine Cleaning Range – Kenworth Genuine PRO Wash and the flagship wash product, Kenworth Genuine Wash & Wax.

The cleaning range also includes two advanced Kenworth Genuine finishing products, a new ‘no-sling’ Kenworth Genuine Tyre Gloss, and a non-flammable, low caustic Kenworth Genuine Degreaser.

Environmental and OH&S considerations were carefully considered in the development of the Kenworth Genuine Cleaning Range, Mr Dunn said.

“All these products are biodegradable and phosphate free. They can also be used where interceptor pits are in use. The washes are pH neutral, non-acidic, non-alkaline, non-corrosive, and do not contain harsh ingredients.”

The team is particularly proud of the Tyre Gloss products, which use a water-based emulsion instead of traditional highly flammable solvents and silicone oil.

“The Kenworth Genuine Tyre Gloss is completely non-hazardous, non-flammable and doesn’t ‘sling off’ silicone onto the vehicle. We think users will be very impressed with this product.”

To find out more about the new Kenworth Genuine Cleaning Range, drop in for a chat with your nearest PACCAR Parts Dealer. With their extensive dealer network spanning right across Australia and New Zealand, expert advice and the best quality products are always available to keep your rig looking great.

A new range of Kenworth Genuine Cleaning products makes it easier than ever to shine when out on the highway.

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LIVING WITH PERMALUBE

During the manufacturing process, Meritor permanently lubricates and seals each universal joint on RPL Series Permalube drivelines. The driveline elements are sealed units loaded with enough grease to last for the lifetime of the component.

There are several advantages to the use of these components. The extended U-joint and E-coated steel guard protects against contaminants and damage and the four-bolt design makes for easy installation and servicing.

driveline not only are operators saving on the time involved in maintenance, but also saving on the grease itself and helping the environment.

SUFFICIENT GREASE

Meritor fills each universal joint with sufficient grease during the assembly process to last the life of the driveline. However it is also normal during vehicle operation that some of this grease may purge out at one or more of the universal joint seals.

inspect an RPL Series driveline every 40,000 km. At that time, it is important to inspect the universal joints. At the inspection it is also important to check for excessive looseness across the ends of the universal joint bearing cup assemblies and trunnions. Technicians also need to inspect the slip yoke spline seal for grease leakage or seal damage. It is also necessary to check for missing balance weights, damaged tubing, or a missing welch plug at the slip yoke.

If during one of these inspections some grease appears to have come out of the assembly, there is nothing to worry about. Under 6 months of service or 80,000km, it is common for some grease to purge out. This is a normal occurrence and DOES NOT indicate that you must replace the universal joint. Eventually the grease will stop purging, and the universal joint seals may have a ‘crusted’ look. The ‘cr usted’ appearance is normal and part of the assembly’s life.

The secure flange connections can handle the high torques associated with heavy duty applications. The centre bearing is self-aligning with a double seal to avoid any water ingress and triple lip seals also provide excellent protection against contaminants getting into the slip spline. The nylon thrust washers used eliminate metalto-metal contact to prevent wear and extend U-joint life.

Once fitted, no more lubrication is required, however, periodic inspection is still necessary but it’s a lot less frequent. Before the development of these sealed units, someone would have to get under the truck every few weeks in order to grease the driveline and check everything was OK.

With a permanently lubricated

While lubrication is not necessary it is still vital to make regular inspections of the driveline to detect abnormal wear or other issues. Loose bolts, missing balance weights, damaged tubing or excessive slip spline wear can all result in imbalance or vibration which can then cause excessive wear. A failed driveline can separate from the vehicle causing serious damage to people or property.

The first inspection of one of the RPL Permalube sealed units needs to be at no more than 3,200km. At this point it is necessary to ensure bolts are correctly torqued. The Universal joint-to-end yoke bolts need to torqued to 115-135 lb-ft (155-183 Nm) and the flange-to-flange bolts to 133-163 lb-ft (180-220 Nm).

After this, it is recommended to

Over the years more and more trucks are fitted with a sealed driveline which is lubed for its lifetime, but there are still some misconceptions about looking after them. Meritor explains just how simple looking after a Permalube™ driveline can be.

Check the universal joint for looseness every 40,000 km.

Under 6 months of service or 80,000km, it is common for some grease to purge out.

The “crusted” appearance is normal and DOES NOT indicate that you must replace the universal joint.

KENWORTH GENUINE CLEANING RANGE

MADE FOR YOUR KENWORTH.

The new cleaning range is available exclusively through the PACCAR Parts Dealer network across Australia & New Zealand.

For more details or to find your nearest PACCAR Parts Dealer, scan here:

TRAILER SUSPENSION PIVOT ISSUES AND TIPS

Trailer pivot connections are designed to be reliable and secure for many thousands of kilometres. However, that is not the case if technicians take shortcuts or don’t follow through on basic procedures. Not correctly tightening pivot bolts may result in:

· Elongation of hanger pivot bolt holes

· Gouging of the hanger, which can then lead to the hanger to cracking

· Premature tyre wear

· Accelerated wear of related suspension components.

The coating is comprised of minuscule flakes of zinc and aluminium, which protects the bolts from corrosion, in addition to providing a surface that allows for consistent bolt torque and clamp load. Threads should be clean, dry, free of contamination and not have any visible damage that could cause galling.

Install pivot bolts from inside to out. That way, in the unlikely event that a pivot bolt comes loose it will never come out and spear the tyre, which could result in an accident.

out correctly, then the eccentric collar squares will usually be positioned somewhere between 11 and 1 o’clock. If a trailer is having tyre wear issues, then this can be a quick determination of whether the pivot connecting has moved. For example, an eccentric collar square positioned at 6 o’clock will be a tell-tale sign that the pivot bolt is not tight enough and the suspension is no longer correctly aligned.

Hendrickson QUIK-ALIGN fasteners are very simple to tighten to the correct torque by only using a T20 Torx socket and rattle gun. The Torx head shears off once it reaches the required 800Nm. Despite this, not correctly tightening the pivot bolt after alignment is currently one of the biggest pivot fastener issues. There are a few instructions and items that technicians need to follow when carrying out wheel alignments or repairing trailer pivot connections. Do not apply anti-seize compound or additional lubricant to the bolt or nut thread. Hendrickson QUIK-ALIGN shear-head bolts have a special coating.

Replace the QUIK-ALIGN pivot after use as they are ‘One Time Use’ only bolt.

After installing the pivot hardware, tighten it enough to hold the flanged collars in place between the alignment guides and flat against the frame bracket, but loose enough to allow the collars to rotate for alignment. The square of the eccentric collar should be at the top, around the 12 o’clock mark. The trailer suspension will now need to be aligned to the chassis and the other trailer suspensions.

If the trailer has been built within specifications and the alignment carried

After alignment, it is the aligner’s responsibly to ensure that the fasteners are correctly tightened. A rattle gun capable of 1,000Nm and a T20 Torx socket are tools that every reputable wheel aligner should have. If the fasteners are not tightened immediately there will be nothing to prevent the suspension moving out of alignment when the trailer is driven and then it could easily be overlooked before delivery to the customer.

Hendrickson trailer suspension pivot connections are very reliable as long as fasteners are installed clean and dry, correctly assembled and correctly tightened.

Hendrickson Asia Pacific Pty Ltd

32-44 Letcon Drive

Dandenong, Victoria 3175

Tel: 03 8792 3600

www.hendrickson.com.au

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LOOKING BACK

Bob Woodward has retired after a long career in the trucking industry, including long associations with the Australia Trucking Association and Ron Finemore Transport. This is the first of his new columns for PowerTorque , here he reflects on the past, and will look forward in future issues.

Performance Based Standards.

In 2006 a discussion paper was developed to encourage more general use of quad axle groups in semi-trailers and B-Doubles policy. The National Transport Commission recommended that quad axles be operated at 24 tonnes GML and 27 tonnes HML. ARRB conducted another technical assessment in 2014 and confirmed the NRTC recommendation.

Ten years after it started, in 2016, yet another discussion paper, a review of quad-axle groups. A further 7 years on, there are some quad axles in PBS combinations and the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator believe they are innovative leaders.

Brisbane, Adelaide-Melbourne, Brisbane-Melbourne and others in next 5-10 years, let alone the next 38 years.

There should be a strategic long term focus on future high productivity freight vehicles, like the 42.5metre modular AB-triples, including appropriately located and facilitated rest areas. It’s time to stop the repetitive consulting and start the constructing!

In my early stage of retirement, it is now time to sit back, review and reflect, writes Bob. There were fun times, challenges but often pure frustration. What seemingly should be pure simple logic was a recipe for brain damage. I have made many friends along the way, but also enemies. A practice I had ingrained into me was, it’s OK to kick someone’s butt when they stuff up, but don’t forget the compliments when they do a good job, I’ve never forgotten that advice.

In 2023 it should not be unreasonable to generally expect to have access to good services, education, health, roads etc. Too frequently duplication of management results in less and less dollars making it into infrastructure and services. The problem is that governments at all levels don’t actually have money, they collect it via taxes and are then tasked with managing the spend on behalf of the community.

Over time there has been multiple lists of policy projects that were going to happen for the betterment of the road transport industry. Some have delivered a little whilst others very little, including: quad axles, rest areas, and

Rest areas have been a concern for as long as I can remember. A new highway is planned and constructed, and only then the question is raised, where are the heavy vehicle rest areas? The first thing to happen during road maintenance, is a heavy vehicle rest area is ‘closed’ for a temporary works depot, truck drivers can make their own arrangements to manage fatigue.

Ther have been many Rest Area Strategy consultations/programs over the past 20 or so years. A National Road Safety Inquiry in 2003 resulted in many recommendations, 20 years on, truck drivers are still waiting. Recently, the New South Wales Government announced it is encouraging the freight industry to participate in another consultation to improve NSW heavy vehicle rest stops. How many consultation programs are required?

Hopefully, each of the state road agencies know what the National and State freight routes are going to look like in 20-30 years. Future forecasting suggests that the freight task will increase by 34 per cent by 2061. I am not worried about 2061, what I am very concerned about is there is no plan for the highways linking: Adelaide-

The concept of PBS has not been fully realised. It is now just over thirty years since the concept that became PBS was initially discussed. Industry thought they were backing a winner when the States agreed to the principles of safety standards. It wasn’t clear that access would be used as the big stick to enhance or deny PBS applications.

The move to migrate PBS configurations to Notices has been slow, the notice for three axle trucks and four axle dogs has been less than a roaring success. The notice should have been able to encompass a large majority of those related PBS configurations, after the NHVR has access to all the technical detail.

The issue with policy, is that developing and adopting policy is the easy bit, turning that policy into legislation and regulation is when the hard work starts. The time lapse to implement change in Australian Design Rules and Vehicle Standards is but one example, and it has not improved with time. Change to at least one ADR has been in discussion for more than 32 years and is still not addressed. Bureaucrats that are truly prepared to embrace the challenges of actually implementing change are few and far between, too many watchers and not enough workers.

Until next time, I hope you can avoid the pot holes and locate a clean appropriately located rest area and get quality rest, it’s still a long road ahead.

Bob Woodward.

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