Green grow the trucks.. and trucking!
It was still winter by the calendar last week in St. Louis, but on the show floor at the America's Center near the famous Arch, a technological Spring was in full bloom, trucking style.
It was just the latest example of how it is no longer accurate to say "trucking is going green" because it already is green-- and is getting greener nearly as fast as we can report it here and in print!
I mean it's gotten to the point that truck fleet managers aren't shocked (no pun intended) by the idea of an all-electric truck, but are more likely to be surprised that a given OEM doesn't offer one yet.
Indeed, that not every truck maker yet offers such wondertrucks has thrown wide a door for essentially brand-new OEMs and assorted system suppliers to drive right into the heart of the light-duty P&D market and the medium/heavy "stationary" (read bucket trucks etc.) work truck market as well.
And, what's more, these new guys at bat are being taken seriously right from their first swings by fleet operators intent on knocking some green balls out of the park, for one reason or another, right NOW.
Managers of such fleets had more green vehicle choices than ever-- and not just electric, of course, but also hybrid, propane, natural gas etc.-- to explore at The Work Truck Show, staged as always by the National Truck Equipmnet Assn. (NTEA).
The show in general was far bigger than ever to my eye (and feet!), consuming all the floor AND meetings space available at the America's Center downtown, including the adjoining Edward Jones Dome, home field of the St. Louis Rams.
Year by year, truck by truck, The Work Truck Show is becoming a de facto Green Truck Show...
The greening of trucking was not only on display on the massive show floor, it was evident as well in the substantial growth in the Green Truck Summit educational program NTEA has been hosting ahead of The Work Truck Show for several years. This year's edition offered a day and a half of speaker-led presentatiomns, panel discussions and breakout sessions on all things related to running green.
NTEA's Green Truck Summit has helped spawn its new Green Truck Assn.
And not only did NTEA announce it has a new co-sponsor for the event-- CALSTART-- it also declared during the summit that it was launching a Green Truck Assn. Just further proof that the greening of trucking is well under way. And no doubt over time this growth will help trucking itself to grow in size-- and in the nation's estimation of what it means to this country.
