The demonstrator, located at Michelin’s plant in the commune of Bassens, is tooled to produce butadiene, an organic compound of hydrogen and carbon, from ethanol derived from biomass.

Volvo NA exceeded its original freight efficiency improvement target (measured in ton miles per gallon) of 120% with a 4x2 Class 8 tractor-trailer featuring reductions in drag and weight.

The prototype truck is a 560-horsepower plug-in hybrid which pulls an 18-metre trailer installed with solar panels.

The ‘RA-01’, which was debuted at the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo between 1-4 May 2023, is a 53-foot semi-trailer installed with an electric axle and energy storage system.

New energy commercial vehicles (NECVs), comprising mainly hydrogen, electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, increased by 32% to 447,000 units.

The CV market in China continued to recover in June 2023, with sales rebounding by more than 26% from weak year-earlier sales, according to wholesale data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). As we report this news, August 9, saw many leading newspapers around the world announce that the Chinese economy, the second largest in the world, had dipped into deflation, as the economy slowed.

Overall, in the first quarter 2023, the CV market in China fell by 3%.

Sales of new commercial vehicle in China rebounded by over 29% to 324,000 units in February 2023 from 250,000 units in the same month of last year, reports CAAM.

Daniela Lorenzer was appointed to the role of Chief Financial Officer in October 2023 and Maik Spindler was appointed Chief Sales Officer in January 2024.

The decline in demand for coaches and the higher cost of raw materials had a “major impact” on the company’s finances, which are only just beginning to recover.

Gary Hunt has been appointed as Fruehauf’s new Business Development Manager, tasked with looking after existing customers and generating new clientele in the Midlands and the North of England. Working alongside the National Technical Sales Manager, Karl Spooner, the company is looking to significantly boost UK trailer sales this year.

Dr Schweitzer has held the role since 1 September 2021.