North American Class 8 orders in August nearly hit 37,000, marking a five-month high with demand showing no sign of a letup, and also no letup from issues causing problems in filling them, ACT Research reported.

LONG BEACH, Calif. — An electric last-mile surge is coming. Battery-electric vans and medium-duty trucks will claim a predominant role in goods landing at the front door. The charging infrastructure those vehicles will require must expand, too.

LONG BEACH, Calif. — The largest commercial deployment of battery-electric trucks in North America is ramping up in Southern California for an eight-year run, state officials announced Aug. 31 during the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo here.

The technology for cooling transported goods is moving further into electrification and other means to spur deployments of zero-emission transport refrigeration units, manufacturers said.

July sales of used Class 8 vehicles, along with the average price for a heavy-duty truck, rose year-over-year again.

Traton SE, whose purchase of Navistar International Corp. closed in July, announced a new CEO and chief financial officer for the American truck maker as it added executives who played key roles in the merger.

The national average price for a gallon of diesel fell 3.2 cents to $3.324 in the biggest price drop in more than 15 months, according to Energy Information Administration data released Aug. 23.

Los Angeles-based Xos Inc., which is developing fully electric Classes 5-8 commercial vehicles for last-mile service, announced the completion of its business combination with NextGen Acquisition Corp. The combined company will have the name Xos Inc. and its shares began trading Aug. 20 on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol XOS.

Class 8 retail sales in July neared 17,000 and improved 16.3% compared with a year earlier, but landed at the year’s second-lowest level, WardsAuto .com reported.

U.S. trailer orders in July slid some more, barely clearing 8,000 units and setting a new low point of this cycle, FTR reported.