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UPS Moves Down Electric Truck Path with New eCascadia Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT) / August 20, 2020 UPS is not one to shy away from emerging technology, especially when it comes to lowering its carbon footprint. Recently, the package delivery and supply chain management provider dipped its toes a little deeper into the electric truck market with the acquisition of a Freightliner eCascadia battery-electric Class 8 truck. “UPS remains very committed to electrifying its fleet, and this vehicle is the first battery-electric heavy-duty class 8 truck to be deployed for testing within the UPS global fleet,” said Scott Phillippi, senior director of maintenance and engineering, international operations, at UPS. With roughly 1,000 electric or hybrid-electric vehicles already in operation in cities around the world, UPS expects to continue to proactively “lead the charge” on electrification of medium-duty vehicles over the next five years, Phillippi told HDT. The long-term lease of the eCascadia, which will be working out of the company’s Anaheim, California, location, was part of a collaborative effort between UPS, Daimler Trucks North America, Freightliner, and Penske, with the support of California's South Coast Air Quality Management District. The testing will provide real-world experience of the use of heavy-duty battery-electric trucks for UPS. “We’ll be measuring the range as well as evaluating the vehicle’s reliability, design and integration into our fleet over the next year,” said Phillippi. Anaheim was chosen because of the convenience for charging, since it is located close to a Penske depot with electric charging capabilities. Also, there are currently more electric charging stations in California than any other state. Phillippi and his team have a number of questions they would like answered by the testing, including: What exactly is the range? How reliable is it? Does the design work for us or what would need to be modified? How does this vehicle integrate into our fleet? UPS has tested a number of different alternative fuels and drivetrains in its fleet, including three Toyota and Kenworth jointly developed fuel cell electric heavy-duty truck, which was announced last April. The carrier also plans to test the Tesla Semi, according to Phillippi. “We’re hoping to begin getting these semis at the end of next year.” UPS preordered 125 of the Tesla electric Class 8 trucks in December 2017. .

FOMC* Backs Away From September Guidance Shift MarketWatch / August 20, 2020 U.S. central bankers backed off in July from an earlier readiness to set a clearer bar for raising interest rates, a step that would underscore their commitment to an extended period of ultra-loose monetary policy. “With regard to the outlook for monetary policy beyond this meeting, a number of participants noted that providing greater clarity regarding the likely path of the target range for the federal funds rate would be appropriate at some point,” according to minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s July 28-29 meeting released on Wednesday. That was a subtle change from the previous set of minutes indicating policy makers were keen to sharpen their so-called forward guidance “at upcoming meetings.” Last month’s debate included a discussion about committing to holding rates near zero until specific thresholds for inflation, or unemployment, or both, had been reached. The FOMC next gathers on Sept. 15-16. * The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) consists of 12 members--the 7 members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; and 4 of the remaining eleven Reserve Bank presidents, who serve one-year terms on a rotating basis.

Peterbilt Model 220EV: The Order Banks Are Open Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT) / August 28, 2020 Peterbilt announced today that the all-electric cabover Model 220EV is now available for customer orders. The Model 220EV is Peterbilt’s first electric configuration for medium-duty applications in a Class 6 or 7 vehicle. Peterbilt claims a range of up to 200 miles on a full charge, making the 220EV ideal for local pickup and delivery, as well as short regional haul operations. When using the vehicle’s DC fast-charging system, the twin battery packs can recharge in 1-2 hours. Peterbilt has more than 30 220EV units already on the road, including with Frito-Lay, who is using six as part of its Modesto, Calif., Zero- and Near-Zero-Emission Freight Facility Project. The Model 220EV can be configured through the SmartSpec sales tool and ordered at one of Peterbilt’s dealer locations with customer deliveries expected to start by the end of 2020. .

Mr. Hancock, calling fellow members (i.e. Mark) derogatory names on my BMT Investors Bulletin Board thread is unacceptable behavior.

Plane ready? Trinidad or Caymans?

Exactly, the early "cool power" air-to-air "300" Maxidynes whistled under a load. Conservatively rated, they were the most powerful 300's produced.

MAN Truck & Bus Press Release / August 6, 2020 Meet our bus city family that will shape the future of urban transportation: the MAN Lion's City with EfficientHybrid, the MAN Lion's City G with CNG Drive, and the fully electric MAN Lion's City E. From now on, you have the perfect solution for every requirement. .

The BMT Investors Circle has increased the chances of a March-like market drop over the next 60 days to over fifty percent. Thus, we are recommending that members remain on the sidelines with cash at this juncture, aside from select opportunities.

Yes, they are. It's a problem. Economic might is a country's most critical power. China has had recent flare-ups, major ones in Beijing and northeast China, but they're on top of it.

Greenspan Says U.S. Virus Failure Threatens Recovery, Aids China Rich Miller, Bloomberg / August 17, 2020 The failure of the U.S. to handle the coronavirus pandemic risks derailing the economic recovery and puts the country at a competitive disadvantage in its long-run battle with China for global hegemony, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said. In an article written for Advisors Capital Management and published on Monday, Greenspan said that the U.S. has at times looked like it “has lost its way,” while China has enjoyed continued success in expanding its economy, including being the first to recover from a pandemic-driven swoon in activity. “The Covid-19 crisis has presented a real threat to the U.S. position of global dominance,” wrote Greenspan, who is a senior economic adviser to the money manager. “As political tensions heat up between the world’s two largest economies, the balance of power that will result is still unclear, but becoming of increasingly greater concern by the day.” “The failure by the U.S. to effectively deal with the onset of the Covid-19 crisis has only worsened its competitive position” versus China, Greenspan said. “The resurgence of the virus in the U.S. threatens to forestall our economic recovery.” While the former Fed chairman said that U.S. dominance will probably ebb this century as China accounts for a greater share of global economic output, he also saw reasons for America to remain on top overall. “America leads in all the industries that are inventing the future, such as artificial intelligence, robotics, driverless cars, and, indeed, finance,” he wrote. “And for all its problems with populism, America has something precious that China lacks: a stable political regime.” He said the U.S. needs to find the political will to tackle the problems he believes are holding back growth: out-of-control government spending on entitlement programs and ill-considered regulations.

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Note the off-white Mack Western era steering wheel. Also note the one-piece grille panel (Macungie-built Value-Liners had a 3-piece design). Front turn signal lamps are incorrect.

Many know the B-29, but few have heard of the second generation B-50. Note the 700-gallon (2,650-litre) external under-wing fuel tanks. Powered by 28-cylinder 3,500 horsepower Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major engines, 79 B-50A's were built, 45 B-50B's and 222 B-50D's. Top speed was 380-385 mph, versus the B-29's 358 mph.

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This video is available in 16 languages. Vlad......

I still look forward to learning why the USPS is purchasing a construction truck for use as a tractor, i.e. the HV (revised Workstar) instead of the more appropriate RH regional haul tractor (revised Transtar). The only obvious reason is the RH is only available with the 12.4-litre A26 engine (MAN D26), while the 8500/8600 Transtar replaced by the RH was available with the lower priced but discontinued proprietary 9.3-litre HT570. The HV is available with both the Cummins 6.7ISB and 8.9ISL. There's simply no excuse for the RH not to be available with the ISL. .

Volvo "NH" conventionals (bonnetted) and "FH" COE's

Related reading: https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/54399-volvo-halts-iran-truck-assembly-due-to-us-sanctions/

Car & Driver / August 14, 2020 Ford is donating 1.5 million masks to the state of Michigan as part of the governor's new MI Mask Aid program, which will see a total of 4 million face masks distributed to citizens as another way to keep the coronavirus under something resembling control in the state. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the new MI Mask Aid program during a press conference Friday morning, saying that the masks will be available to low-income residents, senior citizens, and schools. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will assist with mask distribution. So far, Michigan has seen 90,392 COVID-19 cases and 6289 deaths from the disease. Ford CEO Jim Hackett spoke at the press conference, saying that the automaker has produced over 72 million pieces "for lifesaving support" during the COVID-19 crisis, not counting the 1.5 million masks it is donating to MI Mask Aid. A million and a half face masks is about one week's worth of production for the automaker, which shifted to making personal protection equipment (PPE) after COVID-19 changed the American economic and personal landscape in March. Ford says the 54 million face masks it has made so far have all been used internally by workers—until now. "We were able to make this donation because we have a surplus of masks from continued production to cover our workforce," Ford said. If Ford continues to make more than it needs for its employees, other states could benefit from the extra production. "We recognize there are many at-risk communities that have a growing need for PPE, such as masks," Ford said. "We're connecting with our local and national nonprofit partners to determine the best way to address this urgent problem." Other automakers are assisting with PPE production as the coronavirus continues to ravage the U.S. Toyota, for example, announced this week that it has partnered with the safety equipment company Bullard to increase that company's ability to produce face shields, respirators and hoods at its Kentucky facility, but Toyota production lines were not converted to build Bullard products. Instead, Toyota helped Bullard figure out how to apply the Toyota Production System to its own production facilities. The result? Doubled production capacity for hoods and respirators and a 700-percent increase in production of face shields between March and April.

Paul, in the states Paccar sells the DAF "LF" rigid, assembled at the Paccar Mexico plant and rebadged as Kenworth and Peterbilt. And Peterbilt alone has a low cab forward refuse chassis, the Model 520, which Kenworth doesn't get much to the anger of Kenworth dealers. So in terms of a normal COE, only the global market K200 is left. Superb truck. But of course DAF is Paccar's Dutch subsidiary, and they offer the new CF and XF, normal COE's which are excellent.

K500 Video - https://www.facebook.com/Kenworth.Truck.Co/videos/kenworth-k500/463289034483220/?_fb_noscript=1