Truck Talk

Truck Talk: Cost of change edition

This week, we look at the costs associated with changing corporate captains; tiremakers rolling into trucking autonomy and electrification, and static-free AM/FM radio in the Freightliner Cascadia.  

The cost of change

Leadership change can be expensive, both to remove a current CEO and to hire a new one. Here are three recent example as startups and early stage growth companies onboard operating experience in place of visionary or slow-moving leaders:

Lordstown Motors Corp.

The ouster of Steve...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-talk-cost-of-change-edition

Truck Talk: Risky business edition

Welcome back to Truck Talk. This week, we look behind the numbers at recent SPAC financial reports, including a potentially long wait for some Nikola fuel cell truck customers. Also, who reigns supreme in engine-making, Xos mobile energy refueling and more.

Behind the numbers

As young companies begin public trading once their sponsors recede to the background, investors begin to see how aligned their projections of success are with reality. Losses, sometimes really big red numbers in net and...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-talk-risky-business-edition

Truck Talk: Autonomous hitching edition

FreightWaves regularly covers the six startups pursuing Level 4 high autonomy on the road. This week, we’re looking at autonomy from a different perspective. What happens when those trailers get to their destinations?

Getting hitched

The 10 billion tons of freight moved in trailers could eventually whisk down the highway via robot. Then what happens?  

Outrider Inc. CEO Andrew Smith offered his perspective on how automating freight and distribution yards will soon include touchless hitching and...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-talk-autonomous-hitching-edition

Truck Talk: Crystal ball gazing edition

Welcome back to Truck Talk.This week, we’re looking at the future for PACCAR; Hyliion’s long-range hybrid play; the mandate for the new CEO at Workhorse Group; and whether Lordstown Motors’ financial lifeline is enough to endure.

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The future of revenue

PACCAR Inc. is pretty much a head-down, all-business operation. Not given to hyperbole, but CEO Preston Feight takes the full hour-plus on quarterly earnings calls to...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-talk-crystal-ball-gazing-edition

Truck Talk: Next acts edition

This week, we’re looking at a lot of industry experience being brought to bear on startups and a familiar SPAC sponsor that has recruited a former U.S. president to a board role that could help pick a merger target. 

Moving on

It doesn’t matter what industry, second acts are common in professional careers. In baseball parlance, there are not many Tony Gwynns or Cal Ripken Jrs. who spend their entire careers with one team. 

Consider Rich Mohr, 25 “seasons” with Ryder System Inc. (NYSE: R), the last...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-talk-next-acts-edition

Truck Talk: Autonomous prediction edition

This week, we’re playing back what some participants in the Autonomous & Electric Vehicles Summit had to say about the sector’s future, chronicling the growth in Nikola’s dealer network and checking out a very cool new Lego ruck.

Summit voices on autonomous trucking’s future

FreightWaves featured a strong lineup of speakers during Wednesday’s Autonomous & Electric Vehicles Summit. One question that brought divergent answers involved looking at the sector five years out. Will most autonomous...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-talk-autonomous-prediction-edition

Truck Talk No. 26: Labor pains edition

This week, we look at the ramifications of a vote on a third tentative agreement by striking workers at Volvo Trucks North America  We also revisit patents and make bank with Hyliion Holdings founder and CEO Thomas Healy.

Holding the line

Are two strikes impacting production at Volvo Truck enough to get UAW workers a contract they will accept? The outcome of voting on a third tentative agreement by 2,900 represented hourly workers in Dublin, Virginia, should be known by Friday evening. 

After...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-talk-no-26-labor-pains-edition

Truck Talk: Autonomous patent edition

This week, we look at how technology patents suggest possible winners and also-rans in the autonomous trucking race to commercialization. And Cummins cuts a deal that replaces the sunsetting of its 20-year-old natural gas joint venture with Westport Fuel Systems.

A patent argument

Sizing up the prospects of autonomous software trucking companies needs a scorecard, or maybe a Racing Forum. There’s no question that a horse race to commercialization is underway. Distinguishing winners from also-rans...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-talk-autonomous-patent-edition

Truck Talk: Trash talking edition

This week, we’re talking trash. Not what’s in it, but what moves it. The frequent stop-and-go operation of garbage trucks make them ideal for electrification. So why aren’t they being adopted more quickly?

Waste not

Is there a better vehicle candidate for electrification than the unlovable garbage truck?

They start and stop for a living. Regenerative braking captures energy to put it back into the battery. Garbage is still going to be smelly. But take away the diesel fumes spewing from the...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-talk-trash-talking-edition

Truck Talk: Sound off edition

One of the unintended challenges arising from the near-silent operation of electric trucks is that you cannot hear them coming, especially if you are legally blind. This week, we look at how some truck manufacturers are soundly addressing the challenge.  

Out of sight

One of the benefits of electric trucks is a massive reduction in noise pollution. The rumble of a diesel engine, the shifting of gears — sometimes rhythmic, sometimes painful — and the whoosh of air brakes being released left no...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-talk-sound-off-edition

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