It is less than a year since German automotive components giant Schaeffler merged with Vitesco Technologies Group to form a single “motion technology company”. Retaining the Schaeffler name, the new company is now in the process of combining the two product lines of Schaeffler and Vitesco together under a single brand. At the company’s stand at the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo – held between 28 April and 1 May in Anaheim, California – the two companies’ portfolios were nearly indistinguishable. It marked the first time that the newly-merged company presented itself as a supplier of comprehensive system solutions to the North American commercial vehicle market.

The ATLAS-L4 truck completed an autonomous journey along a 7 km stretch of the A81 autobahn near Stuttgart, operating without driver intervention. This real-world demonstration follows two years of intensive development and testing by a consortium of 11 partners, including truck manufacturer MAN.

This year’s edition of the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo featured a more balanced range of driveline technologies, from battery and fuel cell electric at one end of the scale to propane, natural gas, and hydrogen combustion at the other. However, decarbonising the internal combustion engine is not as simple as replacing diesel with a different fuel; the different combustion characteristics of natural gas and hydrogen require alterations be made to the engine so that it works optimally with the new fuel type. One company which has thought long and hard about how to make these necessary tweaks is Eaton Corp. Scott Adams, who is senior vice president of technology and global products for Eaton’s Mobility Group, guided Truck & Bus Builder through the company’s portfolio, showing cutting-edge prototypes as well as its established range of power management technologies.

Following on from an agreement signed last year to develop a self-driving tractor, Kalmar and Forterra are now in the second round of tests of their jointly developed solution.

What a difference a year can make! A year ago, Truck & Bus Builder attended the “E-Bus Test” in the German city of Bonn, organised yearly by the German magazine Omnibus Spiegel. It is a fantastic opportunity for European journalists to ride on and test drive the latest electric buses, some of which have yet to launch in the market. In this regard, the 2025 edition of the e-bus test was no different. However, the outlook for the electric bus market in Europe is less certain now than it was even just twelve months ago. A representative of Stadtwerke Bonn, the operator of Bonn’s urban transport system which hosted the e-bus test at its depot, told attendees at the event that it is no longer looking for incentives to purchase electric buses from the European Union. Those dried up a while ago, and the city of Dortmund – to give just one example – has gone back to purchasing diesel buses. There is not a great deal of hope either that the new government in Germany will announce further support for electric buses and charging infrastructure.

The prototype, dubbed ‘Alumotor’, is a synchronous reluctance motor which does not require rare earth metals or cobalt in order to work.

Made for incorporation in an air conditioning system in a passenger car or commercial vehicle, the radial fan is 15% more efficient and 60% quieter than a conventional design, according to Mahle.

These tests are designed to ensure the vehicle meets the durability standards of conventional diesel trucks, aiming for 1.2 million kilometres of operation over ten years.

At the event, the company announced that it plans to commence commercial availability of the propane-powered stripped chassis in the second quarter of 2026.

An ‘eTGX’ tractor unit will be put on the road, pulling DPD semi-trailers on a route from the firm’s delivery hub in Hinckley in central England.

This will aid GreenPower’s expansion into the State of New Mexico and across the U.S. electric school bus market.

In addition to a snow plough at the front of the truck, a second plough is attached to the side of the Pacton salt spreader trailer, measuring 5.5 metres in length.