Among the many study groups within the Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) is one on future truck propulsion systems. This group was investigating what these systems might look like by 2025.
I say “was” because the Future Truck Propulsion Systems Study Group was tabled during its meeting held during the recent TMC 2013 Fall Meeting and National Technician Skills Competition (TMCSuperTech).
TMC, North America's premier technical society for truck equipment technology and maintenance professionals, works to improve transport equipment, its maintenance and maintenance management.
TMC Study Groups are ongoing committees that identify industry challenges with respect to equipment and maintenance. If a study group decides that a particular issue or concern merits attention, a TMC Task Force is created to deal with it.
The Future Truck Propulsion Systems Study Group is a part of TMC’s Future Truck Committee. It was created a number of years ago to determine truck users’ expectations of equipment and vehicle maintenance, to bring a unified voice of the equipment user to vehicle manufacturers to influence future truck design and to improve, among other things, reliability, maintainability and serviceability.
The propulsion study group was put on hold for the time being because the matter is to confusing and complex, said Louis Stumpp of Navistar who chairs the group.
He explained that there are at least 13 different types of fuel currently being used in transportation, with no clear indication of what the predominate fuel will be by 2025. Consequently, that makes it “extremely difficult” to predict truck propulsion systems.
Have any thoughts on what 2025’s truck propulsion systems will be?
Contact TMC’s Future Truck Committee. The chair person is Brent Hilton of Maverick Transportation; e-mail:[email protected].
