Truck Talk

Truck Talk: Rebranding and reorganization edition

This week, Daimler Truck laid out forward plans ahead of trading in December as a stand-alone truck maker; the only publicly traded trailer maker renamed, rebranded and reorganized; Proterra pushed further into the battery supply business; and Kodiak Robotics maintains it will go it alone in trucking autonomy after a handsome capital raise.

Looking for big numbers

Daimler Truck will begin trading as a stand-alone business on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on Dec. 10 and expects to join Germany’s...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-talk-rebranding-and-reorganization-edition

Truck Talk: Inside earnings edition

The earnings season is typically about top and bottom lines: revenue, income and that EBITDA acronym that looks at income as a percentage of sales. But there’s more. We looked for insights from a few transcripts of Q3 analyst calls. Also, there is another industry shortage as acute as the much-publicized paucity of truck drivers.

Future fuel injection?

Cummins Inc. hasn’t said much about its plans to make a hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine. But we know a little more following this...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-talk-inside-earnings-edition

Truck Talk: Hydrogen conundrum edition

This week, we look at insuring hydrogen fuel cell trucks, Nikola’s patent infringement case against Tesla — is there still a case to make? — and Volvo Construction Equipment and LEGO: They’re at it again, but this time, it’s the toy inspiring the real vehicle.

A hydrogen conundrum

At critical mass, hydrogen-powered fuel cell trucks promise elimination of greenhouse gas emissions as long as the hydrogen comes from renewable sources like solar or hydropower.

But there is a more pressing issue. How...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-talk-hydrogen-conundrum-edition

Truck Talk: Delayed gratification edition

Tesla delays the Semi for a fourth time. Is Elon Musk losing his first-mover edge in electric trucks? Low-mileage used trucks are hard to get. So why are major players adding storefronts to sell them? And is that a transforming Mack Truck — or not?

Lost advantage or …

With its fourth delay to planned production in late 2023, a case can be made that the Tesla Semi electric truck is losing the first-mover advantage it claimed from its reveal in late 2017.

Or maybe not.

“If Tesla can make a 400- to...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-talk-delayed-gratification-edition

Truck Talk: Short sellers and SPACs edition

It is becoming a right of passage for SPAC-sponsored electric vehicle companies to attract short sellers, some with legitimate claims and others out for a quick buck; the Pittsburgh area is embracing autonomous transportation; and Nikola’s greenfield plant in the Arizona desert that attracted trolls only months ago is making electric trucks.

Rise of the takedown artists

Short selling has always been a part of the stock market — borrowing shares and betting a company’s stock price will fall, then...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-talk-short-sellers-and-spacs-edition

Truck Talk: There’s a grant for that edition

This week, several electric truck makers are guiding the grant-writing process to help customers afford battery-powered trucks; Nikola is fully in growth mode as the shadow of scandal lifts; a Lordstown Motors’ financial scorecard; and Daimler seals the deal to create a stand-alone truck company.

Taking help for grant-ed

The transition to heavy- and medium-duty electric vehicles is being helped along by generous grants to offset the high upfront cost of buying, or more often, leasing the...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-talk-theres-a-grant-for-that-edition

Truck Talk: Machine gun-tested edition

This week: Mack Trucks delivers its machine-gun-tested dump trucks to the Army; a former Navistar and General Motors executive thinks autonomous trucks will flip the script on passenger cars leading new technologies to market; and Western Star dealers want their demo trucks back.

Machine gun tested

Mack Trucks delivered its first heavy-duty M917A3 armored dump trucks to the U.S. Army this week, and it is pretty sure to have a satisfied customer.

After all, how many new trucks get strafed by machine...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-talk-machine-gun-tested-edition

Truck Talk: Taking the high road edition

This week, Hyliion lets slide a slight; hydrogen fuel cells are everywhere, or it seems that way; and thermal imaging gets a look as a way to enhance autonomous trucking perception.

Yeah, he meant it

Like most conferences, in person or virtual, panel discussions prevailed at last week’s Advanced Clean Transportation Expo. One exchange that didn’t happen stood out.

Hyliion Holdings founder and CEO Thomas Healy was making his first of several appearances during the week, talking up his company’s...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-talk-taking-the-high-road-edition

Truck Talk: Tasty leftovers edition

This week’s Advanced Clean Transportation Expo expounded on two major electrification themes: the higher power and faster infrastructure critical to speed the adoption of battery-powered trucks, and the more rapid arrival of hydrogen-powered fuel cells, once laughed off as a science project always 10 years away.

Running a live conference during a resurgent pandemic

In Long Beach, California, this week, the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo managed to pull off a live event even as rising...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-talk-tasty-leftovers-edition

Truck Talk: Throwing shade edition

This week, Plus CEO David Liu talks about autonomous trucking in China; debating the limitations of real-world autonomous miles versus simulations; and hybrid powertrain maker Hyliion’s addition of a second secretary of transportation to its board.

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Middle Kingdom mastery

Two of the leading autonomous truck software developers compete in China — TuSimple and Plus. Only Plus generates press releases, such as its...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-talk-throwing-shade-edition

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