At this year’s ‘Global Technology Day’ – held at its test track on 27 June in Jeversen, to the north of Hanover – ZF Group’s CEO, Dr Holger Klein, observed that, while sales of fully electric cars are slowing down, hybrids are seeing “a renaissance”. Fittingly, ZF used the event to promote one of its latest innovations, a new hybrid drive system. During the rest of the day, however, we were taken onto the track to see how its advanced safety technologies from the passenger car segment are now being transferred to trucks.

The deal is subject to approval: if permitted by the antitrust authorities, Krone will make use of Schwarzmüller’s sales and manufacturing footprint to extend its market presence in Europe and expand its distribution capacity.

This expansion will boost its annual capacity of light truck and passenger tyres to 18 million annually by 2027. This will help the company service growing demand in the Asia Pacific market.

Having purchased the full “e-package solution,” Daimler installed 41 charging stations (output of 360 kW) with a total number of 122 charging points at the depot. The result, up to four buses per charging station can be charged overnight at 90 kW. The supply agreement also includes maintenance and charging management software.

As part of the agreement signed between the two companies, Atlantic Autocars will take an initial order of five ‘Quantron Qargo BEV’ light-duty trucks.

The 2,000m2 warehouse in Northern Italy in Mantova will begin operations in Q4 2024. The aim is to shorten the delivery time of Krone spare parts in Italy.

Between 12-13 June, Schmitz Cargobull AG hosted members of the press at its trailer factory in Vreden, located just on the border with the Netherlands. The ostensible reason for our visit was to receive a sneak preview of the company’s newest transport refrigeration product, which will be unveiled at the next IAA Transportation in Hanover: in fact, we learned much more about the company’s plans to expand and modernise its trailer factory, where it produces the ‘S.KO’ refrigerated models and the ‘S.BO’ dry freight range.

Daimler Truck is offering its “depot charging package” which includes hardware sales, installation and maintenance. This service is now available to customers in Germany and will be rolled out to other parts of Europe in the next few years.

FEV’s “CycleBat” allows OEMs to predict the economic, ecological and recycling costs related to its battery development. The award was presented by the ATZ/MTZ Group and management consultants Arthur D. Little.

This project will study the feasibility of commercialising the use of international liquefied green hydrogen supply chains, including LH2-terminals, large- and medium-sized overseas shipping and large-scale liquid hydrogen storage.

Mitsubishi Fuso in April launched the training programme targeted at young aftermarket mechanics.

Representatives from MAN told us that the company is taking orders with the truck now in series production at the Munich plant. Roger Turnbull, Head of EV Truck Sales at MAN UK was on hand to provide potential customers advice on choosing the correct vehicle configuration for their specific business needs.