Saturday, September 24, 2022, IAA Part 2. Traditionally, the fair’s Saturday is our family day for the IAA. However, my wife had to work yesterday afternoon, so I went to the IAA with only my daughter and a very good friend from Hamm.
My son didn’t want to come along, for some reason or other.
Before writing this report, I read in the 5th free Eurotransport IAA issue that the driver was supposed to be the focus, along with a fully enclosed cab. Well, I call a “fully enclosed cab” something else; compared to previous fairs, there wasn’t much going on. However, as at previous fairs, it was well-attended in the outdoor areas of crane manufacturers Hiab Loglift and Palfinger Epsilon.
The Driver in Focus
Dieter, my friend, is having fun. That’s how it should be.
Contrary to what Eurotransport often writes, I cannot say that the driver was in focus. As I already wrote in the previous article, this year’s IAA is very electro-intensive.
Well, when the new Actros L was presented, it was mentioned several times that drivers had been asked how they would like the vehicle. If one then assumes that “the driver is in focus” as a general rule, then yes, that might be true.
However, I received a statement from an employee of one of Europe’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturers stating that our government is urging manufacturers to bring more electric vehicles to market.
The problem, which I see not only myself, especially in long-haul transport, is that electromobility becomes an issue. We already have difficulties finding a suitable parking spot on time; then one should also find a place where I can charge the truck overnight? Well, Mercedes says the truck is fully charged within 2 hours. Our breaks, when I need to charge in between, last 45 minutes. Unfortunately, I could not find out how long this vehicle takes here.
It’s All Just Stolen 🙂
In my previous article, I did not speak well of a Chinese construction machinery manufacturer . Among other things, precisely because the exhibited vehicles were not shining and the windows were not cleaned.
Now one might have thought that by Saturday something would have changed. No, probably not. Cleaning seems to be more of a job for a week. But not only that. Anyone who paid attention at IAA 2016 and 2018 would have seen Asians wandering around the stands of renowned European manufacturers. Regardless of how tight the spaces were, someone with a camera always managed to get out somewhere.
The result could be seen at this year’s IAA. The driver’s cab already strongly resembles the Actros:
But not only the interior, but also the exterior strongly resembles vehicle brands “native” to our region. For example, on the red truck, the lower apron was a Volvo copy, and the cab mounting reminded very much of the first-generation Renault Magnum.
Facebook Acquaintances, Kravag Truck Parking
A meeting with Jörg Schwerdtfeger, better known as the operator of the Facebook page “I am a professional driver, I deserve respect?” (Jörg, the title is too long 😀 ), had actually been planned for longer, but somehow the timing never worked out. Okay, then one just has to wait until the fair until it works out 🙂
The coffee also worked out, even though we treated the team from Kravag Truck Parking with a few drinks along the way.
But Kravag? They are an insurance company, right? What do they have to do with truck parking?
I must admit that I was far from enthusiastic about the initial concept. Because the truck parking concept by Kravag was based on the idea that only a small elite circle would benefit from parking spaces provided by logistics companies, i.e., parking at the yard of any participating logistics company. The prerequisite was that one had to be a member of Kravag. I have often pointed this out on the Facebook page of Kravag Truck Parking, um…
Not only here did I make it clear that I am an opponent of the “parking system.” And in that sense, the concept by Kravag was nothing else. The “parking system” is pure extortion for me, as no new parking spaces are created here. This is different with Kravag’s concept, but in its original form it was only for an “elite” circle of drivers.
As I learned yesterday, the concept has now been made open to everyone. It is no longer available only to drivers of companies that are members of Kravag; other companies can also participate in this concept. More details can be found on the website of Kravag Truck Parking.
Today is the Last Day
Today is the last day at the IAA, and I am writing this article. I will not be there; two days and a total of over 800 km by car are enough. Today we are going to Ennigerloh for the Mettendchen market; we are heading there. With my best friend, we’ll walk through the market and quickly grab some sausages.
However, as I already wrote above, I see no point in switching to electric drive for us in the commercial vehicle sector. Yes, okay, distribution traffic might be fine with it. But long-haul transport? No. We hardly have any parking spaces anyway; then finding ones with charging piles and especially ones that can handle 1 gigawatt? These charging piles do not even exist yet!
Because, as I was told at Mercedes, while the 500 km with 40 tons is topography-independent feasible, since the truck produces around 400 kW of electricity during downhill drives and thus also recharges the battery, the charging time of 2 hours is only possible if there is a charging station with 1 GW power, and such stations do not exist yet.
Hydrogen-powered vehicles were indeed in all manufacturers’ programs, but what was missing for me were fuel cells and e-fuels. Apart from a few exceptions, one saw nothing of these.
