Unboxing the Undisputed Beast on the roads #Trucks #Trailers

As truck upon truck hurtled along the highways carrying cargo or goods from one location to other, one would have wondered what would have been the history of the this workhorse “ the Truck”. To understand the history of Trucking, it is necessary to look under the hood and delve into the past to actually appreciate the journey and the legacy.

Well you guessed it right, the first modern truck was indeed pioneered and invented in the late 19th century in the seat of innovation then, Germany by Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz in 1895-96. These gentlemen thereafter also went forward and innovated the first motorcycle and the first taxi. The first pickup truck invented by these gentlemen was an internal combustion two cylinder four horsepower engine and a belt drive, with two forward gears and and one reverse powered by gasoline. It is pertinent to know the ancestor of all these innovation was the steam powered wagons invented in 1769 by Nickolas- Joseph Cugnot.

Diesel driven trucks though invented in 1897, became much accepted after the 1930s in Europe and 1970s in the Americas.

It is estimated, the word “truck” might come from a back-formation of “truckle”, meaning “small wheel” or “pulley”, from Middle English trokell, in turn from Latin trochlea.

The essential components of a truck are ‘the engine’, ‘the Frame’, ‘the Drive train’ and ‘the Cabin’. Diesel engines with turbo chargers and coolers have become the engines of choice. Compressed natural gas engines have also made significant inroads in the developed countries especially owing to low cost, near zero emissions and their environmental impact. The latest breakthrough in trucking is the “driverless truck” introduction and testing being done by some trendsetting companies. This could again alter the entire ecosystem in a very significant manner in the days to come. Globally the highest limits on the length of the truck carriage/outback for fixed is 82 Feet and for a road train (with puller formation) is 176 feet and the weight carrying limits could be 62.5 Tons to 172 tons respectively. In India it is 55 feet on fixed basis regulations.

Since trucks are bigger and heavier than most of the vehicles and their drivers generally ply them on the roads for more hours per day, they cause more wear and tear of the paved roads. The life of the paved roads is measured by the number of vehicle axles that pass over them for a defined period. The Load Equivalency factor that is used to determine the damage caused by the pass of a vehicle axle is proportional to the 4th power of weight. So a 10 ton axle truck causes 10,000 times more damage as compared to a 1 ton axle truck. Hence the Trucks are subjected to higher taxes and highway tolls in comparison to say cars.

The top 5 Truck manufacturers in the world are :
1) Daimler AG – German
2) Volvo group – Swedish
3) Dongfeng Motor – Chinese
4) Volkswagon group – German
5) Tata Group – India.

Some of the earliest trucks that were introduced on the Indian Roads were the Dodge Fargo P6 series. These Trucks were the ” Kew ” design Trucks from the Dodge Factory in Kew, Surrey. Hence the name ‘ Kew Dodge ‘.The Kew trucks used Perkins engines in the UK and it was prudent to use the Perkins P6 Diesels here in India due to the hot tropical climate. The Trucks were manufactured by Premier Auto at their Kurla plat around 1947 and were badged ‘Fargo’ ‘Dodge’, and ‘DeSoto’, with Fargo being the brand for trucks sold by Plymouth dealers. Around the same time Hindustan Motors (Birla) another company introduced the Bedford trucks and Ashok Motors began the assembly of Leyland trucks, and with the company eventually concentrating on the business of making trucks, it was renamed as Ashok Leyland. After Tata Motors or erstwhile TELCO and Ashok Leyland commenced CV manufacturing in mid 1950s, customer preference soon shifted towards them and sale of CVs made by PAL and Hindustan Motors (which were initially sold under “Bedford” brand and later as “Hindustan”) dropped significantly and eventually shut down in 1979.

Much later one of the most defining moments was the introduction of the Tata 2213, a 22 tonne GVW multi axle (3 axle) heavy commercial vehicle, still acknowledged as the game changer in the industry. Today various configurations of trucks on the Indian roads range from from the light to heavy categories viz; pick-ups, LCVs, single axle and multi axle variations of trucks across weight carrying configurations, refrigerated trucks, trailers, pullers with hydra axles.

Some of the Indian manufacturers who have significant units in operations in India are Tata, Ashok Leyland, Eicher, MAN, Bharat Benz, AMW, Hino, Volvo, Mahindra and Force motors.
Manufacturers are also gearing up on new technologies like telematics and electric vehicles. The new paradigm that’s also seeping in steadily, organizing, building efficiencies is the advent of technology platform like valueshipr, which offers Shippers an array of Trucks and transportation choices. 60% of India’s transportation requirements are met by Road movement. India has close to 1.6 Cr transporters and about 45mn trucks plying and vying for 1325+ btkm volume of load in India.

So the next time we see this massive beast swooping down on the roads and disappearing from sight, take a moment to wallow on this small snippet of history.

For your goods and Cargo transportation requirements, book truck online by downloading the VALUESHIPR APP or visit www.valueshipr .com / call 8655012255.