Hyzon Motors plans to allow fleets to exchange their used diesel truck chassis for conversion to fuel-cell-electric operation as part of the company’s Repower upfitting program.
Tom Keyser believes the key to snagging the interest of talented technicians is to educate them about the career possibilities government fleets contain.
Fontaine Modification Fleet Services now offers installation of solar panel systems from eNow Solar Energy Solutions, capable of powering certain systems on a heavy-duty truck.
Canadian Solar Inc., a solar power company, announced that it has acquired a minority equity interest in eNow, a U.S. company specializing in solar-based energy management system for the commercial transportation industry.
I asked one fleet manager how he spec’ed replacement trucks for his fleet application. He related that many years earlier an OEM rep spec’ed out his trucks and he has been using the same formula ever since. While this may work in some cases, specifications should be defined by today’s fleet application to ensure the replacement truck is designed to accommodate current operational requirements rather than trying to make your operation conform to trucks spec’ed for yesteryear’s requirements.
The multitude of upfitting options and potential configurations makes it easy to fulfill Murphy’s Law, which states, “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” Unfortunately, in many cases, who triggers Murphy’s Law is the fleet manager who does not carefully review the upfit specs, or has not consulted thoroughly with the actual users of the equipment, or attempts to over-engineer the upfit. These are all avoidable mistakes.
There are a multitude of specialized fleet applications that require the installation of auxiliary equipment on a truck or in a van. What complicates the planning process is that there are as many ways to upfit a vehicle as there are chassis and body configurations. It is critical that you properly define a truck’s application to ensure the supplier builds the truck to meet its intended use.
One challenge for both the 2015- and 2014-MY has been the increased volume of fleet vehicles going to upfitters, which has resulted in capacity constraints. With the increasing demand and growth of the commercial truck and van segments – particularly among utilities and service industries – the percentage of upfitted vehicles is growing. Upfitters are feeling the pressure of increased demand.
Looking back on the problems that plague the OEM vehicle ordering and delivery process. And deciding what can be done to repair this broken system.
Ergonomics and operator safety is a growing concern by HR and risk management departments, since there has been an uptick of workers’ compensation claims by fleet drivers. As a result of strong trends in the upfit market, there is an increased focus on designing upfits to enhance operator safety.
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