HDT Talks Trucking

Cummins is betting its new X15N 15-liter natural gas engine is going to change the market for natural-gas-powered trucks. HDT's Jim Park stopped by the Cummins booth at ACT Expo recently to learn more. This episode of HDT Talks Trucking is sponsored by Clarience Technologies .  Puneet Jhawar, the general manager of Cummins global natural gas business, walks us through Cummins’ reasons for dev...

Just what would it take for a truck stop to offer charging for long-haul electric trucks? We talk to Delia Meier of the Iowa 80 Group and CAT Scale to get the truck-stop view on that and on driver satisfaction. This episode of HDT's Leadership Insights podcast is sponsored by, and produced in partnership with, CAT Scale and its WeighMyTruck app. In this episode: The push to reduce trucking's carbo...

What are the latest trends in the push to decarbonize the trucking industry? Is electrification the answer? HDT's editors share what they learned at ACT Expo in this episode of HDT Talks Trucking. This episode is sponsored by Clarience Technologies. Each month, HDT's editors take a look behind some of Truckinginfo.com's top stories of the month. For May, it was all about electrification and a...

Are your recruiting and retention teams keeping up with the changing truck driver job market? Learn more in this episode of HDT Talks Trucking's Leadership Insights interview. This episode of HDT's Leadership Insights podcast is sponsored by, and produced in partnership with, Tenstreet .  Tim Crawford, Tenstreet co-founder and CEO, talks to HDT’s Jim Park about the trends Tenstreet tracks tha...

Battery electric is currently the dominant alternative to diesel discussed as the way to a zero-emissions future, but it’s not the only option. Jim Park and John Zelasko, chief sales officer at FEV North America, explore the various powertrain technologies likely to power tomorrow's fleets. 🎙 In this episode: About FEV and its stake in the commercial vehicle market  EV adoption rates on the h...

Trucking fleets face more and more pressures to create strong sustainability goals. But how do you figure out the right goals for your operations? This episode is sponsored by, and produced in partnership, with Geotab . Steve White, Geotab’s business development manager, heavy truck, talks to HDT’s Deborah Lockridge about how fleets can use telematics and data to find out where they are on their s...

Get insights behind the top trucking news from April 2022 with HDT Editor in Chief Deborah Lockridge, Managing Editor Vesna Brajkovic and Equipment Editor Jim Park on this episode of HDT Talks Trucking. This episode is sponsored by Clarience Technologies. Learn more about here. 🎙 Today's topics include: Achates Power developing an opposed-piston diesel engine that meets CARB's 2027 emissions regul...

The first functional diesel engine was tested in 1897, making the “heat engine” 125 years old this year. Will the diesel see 150 years of service? Allen Schaeffer, the executive director of the Diesel Technology Forum joined HDT’s Jim Park on Rudolph Diesel’s 164th birthday with a tribute to the engine’s inventor and look forward at its future. 🏫 Resources Diesel Technology Forum DTF: Nearer to Z...

Get updates and insights on the top trucking news from March 2022 with HDT Editor in Chief Deborah Lockridge and Managing Editor Vesna Brajkovic on this episode of HDT Talks Trucking. This episode is sponsored by: Circle K Pro Learn more about the Circle K Fleet Card . Clarience Technologies Learn more about Clarience Technologies . 🎙 Today's topics include: Reinstated Independent Contractor Defin...

Wireless electronic truck inspections could revolutionize the harvesting of data from commercial vehicles. Inspections will be faster and more comprehensive, allowing far more inspections to be conducted every day. But there’s infrastructure to consider, and cost, and fleet sensitivity to sharing proprietary data. On this episode of HDT Leadership Insights, Steve Vaughn of PrePass explains how the...

This episode is sponsored by Circle K. Learn more about the Circle K Fleet Card . With diesel prices at or near record highs, HDT Talks Trucking shares tips from fuel-buying expert Glen Sokolis about how fleets can save money beyond better fuel mileage. Glen Sokolis is CEO of Sokolis Group, a company he founded nearly 20 years ago to help fleets save money on fuel. Editor in Chief Deborah Loc...

The electrification of transport refrigeration equipment is evolving but charging and power sharing must be standardized before adoption occurs at scale. Host Jim Park and Matt Srnec, Thermo King’s lead electrical system engineer discuss the benefits and barriers to standardizing electric TRU technology. Fleets looking toward investing in electric TRUs and e-PTO will gain much from Matt’s insight....

Get updates and insights on the top trucking news from February 2022 with HDT Editor in Chief Deborah Lockridge and Managing Editor Vesna Brajkovic on this episode of HDT Talks Trucking. This episode is sponsored by Circle K Pro. Learn more about the Circle K Fleet Card . 🎙 Today's topics include: Cummins and the Road to Zero Emissions How Will Russia-Ukraine Conflict Affect You? CVSA's Inspection...

A study published late in 2021 by the Supply Chain Management Research Center at the University of Arkansas is casting doubt on the safety benefits of ELDs. Researchers found that crash rates and incidents of unsafe driving among small fleets and owner-operators increased relative to large fleets following ELD implementation in December 2017. On this episode of HDT Talks Trucking, one of the study...

Get updates and insights on the top trucking news from January 2022 with HDT Editor in Chief Deborah Lockridge and Managing Editor Vesna Brajkovic on this episode of HDT Talks Trucking. This episode is sponsored by Circle K. Learn more about the Circle K Fleet Card . 🎙 Today's topics include : Controversy Over COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates New FMCSA Leadership Werner Getting Natural Gas, Hydrogen Engi...

The driver in the Lakewood, Colo. crash, Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, paid a stiff price for his actions on the afternoon of April 25, 2019.  It would be easy to argue that the crash was entirely his fault, but my guest, Accident Plan founder and CEO, Brendan Dawson, says the carrier and the broker he was working for at the time bear some responsibility for not ensuring he was trained to drive in...

Battery size and weight are significant barriers to developing electric power systems for mobile refrigeration units. Integration of the charging systems and AC/DC converters is another challenge for system developers. As the strategic insights leader at Thermo King, Paul Kroes is responsible for finding solutions to these problems. In this episode of Leadership Insights, Paul discusses the challe...

Get updates and insights on the top trucking news from December 2021 with HDT Editor in Chief Deborah Lockridge and Managing Editor Vesna Brajkovic on this episode of HDT Talks Trucking.    This episode is sponsored by Circle K. Learn more about the Circle K Fleet Card .  🎙 Today's topics include:   Will a truck driver serve a 110-year sentence for a fatal crash?  The late...

With the industry facing a shortage of qualified drivers, fleet managers are faced with the challenge of both retaining CDL drivers, as well as attracting new ones to their operations. Is one answer to the driver shortage introducing young people to trucking and prepping high schoolers to obtain their CDL early on? In this special report, hear from Dave Dein, the mastermind behind one of that nati...

There are currently, dozens of driverless trucks operating on interstate highways (with safety drivers) mixing and mingling with humanized cars and trucks. The technology obviously works. As they log more and more miles, we are hearing about few reported incidents of automation gone wrong. Does that mean they are ready for prime time? Christopher Hart doesn’t think so. He’s a former chairman of th...

Ryder will soon be managing maintenance services for several fleets of autonomous vehicles. The company will be doing regular maintenance on the trucks as well as servicing the autonomous hardware and performing pre- and post-trip inspections. On this episode of HDT Talks Trucking, Ryder’s director of new product strategy, Mike Plasencia, explains what it takes to keep driverless trucks running. R...

Remember the Y2K scare? At the time, many people worried airplanes would fall from the sky and every bit of digital data ever collected would simply vanish. As it happened, very little changed that winter night January 31, 1999. Come the spring of 2022, however, when some wireless service providers start turning off their 3G networks, some older technology will quit working. Our guest, Michael Blo...

The FA-4 category oils have been available for almost five years now, but market penetration remains light. Despite the fuel saving benefits inherent to these lighter viscosity oils, fleets are being cautions about using it – and for a number of good reasons. In some cases, FA-4 is only recommended for engines from 2017 and newer. Certain restrictions may be keeping fleets from embracing the newes...

It has been said that as of today, more than 5 million trucks in North America could be converted from fossil-fuel power to electric. The sweeping simplicity of that statement, however, belies the complexity of actually making it happen. Jim Castalez, the chief technology officer and founder of Motive Power Systems has been electrifying Class 4-6 delivery vehicle fleets for 12 years now. With more...

How can fleets make informed decisions when buying fuel saving devices and technologies if they are looking at unreliable data? How often do we hear fleets say they automatically reduce vendor’s fuel-saving estimates by half? Our guest says he has the answer to that problem. Daryl Bear is the lead engineer & chief operating officer of Mesilla Valley Transportation Solutions. He’s a mechanical...