battery-electric trucks

Oil in 2025 increasingly looking like a buyer’s market

At a recent online forum on energy hosted by S&P Global Commodity Insights, Richard Murphy of Ion Commodities read through a litany of jolts to oil markets that have roiled both supply and demand for several years.

“Since 2020 we’ve lived in a world of massive disruptions, black swan-type events that happen multiple times a year, and these are inducing a lot of operational risks for people in oil markets,” Murphy said.

He ticked off some of the big ones: interruptions in the Suez Canal by 2021’s...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/oil-in-2025-increasingly-looking-like-a-buyers-market

Of floor mops, M&M coatings … and battery packs 

What do coatings for M&M chocolate candies, O-Cedar floor mops and battery packs for electric trucks have in common?

All three come from German industrial conglomerate Freudenberg Group. The company operates many other seemingly incongruous businesses from filtration to home cleaning products.

A history of handoffs

Freudenberg’s battery business is an appropriate Truck Tech topic. But not as tasty than M&Ms, for which it makes the hard shell coatings through its Capol business unit. 

The...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/of-floor-mops-mm-coatings-and-battery-packs

Will Nikola’s best year ever be good enough?

Nikola broke a nine-day stock price losing streak a week ago when it posted record second-quarter revenue. CEO Steve Girsky still enthusiastically believes 2024 will be the best year in company history. Yet, the electric truck maker has only enough cash on hand to last through the end of the year without further diluting investors by converting more shares.

Sweeping away the underbrush

Nikola no longer talks about convicted founder Trevor Milton, who recently dropped his $1 billion suit against...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/will-nikolas-best-year-ever-be-good-enough

Drayage fleets need education to learn benefits of electrification

This fireside chat recap is from FreightWaves’ Enterprise Summit on Wednesday.

FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC:

The pros and cons of fleet electrification

DETAILS: Tony Williamson, director of business development and sustainability at Gage Zero, says drayage companies have to explore how to fit electric trucks into their fleets because of state and federal regulations. Gage Zero is a developer and operator of charging infrastructure for truck fleets.

KEY QUOTES FROM WILLIAMSON: 

On the pressure to reduce...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/drayage-fleets-need-education-to-learn-benefits-of-electrification

Daimler Truck marries electric and autonomous technologies

Daimler Truck added autonomous driving technology to its Class 8 electric eCascadia, creating a demo that addresses future markets for driverless trucks and emission realities that will eventually push out diesel fuel.

“We asked ourselves, ‘What would it look like if we combined the freight efficiency potential of an autonomous truck with the promise of zero emissions and decarbonization of our series production electric vehicle?’” Joanna Buttler, head of the Daimler Truck Global Autonomous...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/daimler-truck-marries-electric-and-autonomous-technologies

Really cold hydrogen could bring driving range parity with diesel

The time it takes to fuel a hydrogen-powered fuel cell truck is already on par with diesel. But there is still a yawning gap when it comes to comparable driving range. A new hydrogen storage system that packs more energy density might change that.

The goal of hydrogen and battery-electric trucks is to reduce the 12% of greenhouse gas emissions attributed to heavy-duty trucking.

Chill out: Verne goes deep into minus celsius for cryo-compression

San Francisco-based startup Verne is named after 19th...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/really-cold-hydrogen-could-bring-driving-range-parity-with-diesel

Industry study pegs electric truck grid buildout at $1 trillion

WASHINGTON — Companies representing all segments of the trucking industry are warning of a staggering $1 trillion price tag that they claim sets up a roadblock to the Biden administration’s push to decarbonize the industry.

A study released on Tuesday commissioned by the Clean Freight Coalition (CFC), whose members include the American Trucking Associations, LTL carriers, truck dealers and truck stop operators, concluded that commercial trucking would have to invest more than $620 billion in...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/industry-study-pegs-electric-truck-grid-buildout-at-1-trillion

Biden administration rolls out power grid plan for electric trucks

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has selected 12,000 miles of freight-heavy interstates and the country’s largest container ports to begin a 16-year plan to deploy battery-charging and hydrogen-refueling stations for electric trucks.

The four-phase National Zero-Emission Freight Corridor Strategy, unveiled Tuesday, initially targets local and regional “return-to-base” trucking operations, first- and last-mile delivery, and port drayage while gradually accommodating long-haul trucking.

A core...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/biden-administration-rolls-out-power-grid-plan-for-electric-trucks

Diesel distancing propels alternative fuel options

Renewable natural gas, battery-electric and hydrogen-powered trucks all target fleets switching from diesel ahead of coming regulations requiring costly additional emissions after-treatment. Which alternative will win? Possibly all of them.

Vouchers make first Nikola fuel cell trucks ‘cheaper than a diesel’

Back in 2018, Anheuser-Busch placed an initial order for up to 800 Nikola fuel cell trucks. Ever so slowly, that is becoming a reality.

After numerous missteps and setbacks, Nikola produced 42...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/diesel-distancing-propels-alternative-fuel-options

ATA’s Spear rips ‘self-promoting union bosses’ in annual address

AUSTIN, Texas — “Self-promoting union bosses” encouraged by the “most pro-union president in history” are making trouble for the trucking industry, American Trucking Associations CEO Chris Spear said in his annual membership address.

But he had plenty of invective for California regulators. And he criticized a century-old excise tax that adds $25,000 to the typical cost of a new heavy-duty truck.

“Trial lawyers chasing jackpot justice, self-promoting union bosses and delusional environmental...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/atas-spear-rips-self-promoting-union-bosses-in-annual-address

+ More