A group of Volvo enthusiasts, the Australian Volvo Truck Heritage Group, have got together to preserve the history of the Swedish brand, Volvo, in Australia. The group of Volvo nuts have got together with some Volvo Group Australia employees to create, what they are calling, ‘a web based interest group’. The aim is to preserve and share the colourful and interesting history of the Volvo brand and its manufacture here in Australia.

Under construction, at the moment, but already a substantial source of interesting information, is the group’s website at http://www.hunteroldtrucks.com/HunterAVTHG.shtml. Filled with pdfs of specifications and setting out the history of Volvo here in Australia, the site looks like a goldmine for the many truck history enthusiasts around Australia. The information posted is just a small sample of the historical material the Australian Volvo Truck Heritage Group have amassed, but they still want more and are looking for anything to make their archive as a full a record as possible. Contact them here at avthg@hunteroldtrucks.com

These are lofty ideals but how many of those 25,000 trucks built in the Gothenburg plant each year will get recycled at the end of the day. Unfortunately, the proportion is likely to be pretty low. Most of the trucks will not be sold into environmentally responsible places like Scandinavia and Germany, but all around the world where the environment is not yet the major priority, survival is.

Don’t despair though, because there is an upside. Recycling is very good PR. It provides Volvo with the opportunity to have institutions like National Geographic reinforce the brand’s strong association with all things safe and responsible. Marketing Gold!

Safety systems have a great deal of functionality and, if properly used, will definitely deliver a better safety outcome. What we don’t know is how this kind of equipment plays out in the real world with drivers in real life dangerous situations. This is where this project by Volvo is such a good idea. They have wired a number of trucks with a sophisticated array of monitoring gear to assess exactly what happens in the lead up to an accident, as shown in this video.

Unfortunately, the exercise will probably demonstrate the relative ineffectiveness of very expensive systems if the driver does not do the right thing. Good drivers will avoid accidents with or without thousands of dollars worth of electronic back-up. The other of side of the coin is the dangerous driver, and there plenty of them out there. No amount of safety control systems will stop a reckless driver who has little understanding of their vehicle and bad judgement of traffic conditions around them. They will still be able to maim or kill themselves or those on the highway in their vicinity.

I will be surprised if Volvo publish any results unless the research categorically proves truck buyers need to spend countless dollars extra on electronic safety equipment. The best outcome would probably be if the results show truck makers how to improve the interface between the monitoring equipment and the driver to better help the good drivers do their job well and may save the lives of some of the worse drivers.

Surely this is not the way to save the world. If the future environmental situation is as serious as we are told, shouldn’t we all be working together to make it work? Instead we have a series of competing fuel and equipment suppliers engaged in a PR war to secure government funding and a foothold in some of the freight fleets of the world.

The latest cab off the rank is bio DME, this week Volvo are publicising its green virtue and energy efficiency. These facts cannot be denied it could well be a viable alternative for the future and it does tick a lot of the boxes on the list of requirements for the transport industry. It does burn extremely cleanly and it does not need large or heavy storage tanks on board the truck. The storage tanks are expensive and there may be some questions about the viability of DME production but it does seem to have legs.

However, s do a number of other, equally effective, alternatives. LNG seems to have similar advantages to DME, it’s not so carbon efficient but a lot easier to access. Electric power and hybrid power are also strong contenders capable of extremely green results.

The list goes on, and on. The most valuable scenario for the actual people doing the work on the roads hauling the freight is not whether one technology is better than the other but more about being able to handle a mix of technologies choosing whatever suits each particular application. This is the real alternative, it’s not about one alternative fuel taking over from diesel it’s about a suite of alternatives being used together cooperatively and not fighting it out for percentage points in of market share

Comparing images released of the Bulldog statue and a Mack Granite outside the swish new HQ building and photos taken outside the traditional HQ in Allentown say a lot about what has happened to the Mack brand and company in the last ten years.

The new HQ looks modern, sleek, understated and cool, it shows the Scandinavian influence of Volvo. The old building was impressive but looks brash, industrial and (unfortunately) dated. This slightly dated look and feel is one of Mack’s endearing qualities and does engender loyalty. However, this is the 21st century and things have to move on and move on quick. The new look Mack has embraced the latest in new technology and has produced a more efficient and stylish truck.

However, I can’t help feeling nostalgic for the old Mack, somehow it felt comfortable, less clinical and a bit of fun.

Volvo are hoping technology developed by their Volvo Aero aircraft componenets division can help them recuce the cab weight on their trucks by 20%. This is a big call made by  Carl Fredrik Hartung, Project Manager at Volvo Technology in the following video. Reduce weight and you improve fuel efficiency and therefore carbon emissions. Reduce weight too much and you run the risk of compromising safety.

[video

]

“We are creating the super-light vehicle in a computer program that simulates how hundreds of thousands of small construction alterations can reduce the vehicle’s total weight without affecting other key characteristics in the vehicle, such as crashworthiness or the ability to bear loads,” says Hartung

“It is important to conduct thorough computer simulations and standardize the manufacturing process so that it will be profitable to manufacture lighter vehicles for commercial use. We have come a long way but a great deal of work remains before the first super-light vehicles hit the road”

This ad from 1979 when the Volvo Globetrotter first came out sounds like a blaxploitation movie from the seventies. The backing music recalls the score to the movie Shaft, written by Isaac Hayes and is completely incongruous in an ad for a Swedish truck. But hey, it was the seventies, bad taste was all the go!

The cab interior looks so dated and the features look pretty ordinary looking back 30 years. However, it’s important to remember this truck was breaking new ground. Nobody in Europe had offered this kind of space, comfort and room before and it wasn’t long before every truck manufacturer had jumped onto the band wagon.

[video

]

I can remember the first time I saw one of these on the road and a proud new owner invited me into his cab to look around. I just couldn’t believe the amount of room and the luxury fitments (I was driving an ageing Leyland at the time). How times have changed and, luckily, music like this is just a dim and distant memory.

A Norwegian truck operator delivering oil field equipment is the first to take delivery of the new 700 hp FH model from Volvo. The truck gives Volvo major bragging rigths and this video commentary includes the words, ‘the world’s most powerful truck’ as many times as it can in two minutes.

[video

nolink]

Do we really need 700 hp? No, but it looks great on the door and winds up your mates on the road. Do we need more torque? Yes, but is there a gearbox capable of coping with 3500 Nm?

Truck operator Ray Cauchi and CMV Truck Sales based in Laverton North in Victoria worked with Volvo Trucks and Gorski Trailers to put together a combination capable of making it through the rigourous and expensive process of getting a vehicle passed as PBS compliant.

By lengthening the combination to 19.6 metres it was possible to meet the bridge formula requirements with the set back front axle in the Volvo’s design. The year-long approval process and engineering costs were funded by CMV in conjunction with Volvo and Gorski. The resulting payload advantage is 1.8 tonnes for general access and 5.5 tonnes on B-double (Level 2) routes.

This is the kind of thing the pioneers of PBS were hoping for, all those years ago. It has been a long hard struggle to get the State governments and local authorities to understand the idea of PBS and make practical changes to make it happen.

These new long tipper and dogs should not be subject to the ‘Nimby’ syndrome as they will not be noticeably longer to any but the experienced eye. They have proven their swept path capability on corners is better than a semi, so they will perform better than trucks already on the road.

As the evaluation work has already been done by ARRB, this means it is possible for any truck operator to build to the same specification and get approval for the same weight allowance anywhere in Australia. Prepare to see a preponderance of ‘long dogs’ appearing on our roads, as soon as the construction sector starts to pick up.