Technology Briefs — April 17 - April 23
This briefing can be e-mailed to you every week.
Just click here to sign up.
• Mack Welcomes SCR Guidelines
• NYC’s Mayor Offers Plan for Truck Fees
• TMW Reports Record EDI Usage
Mack Welcomes SCR Guidelines
Mack Trucks Inc. Monday characterized the recently issued Environmental Protection Agency guidance on selective catalytic reduction technology as a “key step in the ongoing effort to dramatically reduce diesel engine emissions.”
“This document is a critical guideline for the many stakeholders dedicated to bringing this important emissions control technology to the United States,” said Mack Chief Executive Officer Paul Vikner.
Mack said it has been successfully running SCR systems on prototype trucks since 2000, logging more than 2 million miles on 10 customer vehicles. Mack’s parent company, the Volvo Group, has logged more than 23 million miles of SCR in European road tests.
EPA said late last month that diesel engine manufacturers who want to use SCR to meet 2010 emission rules must supply the urea the technology requires. (Click here for previous coverage.) Transport Topics
NYC’s Mayor Offers Plan for Truck Fees
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to charge motorists extra for driving in Manhattan, including a proposed $21 fee on trucks that drive in rush-hour traffic, news services reported Sunday.
The mayor made called for a two-tiered fee system of charging $8 for passenger cars and $21 for trucks between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. below 86th Street on weekdays, except for the highways on either side of Manhattan, the New York Post reported.
The idea was one of 16 transit initiatives the mayor suggested, including improved bus service, more ferries, a new transit-funding authority called SMART and setting more stoplight cameras, the newspaper reported.
The mayor unveiled his plan Sunday in marking the annual Earth Day and set a goal of reducing the city’s carbon emissions by 30% over the next two decades, the Associated Press reported. Transport Topics
TMW Reports Record EDI Usage
TMW Systems said Thursday that March usage of electronic data interchange by its customers rose by a record 23% over the same period last year.
“March was a great month for EDI at our company,” said David Wangler, TMW’s chief executive officer. “We processed just over a record 1 billion characters.”
“Carriers are finding that EDI is becoming a requirement to do business with even small and medium-sized shippers,” he said in a statement.
EDI involves a set of standards for structuring information — such as orders, confirmations, and invoices — to be electronically exchanged between and within businesses. It can save companies time and money by replacing information flows that require a great deal of human interaction and materials. Transport Topics
