SIMPLICITY AND SOPHISTICATION

March 12, 2008 Vol. 4, No. 6

Once upon a time, the trucking life was dead simple. You threw fuel in the tank at just 30 cents a gallon or so, you turned the key to start that big and noisy 175-horse diesel, and off you went to the job site or the loading dock. Maybe you even had a gas job. You probably didn’t notice the plume of black smoke coming out of your stack, nor did anyone else. The engine leaked some oil but what the heck, a quart or two would fix that at the end of the day. You rattled your kidneys with every ripple in the road and you froze your buns off in winter. That’s just the way it was. A bit brutal, but a long way from complicated.

But as I look at the collection of new products and services I’ve written about in this edition, and all the other Product Watch newsletters I’ve done over the last four years for that matter, I’m struck by the utter lack of simplicity in this game as it’s now played in 2008. Emissions legislation plays a huge role in all our lives, of course, while the Internet offers enormous new efficiencies we weren’t even dreaming about just 10 or 15 years ago. Both of them challenge us every day, and nothing about either of them stands still.

And then there’s the other key driver in how we do business today: the price of fuel. If you’re lucky, you work in the U.S. where fuel is cheap at $3.75 or so a gallon. Here in Canada it’s at least a buck more. But pity the poor guy in England. I had an e-mail the other day from a small-fleet operator in Yorkshire who said he’d just filled up a truck in Skipton (lovely part of the country, by the way) and paid the equivalent of $12 a gallon. He noted with disgust that 67% of that price was tax and asked rhetorically how he could possibly survive.

Darned good question.

So against this backdrop of moving targets and soaring costs and endless challenges, it was somehow comforting to learn about the TICO terminal tractor that I’ve written about in this issue. It’s a veritable beacon of simplicity. Sure, a yard tractor is by definition a simple beast with a simple job to do, but this one was designed to be the antithesis of complexity. It’s a component-based tractor that’s said to be easy to repair with standard hand tools.

Gee whiz, there’s a claim I haven’t heard in a while. Sounds kinda good, eh?

It’s actually been around since 1985 or so but the TICO is only now being sold on a retail basis, which brings to three the number of players in this little niche. TICO Terminal Systems had been using other shunt tractors for use in its outsourced terminal-management services business in U.S. ports on the east and Gulf coasts, but decided to make its own with a view to simplified maintenance and repair leading to maximum uptime and minimum costs.

The Canadian distributor for all the company’s products is trailer veteran Aidan Bolger. If you’re curious, the TICO will be on display at the Truck World show in Toronto April 17-19.

AT THE OPPOSITE END OF THE SOPHISTICATION SCALE is the little Modec urban delivery truck coming out of England, Coventry to be precise. An all-electric vehicle launched from a clean sheet of paper, body and all, it was making its first tentative foray into the North American market with an appearance at the National Truck Equipment Association’s Work Truck Show a couple of weeks back. I had the chance to drive it for a couple of miles and was suitably impressed -- it’s torquey for sure, dead quiet, and spins on a dime with its turning radius of just 37 ft. Outward vision is spectacular, and the stand-up cab airy and comfortable.

The Modec is also simple in its way, having a detachable liquid-sodium battery pack that can be replaced in 15 minutes (they’ll soon be moving to lithium-ion) and a rear-mounted electric motor with just three moving parts (two bearings and a rotor, not unlike others). It’s good for a 4600-lb payload and has a range of 100 miles fully laden, and in that condition it can manage an 18% incline from a dead start. Recharging would normally be done overnight but you can get a 50% charge in just three hours.

The easily-replaceable battery pack means the truck can readily be used in a multi-shift operation, incidentally.

It remains to be seen when and how the truck will be sold on this side of the pond, but in England – where 100 of them have been built and 60 are in service with UPS, Tesco, and Marks & Spencer, among others – it has a unique twist. Given that battery technology is ever changing, the company decided that its approach would be to sell customers the truck but lease them the battery. That insulates the user from the vagaries of battery life and the type being used. In fact, says Modec engineering director Colin Smith, it’s extremely unlikely that you’d be using the same battery chemistry when the truck has finished its useful life. The truck itself won’t care one way or the other. Smith adds that battery progress means you’ll likely be getting 150 miles out of a single charge in a couple of years.

The truck, its body built by the same outfit – Matrix – that also builds Aston Martin bodies, comes in class 2 to 4 trim in three lengths, with a standard COE and a crew-cab on offer. Its load height is just a touch over 26 in. At this point the Modec doesn’t have air conditioning, an issue that will be resolved before it’s sold in North America. The switch from right-hand to left-hand drive is much easier, requiring only seven parts to change.

Will we see this truck for sale here any time soon? Well, even the Modec people don’t have a firm answer to that one, but they do have an American office. Sensibly enough it’s in Palm Beach, Florida, where Bill Doelle is launching the assault. The rest of the team, interestingly, was largely drawn from the outfit that builds the famous London taxi cabs. Have a look at www.modeczev.com.

STAYING WITH SOPHISTICATION, THERE’S A TREND on the software front that bodes well for our collective future. I’m talking about subscription-based software services delivered on the web, which can make excellent business sense for small outfits that don’t have and couldn’t afford IT departments.

Two editions of Product Watch ago (February 13th) I wrote about Virtual Dispatch and its Excelerate Live web-based dispatch system. Web-based applications are increasingly becoming the secret weapon of transportation companies large and small, the company says, because they’re affordable, cost-effective, and mobile. They’re accessible anytime, anywhere as long as you have internet access, and no hardware is required – just a web browser. Nor do you have to worry about updates.

Excelerate Live is ACE and EDI ready. Users can create orders online, e-mail detailed confirmations to drivers, create professional invoices, and send them electronically (along with proof-of-delivery documents through the document imaging option). Users can also create a log-in for their clients to track and trace the status of their orders on-line. And aside from creating a user name and password, there’s nothing to install or set up. See www.virtualdispatch.net.

In this edition, I’ve noted another web-based application, this one from the venerable J.J. Keller. It’s a little different, but the ease-of-use angle is the same. It’s simply an online version of the company’s Fuel Tax Master software that helps carriers report quarterly fuel-tax information. It produces IFTA-required reports based on fuel information and receipts that are data-entered or imported in a standard file format.

The application interfaces with the company’s Vehicle Management Online, which manages things like annual inspections, licensing, permitting and registration requirements. Both applications provide a database of information as well as online reminders and alerts, informing users of required tasks and inconsistencies or non-compliance information.

I see a big future for this sort of thing.

ONE LAST NOTE, ABOUT PRESIDENT BUSH. Yes indeed, the man himself was at an event I also attended in Washington, D.C. last week, specifically the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC) arranged by the U.S. State Department. Amidst a sea of journalists from around the world, it was approaching the subject at a jet-plane level but there was a trade show attached, and it was dominated by trucks, believe it or not. Well, Volvo and Mack trucks at least, and they attracted the president’s attention. Before he addressed the multitudes (they wouldn’t give this bearded Canadian press credentials for that, not surprisingly, so I watched him for a while on a close-circuit TV in the press room), the big guy asked to see the trucks. So Volvo Group president Leif Johansson gave him the royal tour.

There followed a slightly revised version of a Volvo presentation on carbon-neutral trucks and renewable energy sources that I first heard in Brussels and told you about last fall. In this case it included an address by outgoing Mack Truck president Paul Vikner on hybrid trucks. I’ll get into this a bit more next time out.

This newsletter is published every two weeks. It's a heads-up notice about what's going on with trucking technology as well as what you can see at www.todaystrucking.com where you'll find in-detail coverage of nearly everything that's new. Plus interesting products that may not have had the 'air play' they deserved within the last few months. Why not subscribe today?

And while you’re there at www.todaystrucking.com, check out the Decision Centers. They’re essentially libraries on specific subjects like Engines or Braking Systems. We’ve gathered all manner of information from maintenance manuals to research reports – and we’re always finding more – to help you make decisions about spec’ing, operating, and maintaining trucks and truck systems.

If you have comments of whatever sort about Product Watch, or maybe a gizmo I should know about, please contact me at rlockwood@newcom.ca.

HINO EXTENDED CAB

(March 12, 2008) -- A 30-inch extension will soon be optional on all models

ONLINE FUEL TAX

(March 12, 2008) -- J. J. Keller has introduced an online version of Fuel Tax Master

ON/OFF-ROAD SINGLE TIRE

(March 12, 2008) -- Michelin’s X One XZY3 expands the wide-single lineup

SHUNT TRACTOR

(March 12, 2008) -- The TICO is new and old at the same time

CLUTCH OVERHAUL KITS

(March 12, 2008) -- New Eaton Fuller aftermarket kits package key parts in one box