2027 prebuy alert: ACT Research on looming driver shortage and vanishing build slots
Measures of driver availability are plummeting, and tractor build slots are disappearing. ACT Research’s Ken Vieth joins The Fleet Lead to explain why the 2027 EPA prebuy is already red-lining fleet operations.
Following our Monday report on Ken Vieth’s National Private Truck Council keynote, this episode of The Fleet Lead dives deeper into the specific data points behind the 2027 prebuy and the sudden shift in driver labor markets.
The commercial vehicle market faces vanishing equipment slots as the EPA prebuy emerges. Amid rising driver retention challenges and a shift toward private capacity, the North American trucking market is certainly chaotic.
Ken Vieth, president and senior analyst for ACT Research, talks with FleetOwner about driver retention, equipment availability, and fleets' "planning nightmare."
01:16 — The driver shortage returns
04:56 — Will private fleets continue growing?
08:04 — The EPA prebuy
13:38 — Electric vehicles, competition with China
15:24 — Could autonomous tech help with labor problems?
17:42 — One of the most volatile times for trucking
Editor-in-Chief Josh Fisher has been with FleetOwner since 2017. He covers everything from modern fleet management to operational efficiency, artificial intelligence, autonomous trucking, alternative fuels and powertrains, regulations, and emerging transportation technology. Based in Maryland, he writes the Lane Shift Ahead column about the changing North American transportation landscape.
