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Nikola One Fuel Cell Electric Truck Promises High Fuel Economy, Low Maintenance Heavy Duty Trucking / December 1, 2016 If enthusiasm ensures success, Nikola One, the fuel cell-electric long-haul tractor unveiled Thursday night in Salt Lake City, is a sure thing. A form-fitting white wrap came off the streamlined vehicle amid applause, cheers and whistles from hundreds of guests who think it might really be the game changer for the trucking industry that its proponents claim. Their cheerleader was Trevor Milton, founder and CEO of Nikola Motor Co., the start-up firm that’s designing the electrically propelled truck and preparing it for production. Milton unveiled the truck while providing details of how the truck's electric drive system will be powered by a combination of hydrogen fuel cells, lithium-ion batteries and regenerative braking. Milton said the truck will be in production by 2020, with an expected annual build rate of 50,000 units. The Nikola One sleeper-cab is aimed at the long-haul market composed of owner-operators and fleets of various sizes. A daycab version, called Nikola Two, will join the sleeper and expand the applications suited for the fuel cell-electric truck. It looks like a typical conventional-cab tractor. A Nikola vehicle’s economics appear impressive. Without an engine, transmission, driveline and axles, it should be cheap to maintain and will get double or triple the effective fuel economy of today’s diesel-powered trucks and tractors, Milton said. There'll be no tailpipe emissions; the only byproduct of the chemical reaction by which hydrogen generates electricity is water. A Nikola One will weigh about 17,000 pounds vs. 19,000 for a typical 15L diesel sleeper-cab tractor. A Nikola One will go 1,200 miles between fill-ups of liquefied hydrogen dispensed at a network of 364 stations that Nikola will build and operate throughout the United States. Fuel cost will be built into the purchase or leasing agreement, so will be supplied at no charge for a truck’s first 1 million miles. Operating software called Nikola Shipment will combine routing navigation with load finding to minimize miles traveled and maximize revenue. The software will be standard with Nikola One. Early Fleet Reaction So intriguing is the concept that many of those in the audience had put down $1,500 per truck to reserve one or more of them. Nikola has raised about $4 billion from the orders alone, Milton claimed. Customers include KTI Ltd. of Pulaski, Virginia, a small fleet whose vice president, Adam King, said they ordered one; and U.S. Xpress, the giant operation in Chattanooga, Tennessee, whose chairman and CEO, Max Fuller, has reserved enough that his fleet's name is emblazoned on the Nikola One prototype. “I’ve come up here five or six times to talk with them, making suggestions” on how the truck should be designed for what it must do, said Fuller. In an introductory video he declared, "I've no ownership in the company, but I can tell you that I'm pretty excited about how the company's coming forward, and how the product's coming to the market." Nikola One is intriguing, but “it must hold up,” said Jay England, CEO of Utah-based Pride Inc. “It’s got to be durable and reliable.” Whether or not it is will be discovered through real-life operations. That’s why KTI ordered just a single Nikola One, said Joshua King, Adam’s father and the company’s president. “We’ll start with that and see.” The Kings ordered the Nikola because they think it will appeal to drivers, “and the driver shortage is a big concern to us now,” he said. “They’ll like it for the comfort, and the power, and the quietness.” More details A fully independent suspension supplied by Meritor will smooth the ride, and the silent hydrogen fuel cell and electric motors will contribute to quietness. Together the six motors will make up to 1,000 hp and 2,000 lb-ft of torque, enough for "unbelievable acceleration" and to move an 80,000-pound rig up a 6% grade at 65 mph, Milton claimed. The fuel cell produces electricity that’s sent to bank of advanced lithium-ion batteries, from where it’s sent to the motors, one at each wheel position of the three-axle tractor. Batteries are mounted between frame rails for a low center of gravity and high stability. Wheel-by-wheel torque vectoring helps in cornering. Regenerative braking sends more electric energy to the batteries, and does 85% of the stopping a rig requires. Air disc brakes take care of the rest. Milton gave no exact production date, and while guests who have placed orders are simply unsure of when they will get their trucks, they didn’t seem edgy about it. Milton did announce that the first 5,000 units will be produced by Fitzgerald Gliders in east Tennessee. Meanwhile, Nikola will build a plant with a capacity of 50,000 trucks a year, using many robotic assembly operations to minimize assembly errors. Milton and his colleagues are discussing possibilities with several states and will announce a site choice in mid 2017. Price was not mentioned but might be covered in Friday sessions hosted by Ryder, Nikola trucks' future distributors. One figure mentioned by a fleet manager who had ordered a truck was $400,000 to $415,000 each. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Daycabs, Vocational Trucks Are Priorities for Nikola Heavy Duty Trucking / December 2, 2016 A daycab version of Nikola Motor Co.’s hydrogen-electric heavy-duty tractor will probably be the first one to enter production, said the firm’s founder and CEO, Trevor Milton, at the conclusion of a series of technical briefings on the products on Friday morning. And vocational straight trucks might be close behind. An unveiling of a Nikola One, a streamlined sleeper-cab tractor, the previous evening put nearly all emphasis on the long-haul model. But short and regional hauling is as important and the daycab Nikola Two is simpler, he told HDT at the event’s conclusion. Daycab tractor versions would share most operational benefits – low maintenance and operating costs along with zero emissions – with the over-the-road sleeper model. Vocational markets will include refuse, and Milton said he and his engineers are already planning a chassis for trash collection. Dump and mixer trucks are likewise probable, and all-wheel drive would make them valuable in some on/off-road duties. An earlier discussion of a Nikola’s likely lifespan included observations that the electric motors and battery “don’t need air to operate,” and the motors, anyway, could be driven into water and emerge undamaged. Milton said he’s planning 6x6 and 6x4 versions of the fuel cell electric drive chassis; without front-driving gear, steer-axle wheels could cut sharper, aiding maneuverability in a number of applications. Engineers initially designed the Nikola with a gas-fueled turbine-electric powertrain, but decided to go to hydrogen fuel cells because they’re much quieter and cleaner, and require no emissions certification. A turbine version is still possible “for sale into markets where we can’t get hydrogen to,” he said. The company’s plans to build hundreds of hydrogen fueling stations will include parking and shopping areas, and facilities will be “awesome -- they will be destinations,” Milton said. Existing truck stops were considered to be part of the network, but his team didn’t think their facilities were of the quality that Nikola wants for its customers and their drivers. Production is three years away because durability testing must go through three winter seasons, and safety-related testing of braking systems and other components will also take time. As announced the night before, Fitzgerald Gliders will build the first 5,000 units and Nikola Motor will erect a factory to assemble subsequent vehicles. Ryder System will handle sales and service for most Nikolas at its 800-plus facilities in the United States and Canada. Thompson Machinery, a Caterpillar dealer in Kentucky and Tennessee and an early investor in Nikola Motor, will have rights to handle Nikolas in those states. .

Okay, so based on the stamping, your truck's front axle mounting arrangement is 1QH39315P5 (that's a 5-digit Mack Western type arrangement number), and the model is, as we've already mentioned, FAW5371C (FAW537 series, 12,000lb/5,443kg). Mackpro, what was the number of the 1QH arrangement you saw, when looking up RWS721LS-1528 ? From your pictures, this appears to be a single rail chassis. Some bridge formula mixer chassis ran single rails because the mixer body acted, to an extent, as a supporting subframe. But my experience was we had crossmember failures and frame rail failures. Your truck has a far deeper frame rail than an R-model, but I question the long-term durability of this truck in tipper service when articulating off road. As I mentioned earlier, a (self-steering) pusher axle could help two-fold.

''They say he's the closest thing to General George Patton that we have and it's about time.' President-elect Donald Trump ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.” “The first time you blow someone away is not an insignificant event. That said, there are some a**holes in the world that just need to be shot.” “There are some people who think you have to hate them in order to shoot them. I don’t think you do. It’s just business.” “There is nothing better than getting shot at and missed. It’s really great.” “You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn’t wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain’t got no manhood left anyway. So it’s a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them. Actually it’s quite fun to fight them, you know. It’s a hell of a hoot. It’s fun to shoot some people.” “I come in peace. I didn’t bring artillery. But I’m pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: If you f*** with me, I’ll kill you all.” “PowerPoint makes us stupid.” Retired USMC General James Mattis

CEO Mark Fields Says Ford Still Moving Small-Car Output to Mexico Despite Trump Criticism The Wall Street Journal / December 2, 2016 Ford Motor Co. will go ahead with relocating small-car production to Mexico despite repeated criticism from President-elect Donald Trump, who has warned that companies face consequences for leaving the U.S. Ford’s plan to relocate Focus compact car production from Michigan to a new $1.6 billion plant being built in Mexico, which isn’t expected to result in job losses, remains on track for 2018, Ford CEO Mark Fields said Friday. “We have made the decision to move the Focus out, and we’re making that investment now,” Fields said. “When you look at moving the Focus out of our Michigan assembly plant, that’s to make room for new products—zero jobs affected, zero jobs impacted.” Ford is expected to replace the Focus production headed to Mexico with a pickup truck and SUV at the Michigan plant. Unionized auto workers would keep their jobs and potentially receive larger profit-sharing checks should Ford’s operating profits in North America increase. “This isn’t a Carrier situation,” claimed Fields. He said Ford decided to produce the car in Mexico partly to keep the vehicle’s price in line with customer expectations. “In our business, it’s a long-lead investment.” Fields said Ford’s U.S. investment commitments remain “as strong as ever,” pointing to the company’s commitment to invest $9 billion in its U.S. plants over the next three years as part of a new labor contract struck last year with the UAW. The investment allegedly would support or create 8,500 blue-collar jobs at Ford’s U.S. plants. Trump has said companies going forward would no longer “leave the U.S. anymore without consequences.” He has promised to slap Ford and other manufacturers with a 35% tariff for importing goods from countries with lower labor costs. The pledge resonated with blue-collar workers, helping Trump win close election battles in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, the three decisive states that propelled him to the White House. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bloomberg / December 2, 2016 Ford is willing to work with Donald Trump to keep jobs in the U.S. if he puts the right policies in place, CEO Mark Fields said Friday. “We will be very clear in the things we’d like to see,” says Fields. “We’ll continue to advocate for currency-manipulation rules to promote free and fair trade. One of our priorities is making sure fuel-economy standards reflect market realities, tax reform in general we would be very supportive of, and the safe deployment of autonomous vehicles.” After his election, Trump phoned Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford to discuss the carmaker’s plan to move production of the Lincoln MKC crossover to Mexico from a plant in Louisville, Kentucky. Ford then announced it will keep building the Lincoln in the U.S. [MKC production is very low. Whether MKC stays or goes doesn’t matter. The Lincoln brand will likely be terminated....again. The announcement to keep MKC production in the US is all for show to the masses. Ford never “actually” planned relocate MKC production top Mexico, because the MKC is based on the Escape (global market “Kuga”), which is produced in Louisville. Ford can’t move MKC production to Mexico without moving Escape production with it] Ford still plans to move its Focus compact and C-Max hybrid to Mexico from a Michigan factory, but the automaker has said it believes it can work with the new president to encourage economic growth in the U.S. Trump the candidate threatened to slap a 35 percent tariff on cars Ford builds in Mexico and ships back to the U.S. “Our position is very different than the Carrier position,” Fields said. As for any Trump administration policies to keep jobs in the U.S., “we’ll always take those into account, understanding that some of the things being proposed would impact the entire industry, as opposed to giving special deals to individual companies.” Fields said he didn’t know whether Trump would carry through with his pledge to impose the 35 percent tariff on Ford’s Mexican-built cars, but he said he doubted that any such duty would be applied to only one company. “If a tariff was imposed, it would be imposed on the entire industry, not just singling out a single company,” Fields said. “When you look at the production and supply chains and how they’re integrated between the three countries” -- Mexico, Canada and the U.S. -- “putting a tariff on that would have a negative impact on all the economies.” Ford received no incentives for keeping Lincoln MKC production in Kentucky, but the automaker never planned to close that Louisville plant, which also builds the Escape crossover that outsells the Lincoln version by 12-to-1. Ford already makes the Lincoln MKZ sedan and the Fusion family car in Mexico. It’s building a $1.6 billion new small-car factory in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi, which will create 2,800 jobs there by 2020. Ford has said it is just the fifth-largest producer of vehicles in Mexico [so being unethical is okay] while it’s the top automotive manufacturer in the U.S. Ford claims it added nearly 28,000 jobs in the U.S. over the last five years. Ford employs 85,000 workers in the U.S. and 8,800 in Mexico. Since 2010, nine global automakers, including General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), have announced investments of more than $24 billion in Mexico, where wages are 80 percent lower than in the U.S. Annual auto output in Mexico is expected to more than double this decade, from 2 million to 5 million vehicles.

CNN / December 2, 2016 President-elect Donald Trump spoke with the President of Taiwan Friday, in a move that threatens to trigger a diplomatic showdown with China. "President-elect Trump spoke with President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan, who offered her congratulations," Trump's transition team said in a statement. "During the discussion, they noted the close economic, political, and security ties exists between Taiwan and the United States. President-elect Trump also congratulated President Tsai on becoming President of Taiwan earlier this year." Trump's conversation marks the first "publicly reported" call between a US President or President-elect and the leader of Taiwan since Washington established diplomatic relations with Beijing in 1979. The telephone call is certain to incense China, which considers Taiwan a renegade province. It is the first major sign of the unpredictability that Trump has vowed to bring to long-held US relations with the rest of the world. China's state-run CCTV issued a statement saying Trump made "an unprecedented break with the One-China Policy and accepted US-Mainland protocol. The Mainland says it firmly opposes official contact in any form between Washington and Taipei." The President of Taiwan CALLED ME today to wish me congratulations on winning the Presidency. Thank you! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 3, 2016 Interesting how the U.S. sells Taiwan billions of dollars of military equipment but I should not accept a congratulatory call. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 3, 2016 "He either will disclose or not disclose the full contents of that conversation but he's well aware of what US policy has been," said Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway. By Friday night, China has already contacted the Obama administration. White House officials refused to comment on diplomatic discussions. Ned Price, a spokesman for the US National Security Council, said "there is no change to our longstanding policy on cross-Strait issues. We remain firmly committed to our 'one China' policy based on the three Joint Communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act. Our fundamental interest is in peaceful and stable cross-Strait relations," Price said. Stephen Yates, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation who is an adviser to Trump's transition, is in Taiwan and helped facilitate the call. Yates was an Asia adviser to former Vice President Dick Cheney and is supportive of Taiwan. The President-elect vowed in his election campaign to take a tough line toward China. He vowed to brand the country a currency manipulator and warned China is committing "rape" against American workers with its trade policy. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Guardian / December 4, 2016 President-elect Donald Trump railed against China on Sunday, only hours after his transition team denied that his call with Taiwan’s president signaled a new US policy toward Pacific power. “Did China ask us if it was OK to devalue their currency (making it hard for our companies to compete), heavily tax our products going into their country (the US doesn’t tax them) or to build a massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea?” he tweeted. “I don’t think so!” Earlier on Sunday the vice-president-elect, Mike Pence, had tried to downplay the possibility that Trump could threaten a diplomatic rift with Beijing through his actions last week. Trump’s 10-minute phone conversation on Friday with Tsai Ing-wen – the first time a US president or president-elect has [officially] spoken to a Taiwanese leader since 1979 – and subsequent reference to Tsai as “president” threatened such a breach, and implied he might be making up policy on the hoof. In damage-control mode, Pence sought to dismiss the row as “a tempest in a teapot”, contrasting it with Barack Obama’s rapprochement with communist Cuba. “He received a courtesy call from the democratically elected president of Taiwan,” said Pence. “They reached out to offer congratulations as leaders around the world have and he took the call, accepted her congratulations and good wishes and it was precisely that.” Later, in an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, Pence again used the term “the president of Taiwan”, suggesting it was no slip of the tongue. China views self-ruling Taiwan as part of its own territory awaiting reunification, and any US move implying support for independence – including use of the word “president” – is likely to offend Beijing. Chinese state media said Trump’s “inexperience” led him to accept the phone call but warned that any breach of the “One China” stance would “destroy” relations with America. Asked if he understood China’s objections, Pence replied: “Yes, of course.” Asked if there were implications for the “one China” policy, Pence said “We’ll deal with policy after 20 January.” “I mean, it’s striking to me that President Obama would reach out to a murdering dictator in Cuba and be hailed as a hero. And President-elect Donald Trump takes a courtesy call from the democratically elected president of Taiwan and it becomes something of a thing in the media,” said Pence. Senior Trump aide Kellyanne Conway said her boss was “well aware” of Washington’s “one China” policy. “The Chinese government is not assuming that Trump is ignorant of the Taiwan issues,” said Shi Yinhong, an expert on US-China relations at Beijing’s Renmin University. “I know China has a perspective on it,” she said. “The White House and state department probably have a perspective on it. Certainly Taiwan has a perspective on it. “The president-elect’s perspective is he accepted a congratulatory call. When he’s sworn in as commander-in-chief, he’ll make clear the fullness of his plans. But people shouldn’t read too much into it.” Some conservative foreign policy specialists being considered for senior positions in the Trump administration have long pushed for the US to provide a more vocal defence of Taiwan and its democracy. John Bolton, former US ambassador to the UN, who visited Mr Trump in New York on Friday, told Fox News at the weekend: “Honestly, I think we should shake the relationship up [with China] . . . Nobody in Beijing gets to dictate who we talk to. It’s ridiculous to think that the phone call upsets decades of anything.” Since his stunning victory over Hillary Clinton on 8 November, Trump has accepted congratulatory calls from dozens of world leaders including the prime ministers or presidents of Israel, Singapore, Japan and China, Conway said. Secretary of State John Kerry said it would be “valuable” to Trump if he took advice from state officials before such calls. However, Conway said the president-elect was “not really a talking points kind of guy”. “We have not been contacted before any of these conversations. We have not been requested to provide talking points,” said Kerry. “I do think there’s a value, obviously on having at least the recommendations, whether you choose to follow them or not is a different issue.” . ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Washington Post / December 4, 2016 Donald Trump’s protocol-breaking telephone call with Taiwan’s leader was an intentionally provocative move that establishes the incoming president as a break with the past, according to interviews with people involved in the planning. The historic communication — the first between leaders of the United States and Taiwan since 1979 — was the product of months of quiet preparations and deliberations among Trump’s advisers about a new strategy for engagement with Taiwan that began even before he became the Republican presidential nominee, according to people involved in or briefed on the talks. The call also reflects the views of hard-line advisers urging Trump to take a tough opening line with China, said others familiar with the months of discussion about Taiwan and China. Trump and his advisers have sought to publicly portray the call the president-elect took from Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen ­on Friday as a routine congratulatory call. Trump noted on Twitter that she placed the call. “He took the call, accepted her congratulations and good wishes and it was precisely that,” Vice President-elect Mike Pence said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” That glosses over the extensive and turbulent history of U.S. relations with Taiwan and the political importance the island and its democracy hold for many Republican foreign policy specialists. Some experts said it appeared calculated to signal a new, robust approach to relations with China. China reacted sternly to the Taiwan call, suggesting that it shows Trump’s inexperience. Trump sent two Twitter messages Sunday that echoed his campaign-stump blasts against China. “Did China ask us if it was OK to devalue their currency (making it hard for our companies to compete), heavily tax our products going into their country (the U.S. doesn’t tax them) or to build a massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea?” he asked. “I don’t think so!” The United States does impose a tax on Chinese goods — 2.9 percent for non-farm goods and 2.5 percent for agricultural products. Some of the GOP’s most ardent Taiwan proponents are playing active roles in Trump’s transition team, and others in the conservative foreign policy community see a historic opportunity to reset relations with Taiwan and reposition it as a more strategic ally in East Asia. Several leading members of Trump’s transition team are considered hawkish on China and friendly toward Taiwan, including incoming chief of staff Reince Priebus. Indeed, advisers explicitly warned last month that relations with China were in for a shake-up. In an article for Foreign Policy magazine titled “Donald Trump’s Peace Through Strength Vision for the Asia-Pacific,” Peter Navarro and Alexander Gray described Taiwan as a “beacon of democracy in Asia” and complained that its treatment by the Obama administration was “egregious.” The article, flagged to China experts as a significant policy blueprint, described Taiwan as “the most militarily vulnerable U.S. partner anywhere in the world” and called for a comprehensive arms deal to help it defend itself against China. Friday’s phone appears to be the first sign of a recalibration by a future Trump administration, experts say. It was planned weeks ahead by staffers and Taiwan specialists on both sides, according to people familiar with the plans. Immediately after Trump won the Nov. 8 election, his staffers compiled a list of foreign leaders with whom to arrange calls. “Very early on, Taiwan was on that list,” said Stephen Yates, a national security official during the presidency of George W. Bush and an expert on China and Taiwan. “Once the call was scheduled, I was told that there was a briefing for President-elect Trump. They knew that there would be reaction and potential blowback.” Tsai’s office said she had told Trump during the phone call that she hoped the United States “would continue to support more opportunities for Taiwan to participate in international issues.” Tsai will have sympathetic ears in the White House. Priebus visited Taiwan with a Republican delegation in 2011 and in October 2015, meeting Tsai before she was elected president. Taiwan Foreign Minister David Lee called him a friend of Taiwan and said his appointment as Trump’s chief of staff was “good news” for the island, according to local news media. Edward J. Feulner, a longtime former president of the Heritage Foundation, has for decades cultivated extensive ties with Taiwan and is serving as an adviser to Trump’s transition team. At the Republican National Convention in July, Trump’s allies inserted a little-noticed phrase into the party’s platform reaffirming support for six key assurances to Taiwan made by President Ronald Reagan in 1982 — a priority for the Taiwan government. Also written into the 2016 platform was tougher language about China than had been in the party’s platform in its previous iteration four years ago. “We salute the people of Taiwan, with whom we share the values of democracy, human rights, a free market economy, and the rule of law,” the platform said, adding that the current documents governing U.S.-Taiwan relations should stand but adding, “China’s behavior has negated the optimistic language of our last platform concerning our future relations with China.” Yates, who helped write that portion of the platform, said Trump made clear at the time that he wanted to recalibrate relationships around the world and that the U.S. posture toward China was “a personal priority.” About the same time, Navarro, one of Trump’s top economic and Asia advisers, penned an op-ed saying that the United States must not “dump Taiwan” and needs a comprehensive strategy to bolster what he termed “a beacon of democracy.” The United States maintains a military relationship with Taiwan, which Beijing considers a province, but closed its embassy there in 1979. Republican administrations since then have emphasized Taiwan’s democracy and flirted with the idea of a shift in policy, but none have held public discussions with a Taiwanese leader. “There are a lot of things that previous Republican presidents, and Democratic presidents, would do that Donald Trump won’t do,” Grenell said. “He’s a man that understands that typical Washington rules are not always best for our foreign policy.” During the campaign, Trump’s fiery rhetoric against China resonated with his supporters, especially those in the economically beleaguered Rust Belt states where he registered unexpected wins. Trump accused China of “raping” the United States by stealing trade secrets, manipulating its currency and subsidizing its industries. He vowed to institute tough new policies designed to crack down on the Chinese and extract concessions, such as by imposing higher tariffs on goods manufactured there. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen Moore, an economic adviser to Donald Trump, defended the President-elect's recent call with the president of Taiwan. "Taiwan is our ally. That is a country that we have backed because they believe in freedom. We oughta back our ally, and if China doesn't like it, screw 'em. We gotta stand by Taiwan, we see what's happening in China the way they're sabre rattling out there in the East, it's about time we do what Reagan did, we stand up to these bullies, we say we're not gonna let you do this, and we're gonna stand with our allies. I love the fact that Trump did that. Too many mamby-pamby people in the foreign policy shop are saying 'oh my gosh we can't do this, we might insult the Chinese.' I don't care if we insult the Chinese!" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fox News / December 5, 2016 Less than a week before President-elect Donald Trump spoke with Taiwan’s president over the phone, China flew a pair of long-range nuclear-capable bombers around Taiwan for the first time, two U.S. officials have now revealed. On Nov. 26, two Chinese Xian H-6 bombers, along with two escort planes, a Tupolev Tu-154 and Shaanxi Y-8, flew around the island of Taiwan from mainland China, taking off and landing from two separate Chinese military bases. The escort jets were used to collect radar information and conduct other surveillance on American allies such as Japan, according to U.S. officials. The Chinese bombers stayed in international airspace. At different points of the flight, Chinese J-10 and Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets performed escort duties for the bombers. Japan scrambled eight F-15 fighter jets to intercept the Chinese flight at one point in the skies somewhere northeast of Taiwan. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The New York Times / December 6, 2016 Former Senator Bob Dole, acting as a foreign agent for the government of Taiwan, worked behind the scenes over the past six months to establish high-level contact between Taiwanese officials and President-elect Donald J. Trump’s staff, resulting in last week’s phone call between Trump and Taiwan’s president. Dole, a lobbyist with the Washington law firm Alston & Bird, set up a series of meetings between Trump’s advisers and officials in Taiwan. Dole also assisted in successful efforts by Taiwan to include language favorable to it in the Republican Party platform. Over the last year, Alston & Bird has been paid $200,000 to lobby for the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States, and is on retainer for at least $20,000 per month this year, according to the disclosure forms. The office serves the function of a Taiwanese embassy in the US, which it does not have as it is not recognized as a country independent from China. The disclosures indicate Trump’s decision to take a call from the president of Taiwan was less a ham-handed diplomatic gaffe and more the result of a well-orchestrated plan by Taiwan to use the election of a new president to deepen its relationship with the United States — with an assist from seasoned Washington lobbyist Dole. Dole, 93, a former Senate majority leader from Kansas, said he had worked with transition officials to facilitate the conversation. “It’s fair to say that we had some influence,” he said. “When you represent a client and they make requests, you’re supposed to respond.” In a letter in January, Dole laid out the terms of his agreement to represent the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States, Taiwan’s unofficial embassy, including a $25,000 monthly retainer. That letter and the document detailing Dole’s work for the Taiwanese were filed at the Justice Department, which requires foreign agents to register and detail their efforts at influencing the United States government. Among his duties were helping Taiwan achieve its “military goals” and obtain membership in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the 12-nation trade deal that Trump has promised to withdraw from. Dole was also to arrange for Taiwanese officials to meet with members of Congress from both parties and arrange access to Republican presidential contenders and to the party’s national convention. The government of Taiwan has retained a powerful bipartisan constellation of former members of Congress to promote its interests in Washington. Richard A. Gephardt, a Missouri Democrat and former House majority leader, also signed a $25,000-a-month contract to represent the Taipei office this year, as did Thomas A. Daschle, Democrat of South Dakota, a former Senate majority leader, in 2015.

Bob's right, Dodge (aka. Ram) is the U.S. market leader in Class 3, 4 and 5. And I can tell you, I know a lot of fleet owners who have switched from Ford to Dodge. They love the 1500 with the Ecodiesel, and the heavier models with the Cummins ISB. They had all become disillusioned with Ford. They thought to give Dodge "a try", and were all pleasantly surprised by the performance, reliability and fuel economy. They were really surprised, but now very strong Dodge advocates.

Now, we know you have a 12,000lb FAW537 steer axle (typical of a tractor). Mackpro saw it was built with 3-leaf taperleaf springs. However, your truck presently has 11-leaf multi-leaf springs. Perhaps, they have adequate spring capacity, but your FAW537 axle does not have adequate capacity for tipper operation, particularly given the tremendous weight placed atop when loaded given the far rear location of your bogie. The only way to resolve the situation is to add a (self-steering) pusher axle. Is your frame single or double channel? If double channel, was it added, perhaps of limited length, or does it run the full length of the chassis. If this was a tractor, the frame probably isn't reinforced for the flexing that a tipper will see off road. The pusher axle's mounting flange would help reinforce your frame somewhat, while allowing your 12,000lb steer axle to live.

Yes. We wouldn't at the factory pair 12,000lb (2QK3378P2) springs with an FAW536 (10,500lb) axle. When we introduced the 14,300lb FAW538 axle in the 1980s (I forget which year), we did have dealers who, in certain applications with used trucks, retrofitted 14,300lb springs (2QK3378P6) atop 12,000lb FAW537 axles. I forget, either the height spacer was eliminated or a thinner one was used (the caster shim remained). The 3-leaf FAW537 (2QK3378P2) spring assembly has thinner leaves than the FAW538 (2QK3378P6) 3-leaf spring assembly. We had a couple of suppliers. 2QK3378 numbers came from the Parish division of Dana (my preference). I forget who the supplier of 2QK3345 springs was. They were interchangeable. 2QK3378 fitted to 10,500lb (FAW536) 2QK3378P2 fitted to 12,000lb (FAW537) 2QK3378P6 fitted to 14,300lb (FAW538) 2QK3378P3 fitted to 16,000lb (FAW616) 2QK3378P4 fitted to 18,000lb (FAW617) Note: The parts numbering system of the former Allentown-based Mack Trucks, created by legendary Chief Engineer and VP Alfred Masury, was so brilliant in its simplicity that I can still pretty much recall the part numbers today. That a system created in the 1920s is vastly superior to the meaningless Volvo parts system is damning.

I've heard the Volvo (Mack) parts reference system is a nightmare. The Mack system was always crystal clear. A lot of people in parts operations got in trouble, some lost their jobs, for pointing out that the Mack system was 10-fold better than Volvo's parts system.

The transmission is an Allison automatic. They're bulletproof with proper maintenance, and parts/service are readily available.

I believe 2QK3345 supercedes to 2QK3378P6, which is for a 14,300lb FAW538. 2QK3378 is 10,500lb (FAW536) 2QK3378P2 is 12,000 (FAW537) I don't recall the 14,300lb FAW538 having been introduced by that production date, thought it was a few years later. I may be wrong. He needs to go ahead and look for the 1QH number on the axle beam. This truck might have been changed, since he has multi-leaf springs now. I hope someone didn't simply put heavier multi-leafs on a FAW537 axle. With all the weight on his steer due to the truck's bogie way back and the long nose, it won't hold up. It needs a self-steering liftable pusher axle if it actually has a FAW537 steer axle.

Commercial Motor / November 30, 2016 Somerset-based RT Keedwell is continuing to expand its fleet with the addition of 80 new trailers from Lawrence David. The straight frame, tri-axle trailers are EN 12642-XL certified and come with Lawrence David Amoursheet-XL load bearing curtains which can contain unsecured loads of up to 3500kg. The trailers feature RT Keedwell’s blue, white and red colour scheme including blue and red wheel rims, fully painted red chassis and matching blue curtain strap webbings. They haveLED corner lights fitted to the front and rear top corners, one piece alloy roof sheets with Lawrence David track and valance, twin row galvanised steel load retention tracks, Bridgestone tyres and a pull out ladder fitted to the rear. Thirty of the new trailers also come fitted with Joloda’s F-track flooring system. The system, designed to hold paper reels, allows for brackets to be fitted in various position along the track, allowing for multiple configurations. The trailers closely follow the delivery of 50 Mercedes-Benz Actros tractor units, which joined a fleet of more than 550 trucks and around 1,280 trailers. .

Transport Engineer / December 2, 2016 Swindon-based Les Smith Haulage has returned to Mercedes-Benz after a six-year absence, taking delivery of five new vehicles from the local branch of dealer group Rygor. Two are Actros 2545 BigSpace tractor units, while the remaining three are 18-tonne Antos rigids with StreamSpace cabs and curtainside bodies by Burnell & Son, of Bristol. Nick Smith, who is responsible for the fleet, says the new trucks are delivering impressive fuel returns, trumped only by “amazing” reductions in AdBlue consumption and enthusiastic driver feedback. “Our latest Mercedes-Benz trucks are already right up there with the best in terms of diesel consumption, with the Euro 6 Actros the best part of a mile per gallon ahead of its Euro 5 predecessor,” confirms Smith. “This is encouraging, as they’re still bedding in so there’s potential for further improvement as they loosen up,” he continues. “What’s more obvious, though, is the amazing reduction in AdBlue usage that we’re seeing. “Our tractor units are averaging 1,000 miles a week and we’re getting three weeks between fills from the Actros. “That’s a massive improvement on our other, non-Mercedes-Benz vehicles, which are consuming AdBlue at three times this rate, so need refilling on a weekly basis.” As for the drivers, Smith says they love the driveability and smoothness of the powertrain, as well as the “comfortable, spacious and well laid out” cabs. “But it’s also about a general feeling of quality, as demonstrated for example by the satisfying way in which the doors open and close. The Mercedes-Benz product is undeniably superior from a driver’s perspective.” As previously, Les Smith is relying on Rygor to inspect and service its latest Actros and Antos trucks under Mercedes-Benz full R&M contracts. The operator’s latest rucks have allowed it to meet increased customer demand. “While two have replaced trucks that have now been stood down, the other three are additions to a fleet that now stands at 36 vehicles. Although Les Smith offers short- and long-term contract solutions, its new Mercedes-Benz trucks are on general duties. Related reading – http://www.mercedes-benz.co.uk/content/unitedkingdom/mpc/mpc_unitedkingdom_website/en/home_mpc/truck/home/new_trucks/model_range/new_actros/New_Actros.html#_int_truck:home:model-navi:New_Actros .

An LS is a 6x4 straight truck, LST is a 6x4 tractor (this is Mack Western terminology). So, RWS721LS-1528 makes sense for what I'm seeing, a 6x4 tipper. BUT, now you say it was a tractor. That conflicts with your model number and what I'm seeing. We offered 12,000 lb taperleaf springs as standard, and 12,000lb multi-leaf was optional. You may not have a Mack axle (could be Rockwell). Other heavier axles were optional, up to 18,000lb. Either have your Mack dealer pull up your truck's front axle model (FAWxxx) by looking at the 1QH front axle arrangement shown forRWS721LS-1528, or look for the stamping on the axle. If your round headlamp Super-Liner is a 1985 (or at least titled as 1985), it's one of the very last Hayward design units built at Macungie, before we switched over the MH platform resulting in the RW6/RW7.

If it was "actually" possible for you to know where all your hard-earned tax dollars are going..................... If you could "choose" to have your tax dollars only spent within the United States..................... If you could elect NOT to have your tax dollars used for corporate incentives/subsidies..................... It's your government, right? Shouldn't you be allowed to decide, to a reasonable extent, how and where your tax money is spent? If taxpayers collectively choose not to fund certain projects........then the people have spoken.

The Guardian / December 1, 2016 Through the U.S. Export-Import Bank, the Obama administration has spent nearly $34 billion [of U.S. taxpayer money] on dirty energy plants in countries from India to Australia to South Africa Seemingly little connects a community in India plagued by toxic water, a looming air pollution crisis in South Africa and a new fracking boom that is pockmarking Australia. And yet there is a common thread: American taxpayer money. Through the US Export-Import Bank, Barack Obama’s administration has spent nearly $34 billion supporting 70 fossil fuel projects around the world, work by Columbia Journalism School’s Energy and Environment Reporting Project and the Guardian has revealed. This unprecedented backing of oil, coal and gas projects is an unexpected footnote to Obama’s own climate change legacy. The president has called global warming “terrifying” and helped broker the world’s first proper agreement to tackle it, yet his administration has poured money into developments that will push the planet even closer to climate disaster. For people living next to US-funded mines and power stations the impacts are even more starkly immediate. Guardian and Columbia reporters have spent time at American-backed projects in India, South Africa and Australia to document the sickness, upheavals and environmental harm that come with huge dirty fuel developments. In India, we heard complaints about coal ash blowing into villages, contaminated water and respiratory and stomach problems, all linked to a project that has had more than $650 million in backing from the Obama administration. In South Africa, another huge project is set to exacerbate existing air pollution problems, deforestation and water shortages. And in Australia, an enormous US-backed gas development is linked to a glut of fracking activity that has divided communities and brought a new wave of industrialization next to the cherished Great Barrier Reef. While Obama can claim the US is the world’s leader on climate change – at least until Donald Trump enters the White House – it is also clear that it has become a major funder of fossil fuels that are having a serious impact upon people’s lives. This is the unexpected story of how Obama’s legacy is playing out overseas. Sasan ultra mega power project, Madhya Pradesh, India A hulking thermal power plant funded by American money shimmers in orange when night settles in India’s coal-rich district of Singrauli. A heavy blanket of smog wraps around the industrial district and its residents. Sasan, an ambitious project by Indian energy utility Reliance Power, consumes coal incessantly from a nearby mine in the promise of lighting the homes of almost 300 million people in the country. But since it began operating in 2012, the project has been caught in a storm of health and safety violations, environmental concerns and land disputes. In 2010, Sasan was handed a $650m export finance loan by the US Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im), a taxpayer-funded branch of the federal government that ostensibly exists to support American jobs and contribute to the US Treasury. The Sasan project was initially rejected by the bank for financing because of the extremely high carbon emissions from the coal-powered plant. However, Reliance reapplied for the loan under tighter emission guidelines, promising to “offset” 26.4 million tonnes of annual carbon dioxide emissions produced by the plant through renewable power projects. Ex-Im Bank approved the loan to facilitate exports of goods and services from the US, insisting on environmental and safety guidelines for the plant’s sustainable development. However, over the course of five years, residents and activists in Singrauli concerns about the project have grown. Ramakali, 30, dressed in a vibrant sari with a thick smear of vermillion on her forehead, bent over a murky green well that was brimming to the top. The towers of Reliance Power stood tall behind her, the lettering on the chimneys within sight of her mud-and-brick home in the village of Harrahawa. Flies and insects flitted in the well water. “The water has started to taste funny,” she said. “I have been struggling with strong pains in my stomach ever since they started dumping their trash into our groundwater.” She pointed to the residual ash dumpsite of the Sasan plant, which is only a couple of metres from her doorstep. On a hot day, one can see ash dust blowing up from the ash pond in the direction of nearby villages surrounding the plant. The locals complain that ash from the enclosed reservoir is settling into the surface water of nearby regions, causing the wells to fill up to the top with impure water. “We put in a request for a handpump to the company but we never heard back,” Ramakali said, shaking her head. “They do nothing. We have complained countless number of times.” The national green tribunal, a court that hears environmental cases in India, released a report by a committee of environmental experts in August 2015, stating that the groundwater in Harrahawa next to the plant had high levels of mercury in it. Excess mercury in drinking water has been medically linked to severe nervous disorders and birth defects. Sasan was not exclusively identified as a source of contamination in the report, but the experts are certain that it’s linked to Sasan and the other big thermal plants in the region. Two other government agencies determined Sasan’s mining waste was illegally overflowing into surrounding forest and farmlands, and that the company had failed to restore the green space lost due to the plant’s construction. Toxic coal dust was also found to have settled in the fields located next to the mines. The Singrauli industrial cluster has been dotted with several giant thermal plants and coalmines since the 1980s, Sasan being the most recent addition to the country’s coal hub. In January 2010, the Indian ministry of environment and forests declared Singrauli a critically polluted area. “When Reliance was planning to set up a plant in Singrauli, they knew that area already had severe poisoning and massive industrial pollution issues,” said Ashwani Kumar Dubey, a lawyer who has repeatedly taken on the coal industry. “Yet, they went ahead and set up their plant. They are adding to the damage, and not doing anything to control it.” Reliance’s coalmine at Moher and its dumpsite are only a short distance away from the thermal power plant. The coal is transported into the power plant through a 14km long, blue, snake-like conveyor belt, saving Reliance Power the overhead costs of railroad transportation. Devnarayan Sahu, 40, lives with his family and a herd of cattle in a village cluster called Amlohri, within 50 metres of Sasan’s overflowing dumpsite. The thud of mine blasting echoes in the background and Narayan’s house quivers a little. “We’ve become used to the tremors,” he said. Narayan walked over to his backyard, and pointed to the bulldozers dropping boulders from atop the mounds of toxic mining waste. “Look at how those stones are rolling into my farm and home,” he said. “When it rained a couple of days ago, we were flooded with their rubble.” A layer of grey coal dust has settled on his impoverished eggplant and tomato farm, his main source of livelihood. “If I don’t water them continuously to get rid of the toxic dust, the crop will not flower,” he said, wiping off dust from a pod with his fingers. The industrial pollution is taking a toll on Narayan and his family. Difficulties in breathing, stomach aches and joint pains are common. “When we cough in the morning, we see dust in our sputum,” he said. “The little that we earn is now going into medical treatments.” “Asthma, allergies and bronchitis are prevalent here because of the air pollution, especially in children belonging to clusters around the ash dams, mines and thermal power plants,” said Dr Kalpana Ravi, a paediatrician at the local district hospital in Waidhan. Narayan has been pleading with Reliance to remedy the situation for years, but nothing has happened. “Many officials have come and inspected the place,” he said. “They come and go, but do nothing. Reliance says they don’t need our land as of yet. We can see the big boulders falling. Like many others who have abandoned their homes for the fear of their lives, they want us also to eventually get scared and move away on our own.” Families settled almost directly underneath the noisy conveyor belt that brings coal to the plant have a similar tale to tell. “I don’t know what will happen sooner: will we go deaf first due to the constant and unbearable rattling over our rooftops, or will we choke on the coal dust falling from the belt,” said Sukhlal Panika, who lives under a section of the conveyor belt with his aged mother. Reliance only acquired a part of his farmland for the belt, leaving his house and well exposed to the pollution caused by coal transportation. Sasan has also been hit by reports of accidents, harassment, fatalities and injuries. In February 2015, Ex-Im’s chairman, Fred Hochberg, criticized the “poor” safety practices at the Sasan project in a letter to Reliance. Hochberg stated: “the number of all fatalities at the integrated Project is now 19 – which is both tragic and absolutely unacceptable.” The chairman’s letter said “the alarming number of injuries and fatalities must come to an end” and that “rather than improving, the situation appears to be deteriorating”. The police confirmed that 16 cases relating to the Sasan plant and coalmine have been investigated since 2012, resulting from vehicle accidents, beam and tower deaths and electric shocks. Activist Awadhesh Kumar, who has been speaking to workers in Sasan and surrounding villages, believes the real number is larger. “It’s harder to account for the migrant workers who have no family here, and they form a huge chunk of Sasan’s labour population. When something happens or someone goes missing, there is no one to question the company for a report or explanation.” In response to Ex-Im’s letter regarding the incidents, Sasan provided the bank with information on a taskforce comprising middle managers for the purpose of improving safety and training. But the steps taken by Ex-Im to regulate Sasan are too little too late, according to people living around the thermal power plant and the coalmine. “Ex-Im’s ground inspection should have been done a long time back, and that too on a regular basis,” said Kumar. “A federal agency of the United States of America should hold their financed projects to better and more neutral standards. Development is good, but not at the cost of the environment and the people who give away their everything to make way for such projects.” All points in the story have been raised with Reliance officials. They are yet to comment. Liquified natural gas plants, Queensland, Australia Alan and Ailsa Smith say setting foot on Curtis Island is like stepping back in history. The world-heritage-listed tropical island where they live sits just off the coast of Gladstone in Queensland, Australia, right under the Tropic of Capricorn. “It’s a quiet little community here. You slip back 25 years in time,” said Alan. The couple own a small grocery store and bed-and-breakfast. It’s the only business in the only village on the island, which is home to just 30 permanent residents. But South End has a new neighbour that makes itself known at night, illuminating the clouds with its startlingly bright lights, and occasionally sending flames into the sky. Since 2010, amid a storm of controversy that extended from Australia to the US, Curtis Island’s 30 residents have been joined by three giant gas liquefaction plants, with a fourth on the way. When complete, they will propel Australia to become the world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), overtaking Qatar. Their development has allowed a controversial fracking boom in Queensland, where about 6,000 coal seam gas wells have been drilled to deliver gas to be liquefied at the plants. Two of the three plants – APLNG and QCLNG – have been backed by a $4.7 billion loan from the US Export-Import Bank. Once operational, these developments will produce about 11.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year – and this figure will be much higher if methane emissions that leak from the wells aren’t controlled. Those estimates ignore the carbon emissions that will be produced when the gas exported from Curtis Island is burned. The two US-funded plants will produce up to 17.5m tonnes of liquid natural gas each year. When burned, that will pump about 50m tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere – roughly equivalent to the annual output of Sweden. Sitting and having a beer at Capricorn Lodge, another of the island’s residents, Michael Radcliffe, says he isn’t bothered by the LNG plants, but expressed some concern about smoke produced when the plants burn some of their gases in large flares. “There’s a lot of black stuff that comes out,” Radcliffe said. A week earlier there were a lot of flares that produced a lot of black smoke, he said. “I thought there was a bushfire or something going on.” From the top of Ship Hill, it’s clear why the locals are interested to see the plants at sundown. As the sun sets, thousands of lights on the gas plants light up. The bushland between the hill and the plants is thick, but through the trees the sight of the huge plants – and the contrast they make with the rest of the island – is astounding. The plants produce a loud hum, a bit like the sound of a giant refrigerator – which is almost exactly what an LNG plant is. To allow ships to dock to collect the liquified gas, the Queensland government conducted a huge dredging operation in the harbour. Around 25 million cubic metres of earth have been scooped up from the harbour floor, with the Australian government giving approval for a further 19 million cubic meters to be dug up. Some was simply dumped in the Coral Sea and the rest was put behind an 8km “bund wall” and used to reclaim land right opposite Curtis Island – a measure intended to stop the dredge spoil from smothering the delicate ecosystems of the Great Barrier Reef. The wall failed, the dredge spoil leaked through it, and spread through the Great Barrier Reef world heritage area. Satellite analysis showed the plumes of mud that spread through the water stretched for 35km into the Coral Sea, which would have degraded seagrass meadows that support endangered dugongs. As the dredging started, fishermen reported an outbreak of disease among marine life, which scientists said could have been caused by metals on the seafloor that were released into the water. In an unusually forthright step, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which advises the UN’s world heritage committee on scientific matters, called for the LNG developments to be halted. Trevor Falzon used to catch fish in Gladstone Harbour, home to one of the largest ports in the world. He was the lead plaintiff in an unsuccessful case brought by 51 fishermen against the Gladstone Ports Corporation over the dredging. The development meant they lost an area that they used to fish in. And the dredging meant the nets they used in shallow water weren’t suitable in the new deep water, but the case was thrown out. “Now I have to sell everything – my house is on the market,” Falzon said, sitting among packing boxes in his house on the outskirts of Gladstone. Kusile power station, Mpumalanga, South Africa As the sun dips across the rolling hills of South Africa’s eastern Mpumalanga province the lights come on high above the valley’s wetlands, soaring columns and cranes, black against the reddening sky. The vast structure on the ridge is clearly visible from the small settlement of Arbor, a huddle of shacks and huts on a narrow strip of land between a coalmine and railway sidings 10 kilometres from Kusile. “I watch it growing and I wonder what it will bring. It might mean jobs and development, or maybe sickness and drought. I don’t know. So I hope and pray it will make things better, not worse,” said Sibongile Sibeko, 41, a mother of five children in Arbor. The structure Sibeko can see is what has so far been built of Kusile, which will be among the 10 biggest coal-fired power stations in the world, and is already one of the most controversial. The project is part-funded by the US government, having received a loan of $805 million from the US Export-Import Bank in 2011 after Eskom chose a US company to play a key engineering role, creating hundreds of jobs for American specialists. The money was crucial to the $8.4 billion project, say campaigners. “Kusile would have been very challenging to proceed with if the money from the Export-Import Bank had not come through,” said Melita Steele of Greenpeace. Delayed by decades and wildly over budget, Kusile is emblematic of a development model increasingly seen as outdated. The days of vast mega-projects with enormous financial, social and environmental costs, as well as the potential to transform economies, are over, some experts say. Instead, smaller and cheaper projects can bring change as effectively, supplying energy and other needs with minimal impact. “The only hope for us is renewable energy. That would mean less destruction, less landgrabbing or none at all and no need for coal and water,” said Matthews Hlabane, of the South African Green Revolutionary Council, a local NGO. But the loan was also very expensive. As local currency has lost value against the dollar the cost of repayments has soared. The project is immense. When completed Kusile will consist of six units with the ability to generate 4,800MW, making it significantly bigger than any power station in the US except the hydroelectric Grand Coulee dam in Washington. Defenders say Kusile has been designed with advanced technology that will minimise its environmental impact, such as scrubbers to control sulphur dioxide and filters to reduce emissions of dangerous particulates. The plant will use an air cooling system to help conserve water and is designed so equipment to capture carbon emissions can be fitted in the future. The plan to build Kusile, and its twin Medupi, in Limpopo province, dates back to the immediate aftermath of the repressive racist apartheid regime. Conceived as energy providers for a growing and free nation, they were seen as powerful statements of a new commitment to a modern economy that would improve the lives of all South Africa’s citizens. Kusile means “New Dawn” in Zulu, a local language. In recent years, South Africa has been hit by severe power shortages, leading to rolling outages. Though these have now eased, in part due to renewable energy sources supplementing supply, local officials say that Kusile is still essential to ensure the developing nation’s energy security for decades to come. But circumstances – and attitudes – have changed since the original decision was taken to build the vast plants. “Medupi and Kusile are examples of large-scale mega infrastructure projects that countries see as the basis of a development model that started after World War II. Projects this large are seen as transformational. They cost a lot. They employ a lot of people. Their effects are meant to be big. But it’s a model that doesn’t make much sense now,” Janet Redman, director of the climate programme at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington DC said earlier this year. “Using coal for energy is hugely expensive, outdated, against international trends and is financially and environmental irresponsible,” said Robyn Hugo of the Centre for Environmental Rights, a local NGO. According to one estimate the total cost of the twin projects of Kusile and Medupi could eventually top $32 billion. Medupi relies in part on a $500 million loan from the African Development Bank and also $3 billion from the World Bank, approved in 2010. Both projects have been plagued by allegations of corruption. All concerned deny any wrongdoing. Kusile alone is projected to emit an estimated 36.8m tonnes of CO2-equivalent, according to Eskom’s own estimates. With Medupi, it will add 16% to South Africa’s current CO2 emission levels. The impact on local towns and villages will be immense. It is not simply the power station itself, and the air pollution and traffic it will generate, but the vast coalmining operations needed to provide the estimated 17 million tonnes of coal Kusile will require each year. Farmland and wetlands will disappear as new open-cast and underground mines are opened or, in some cases, reopened. Tens of thousands of impoverished labourers will swell some settlements. Others will have to be entirely shifted to new locations. Roads will be built, bringing access and jobs for some, but exacerbating environmental consequences. This is far from pristine farmland or wilderness, however. Central Mpumalanga is the site of a dozen power stations and a huge mining industry. One of the major complaints of local communities is that local men are rarely hired by companies for anything but casual labour because already acute air pollution has, they claim, damaged their lungs. Mpumalanga is already designated as a zone of acute air pollution in South Africa. Locals complain of sinus infections, headaches and coughing children. Sibongile Sibeko, who has lived in the community of Arbor all her life said her three daughters and two sons had all suffered respiratory illnesses which local doctors blamed on “dust”. She lives in a small three-roomed hut only a few metres from waste spoil marking the boundary of a major mine, operational for around five years. The Kendal power station, Africa’s biggest, is close by. It has been operational since the early 1980s, is coal-fired and has a capacity of more than 4,000MW. “The doctor saw my little one – my four-year-old – recently. He said his chest was closing because of the dust,” Sibeko said. Then there is water. Among the impacts of Kusile will be the destruction of important wetlands around the plant. Massive infrastructure including pipelines and canals has been constructed to bring water for cooling to Kusile, but the plans were conceived in a period when water was more plentiful. South Africa is currently experiencing its worst drought for 50 years, which some blame on climate change. In all villages around Kusile, there are complaints of lack of water, deforestation and other environmental and social problems, ranging from higher crime levels to overcrowded schools, linked to the influx of workers. “Before the mine came we had wood from forests and water from boreholes, and we grew vegetables in small gardens. We had goats, cows and chickens and there was a white farmer and people here worked on his land. But there are no jobs in farming now and there is no forest and the boreholes are dry or the water is bad, and there is no space for livestock or even our gardens because of all the people who have come,” Sibeko said. Another nearby village, cut off from the main highway by a strip of dry grass strewn with cider bottles and rusting cans, is often shaken by the blasting at the nearby mine. “There is a lot of dust here, especially when they are blasting,” said Patricia Mabaso, 30. “The old people and the children get diseases from it. Once it was all green round here, now it’s a desert.” The Energy and Environmental Reporting Project is supported by the Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, Energy Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Rockefeller Family Fund, Lorana Sullivan Foundation and the Tellus Mater Foundation. The funders have no involvement in or influence over the articles produced by project fellows in collaboration with The Guardian.

Bernie Sanders: Carrier just showed corporations how to beat Donald Trump Op-ed by Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) The Washington Post / December 1, 2016 Today, about 1,000 Carrier workers and their families should be rejoicing. But the rest of our nation’s workers should be very nervous. President-elect Donald Trump will reportedly announce a deal with United Technologies, the corporation that owns Carrier, that keeps less than 1,000 of the 2,100 jobs in America that were previously scheduled to be transferred to Mexico. Let’s be clear: It is not good enough to save some of these jobs. Trump made a promise that he would save all of these jobs, and we cannot rest until an ironclad contract is signed to ensure that all of these workers are able to continue working in Indiana without having their pay or benefits slashed. In exchange for allowing United Technologies to continue to offshore more than 1,000 jobs, Trump will reportedly give the company tax and regulatory favors that the corporation has sought. Just a short few months ago, Trump was pledging to force United Technologies to “pay a damn tax.” He was insisting on very steep tariffs for companies like Carrier that left the United States and wanted to sell their foreign-made products back in the United States. Instead of a damn tax, the company will be rewarded with a damn tax cut. Wow! How’s that for standing up to corporate greed? How’s that for punishing corporations that shut down in the United States and move abroad? In essence, United Technologies took Trump hostage and won. And that should send a shock wave of fear through all workers across the country. Trump has endangered the jobs of workers who were previously safe in the United States. Why? Because he has signaled to every corporation in America that they can threaten to offshore jobs in exchange for business-friendly tax benefits and incentives. Even corporations that weren’t thinking of offshoring jobs will most probably be reevaluating their stance this morning. And who would pay for the high cost for tax cuts that go to the richest businessmen in America? The working class of America. Let’s be clear. United Technologies is not going broke. Last year, it made a profit of $7.6 billion and received more than $6 billion in defense contracts. It has also received more than $50 million from the Export-Import Bank and very generous tax breaks. In 2014, United Technologies gave its former chief executive Louis Chenevert a golden parachute worth more than $172 million. Last year, the company’s five highest-paid executives made more than $50 million. The firm also spent $12 billion to inflate its stock price instead of using that money to invest in new plants and workers. Does that sound like a company that deserves more corporate welfare from our government? Trump’s Band-Aid solution is only making the problem of wealth inequality in America even worse. I said I would work with Trump if he was serious about the promises he made to members of the working class. But after running a campaign pledging to be tough on corporate America, Trump has hypocritically decided to do the exact opposite. He wants to treat corporate irresponsibility with kid gloves. The problem with our rigged economy is not that our policies have been too tough on corporations; it’s that we haven’t been tough enough. We need to re-instill an ethic of corporate patriotism. We need to send a very loud and clear message to corporate America: The era of outsourcing is over. Instead of offshoring jobs, the time has come for you to start bringing good-paying jobs back to America. If United Technologies or any other company wants to keep outsourcing decent-paying American jobs, those companies must pay an outsourcing tax equal to the amount of money they expect to save by moving factories to Mexico or other low-wage countries. They should not receive federal contracts or other forms of corporate welfare. They must pay back all of the tax breaks and other corporate welfare they have received from the federal government. And they must not be allowed to reward their executives with stock options, bonuses or golden parachutes for outsourcing jobs to low-wage countries. I will soon be introducing the Outsourcing Prevention Act, which will address exactly that. If Donald Trump won’t stand up for America’s working class, we must.

Trump is shocked that Carrier took him literally. That doesn’t bode well for his many promises. The Washington Post / December 1, 2016 One of the best explanations of the Donald Trump 2016 phenomenon is this, via Salena Zito: "The press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally." But apparently some supporters took him both seriously and literally. And Trump, rather amazingly, is surprised by this. During his attempted victory lap in Indiana on Thursday celebrating the fact that Carrier opted to keep jobs in the state thanks to $7 million in incentives, Trump candidly admitted that he didn't even remember having promised to keep Carrier's jobs in the state and insisted that he hadn't actually meant to make that promise. He said his mention of keeping Carrier's jobs was meant to signify other manufacturing companies that might be tempted to move jobs outside the country — as Carrier long planned to do — in the future, and that he didn't even realize he had said it until he saw on the news that Carrier's workers expected him to make it happen. "About a week ago, I was watching the nightly news," Trump said. "But they were doing a story on Carrier. And I say, 'Wow, that's something. I want to see that.'" Trump recalled a "handsome" employee who was interviewed for the piece who didn't seem worried about the company's plans to move production to Mexico. "He said something to the effect, 'No we're not leaving, because Donald Trump promised us that we're not leaving,'" Trump said. "And I never thought I made that promise — not with Carrier. I made it for everybody else. I didn't make it really for Carrier. And I said, 'What's he saying?'" Trump went on: "And they played my statement. I said, 'Carrier will never leave.' But that was a euphemism. I was talking about Carrier, like all other companies from here on in. Because they made the decision a year and a half ago. But he believed that that was — and I could understand it." He was apparently referring to this Nov. 14 NBC Nightly News clip: Carrier a/c became a rallying cry for Trump on the campaign trail. Now employees are counting on him to fulfill his promise. Watch @kevtibs. pic.twitter.com/vS4fgi8Zfg — Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) November 15, 2016 Here is the exact comment Trump made back in August: We're bringing jobs back to our country. We're not going to let Carrier leave. Here's the thing: You can make an argument that Trump was perhaps speaking more generally and using Carrier as an example of the type of company that would no longer be leaving under his presidency. But this is a statement he made while in Indiana — in front of people who had a very strong interest in taking him literally. They did, and yet he was apparently surprised by that. Any studied politician would know that if you are in Indiana and you say Carrier won't leave, you had better mean those exact words. That doesn't bode well for the hundreds of promises Trump has made that some highly interested stakeholders may have taken very seriously. Zito's overall statement may hold true — that people read into Trump what they want and that they didn't take everything he said 100 percent literally. But for everyone who voted for Trump, you can bet there's something they hope he was being very literal about — whether prosecuting Hillary Clinton, building a wall, taxing outsourcers (which Trump pledged to do yet again Thursday) or repealing Obamacare. There's quite simply no way Trump will ever fulfill all (or even most) of those promises, and perhaps his supporters will understand that. But many likely won't. For the first time, the president-elect has been asked to cash a check that his mouth wrote. There will be more.

Trump threatens ‘consequences’ for U.S. firms that relocate offshore The Washington Post / November 1, 2016 President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday warned that the government would punish companies seeking to move operations overseas with “consequences,” setting the stage for an unusual level of intervention by the White House into private enterprise. Trump’s remarks came as he triumphantly celebrated a decision by the heating and air-conditioning company Carrier to reverse its plans to close a furnace plant here and move to Mexico, helping keep 1,100 [of 1,400] jobs in Indianapolis. About 800 of those were manufacturing positions that had been scheduled to move south of the border. An additional 300 to 600 Carrier positions at that plant, as well as roughly 700 jobs at another facility in the area, will still be cut. Under the terms of the agreement, which have not been finalized, Carrier would receive a $7 million tax incentive package from the state of Indiana [i.e. Indiana taxpayers] in exchange for making a $16 million investment in the facility — although Trump said Thursday that amount would probably be higher. In remarks delivered inside the Carrier facility, the president-elect said more companies will decide to stay in the United States because his administration will lower corporate taxes and reduce regulations. Trump also warned that businesses that decide to go abroad will pay a price through a border tax on imported goods. “Companies are not going to leave the United States anymore without consequences,” Trump declared Thursday. “Not gonna happen. It’s not gonna happen.” Trump had no plans to intervene in the Carrier case until he watched an evening news segment featuring a worker who expressed confidence that the ­president-elect would save the Indianapolis plant. Trump had vowed during the campaign, “We’re not going to let Carrier leave.” Known for his tendency to react to TV news reports, Trump said he immediately picked up the phone and called Gregory Hayes, the chief executive of Carrier’s parent company, United Technologies. “I said, ‘Greg, you gotta help us out here. You gotta do something,’ ” Trump recalled Thursday. Standing in front of a wall blanketed with Carrier’s blue-and-white logo, Trump lavished praise on the company for its decision, promising that the sales of its air-conditioning units would soar “because of the goodwill you have engendered.” Trump’s determination to use a mixture of incentives and tariffs to keep jobs from going overseas represents a sharp break with the free-market wing of the Republican Party, including senior congressional leaders. On Thursday, top Republicans offered careful responses to the Carrier deal. “I think it’s pretty darn good that people are keeping their jobs in Indiana instead of going to Mexico,” said House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), emphasizing that the party is hoping to pass comprehensive tax changes that would be a boon to all businesses. Ryan has repeatedly criticized President Obama for allegedly trying to pick “winners and losers” in his stimulus package and other economic policies. [Why lots of people think Trump’s deal to save 1,000 Indiana jobs was a bad idea] The Carrier deal was sharply criticized by some conservatives, who viewed it as government distortion of free markets, as well as liberals, who derided it as corporate welfare. “I think it sets a pretty bad precedent,” said Dan Ikenson, director of the Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. “I don’t think we should be addressing issues like this on an ad hoc basis. It certainly incentivizes companies to make a stink and say: ‘We’re going to leave, too. What are you going to do for me?’ ” Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination, accused Trump of reversing course on a pledge to punish companies that outsource manufacturing jobs. In the case of Carrier, Trump had said he would force the company to “pay a damn tax” if it closed the plant. [Instead of paying a tax, Carrier will get $7 million of free taxpayer money, AND 1,100 Carrier workers in Indiana are still seeing their jobs relocated to Mexico] “Instead of a damn tax, the company will be rewarded with a damn tax cut,” Sanders wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post. “Wow! How’s that for standing up to corporate greed?” Privately, some business leaders were also unnerved. “It is uncharted territory for a president-elect to get involved personally in social engineering with a single company,” said an adviser to major corporations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order not to anger the incoming administration. Now that Carrier “is no longer the political piñata,” the adviser added, chief executives “are asking, ‘Who’s next?’ ” Timothy Bartik, an economist at the nonpartisan W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in Kalamazoo, Mich., said that vague threats from the ­president-elect could stymie corporate investment as firms seek to avoid decisions that could draw the ire of the White House. “What are these consequences? Who’s in charge of them?” Bartik asked. “One of the worst things for corporate investment is uncertainty,” he added. “You would hope that the government would not add to the uncertainty.” [Trump is shocked that Carrier workers took him literally. That doesn’t bode well for his many promises.] But Trump said Thursday that he planned to personally call other companies that are contemplating moving operations out of the country, even, as he said, if critics felt such outreach was not “presidential.” “I think it’s very presidential. And if it’s not presidential, that’s okay because I actually like doing it,” Trump said. “But we’re going to have a lot of phone calls made to companies when they say they’re leaving this country, because they’re not going to leave this country.” Trump’s aggressive stance toward outsourcing comes despite the fact that his family companies profit from low-wage laborers around the globe who produce Trump-branded merchandise. His daughter Ivanka has her own separate brand of jewelry, shoes and clothing, much of which is produced in China. On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly attacked specific companies for outsourcing, drawing huge cheers from his crowds. He blasted Ford Motor Co. for opening factories in Mexico, criticized a U.S. drug company that moved its headquarters offshore and said he would not longer eat Oreo cookies because its maker, Nabisco, moved part of its production to Mexico. He also mocked politicians who offered low-interest loans and tax abatements to keep factories in the United States.[as he has done with Carrier] “These companies don’t even need the money, most of them,” he said at a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., in October. “They take the money. There were a couple instances where geniuses with great lawyers gave them money, and then they moved anyway.” Trump repeatedly pointed to Carrier’s planned move to Mexico as a prime example of the perils of globalization: The company told Indiana officials it would save $65 million a year by shifting production to a 645,000-square-foot factory under construction outside Monterrey, where wages are far lower. Carrier rejected a tax incentive package the state offered earlier in the year to keep the Indianapolis plant open. But that was before Trump won the election and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence became the vice president-elect. Some state officials also noted that the federal government is a major customer of Carrier’s parent, United Technologies. United Technologies’ sales to the government have dropped in recent years, from $6.3 billion in 2013 to $5.6 billion last year, making up about 10 percent of its total revenue. Note: The “Department of Energy awarded Carrier $5.1 million in clean energy tax credits in December 2013 for its Indianapolis facility. Carrier at that time said it planned to use the money to expand production at its Indianapolis facility to meet increasing demand for its eco-friendly condensing gas furnace product line.

A year after San Bernardino attack, investigators still seek answers Reuters / December 1, 2016 One year after two Islamic militants shot dead 14 people in a massacre in Southern California, FBI investigators are still seeking to answer key questions such as the location of the married couple's computer hard drive and whether anyone helped them. Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 29, opened fire on Dec. 2 during a party and training session for San Bernardino County employees, who were co-workers of Farook, injuring 22 people in addition to the 14 killed. It was one of the deadliest attacks by militants in the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks. Authorities have said that U.S.-born Farook and Malik, a native of Pakistan who lived most of her life in Saudi Arabia, were inspired by Islamic extremism. The couple, who were parents of a 6-month-old daughter, both died in a shootout with police four hours after the massacre. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is still seeking to determine if anyone assisted the couple, such as in financing the attack or helping to plan for it. The FBI has not charged anyone with providing support to Farook and Malik. The FBI is still hoping to find the hard drive from the couple's computer. A search by FBI divers in the weeks after the attack of a small lake at a park where Farook and Malik stopped in the hours after the shooting failed to turn up the hard drive. In addition, the FBI still has an 18-minute gap in accounting for the whereabouts of Farook and Malik in the hours they spent driving around San Bernardino in an SUV after the attack. The couple left three pipe bombs at the center, in an apparent attempt to harm emergency workers caring for the wounded. The couple approached the center after the attack and might have been trying to detonate one of the devices remotely.

Associated Press / May 15, 2016 Former London mayor and leading Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson sparked fury Sunday after he compared the European Union (EU) to Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany. Johnson made his remarks in an article in the Sunday Telegraph in which he warned 'that while bureaucrats in Brussels are using "different methods" from the Nazi dictator, they share the aim of unifying Europe under one authority'. Johnson said that the past 2,000 years of European history had been characterized by repeated attempts to unify Europe under a single government. He says the EU's "disastrous" failures have fuelled tensions between member states and allowed Germany to grow in power, "take over" the Italian economy and "destroy" Greece. "Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically. The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods.” “But fundamentally what is lacking is the eternal problem, which is that there is no underlying loyalty to the idea of Europe." "There is no single authority that anybody respects or understands. That is causing this massive democratic void."

What suspension is under the back of your MH, ST34 or SS34? It appears a bit low. I assume it was originally a tractor.

What is the model and VIN on the truck title ? New rails don't come stamped. The dealer has to stamp them, but some don't. For parts and service, dealers reference the vehicle identification plate on the door, which should be swapped over to any new/used replacement cab. Wire brush and look for the 1QHA number, and FAW model number, stamped on the front of the axle I-beam. Was this truck originally a tractor?

Volkswagen Truck & Bus Brazil (Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus) has announced the largest investment package that the company has ever seen. Volkswagen Truck & Bus’s Brazilian commercial vehicle brand is set to plow EUR 420 million (US$448.7 million) over the next five years into the steady renewal of its product portfolio, modernization of its plant in Resende, and the development of its connectivity services. Andreas Renschler, CEO of Volkswagen Truck & Bus and the member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG responsible for commercial vehicle activities, spoke about the reasons behind the investment, saying: “We believe – despite the current market situation – that Brazil is an important market for trucks and buses. It has always been a key market for the German industry and it will be again. I am confident that the Brazilian economy has bottomed out and will recover again in the next few years. In order to be prepared for this, we are now taking money into our hands to be able to continue to offer excellent products and state-of-the-art production. The entire Latin America region plays a major role in our growth strategy.” Volkswagen Truck & Bus Brazil has been the leader in Brazil’s commercial truck market for 13 consecutive years. At the Resende plant, its employees work together with suppliers in a modular production system sharing tasks. Roberto Cortes, CEO of Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus, considers this a crucial advantage in the tough economic situation at present: “We have been selling Volkswagen-branded trucks and buses for 35 years and our plant in Resende has been around for 20 years. It is only through our innovative production concept which sees us work together under one roof with seven partner firms that we have been able to join forces to take the necessary action to overcome the current crisis and equip ourselves to deal with an upturn that is sure to come.” Renschler took the opportunity to emphasize that: “German companies think long-term. We might not be the first ones to venture into new markets. But wherever we are, we persevere in difficult times too. Brazil in particular is a country with which we enjoy very successful business relations that go back decades and that will continue for a long time yet. That is why we are strengthening our commitment at Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus further.” .

TBD (To be determined)...................https://nikolamotor.com/one#specs The minute I heard Ryder mentioned, I thought small start-up............David Hobbensiefken and his R-100 Paymaster. http://iowa80truckingmuseum.com/exhibits-list/ryder-paymaster-r-100-cummins-vt-903/75/