Why do so many Americans hate European trucks?

Now show a picture of at DAF getting that CAT out of the hole !

 

Have you seen how many trucks are sitting idle at mega carrier? I passed JB Hunt's Chicago terminal, and there were close to 1,000 trucks there! It is the same with all megas. And megas are not doing JIT.

 

Freightliner started those steps in 1998 . Funny some EU guys were all about full mileage , then we point out our true numbers. I even show the truck computer showing 12.8 mpg. Yes a very good day. Then NA trucks are dirty, gliders are 6% of the market. EU got the same level emissions in 2014 we had in 2010, 2013 we got a new level , 2017 we get another. We could call yours dirty? Inspector in NJ amitted after testing me last , the exhaust was cleaner then the air he was breathing . Test showed all 0s . Air coming out the engine is coming out cleaner then it went in!

 

I'm in Europe remember? So I don't pass by Chicago that often . It was said that modern trucks break down a lot, and that this doesn't matter for big companies because they have lots of spare trucks standing around.

If that is the case, then those companies are wasting a lot of money, because a truck costs money, even if it is standing idle at the yard.

My local supermarket gets supplied every day at about 5 pm. It gets unloaded, and teenage schoolkids fill the shop until about 9 pm. when the shop closes. If that truck breaks down, and and a replacing tractor delivers the trailer three hours late (if you're lucky) that supermarket has a big problem. If that happens a lot, and all over the country, that big supermarket company will be very unhappy, they can't afford losses like that.

The biggest supermarket chain in my country doesn't own its own truck, it hires a trucking company for their JIT supply of the supermarkets.

 

No wonder, it seems that NA cabovers basically have the same frame as a conventional truck, so the front axle is at the very front of the frame. An EU tractor has the front axle further to the rear. So the way you enter both trucks is very different.

Two pictures of the same cab on a NA and a EU frame show the difference.The NA driver has to open the door, climb up, and then he has to move to the front of the truck to get in. The EU driver opens the door, and climbs into the cab directly. Seems to me that is a better and safer way.

And by the way, the cab is also mounted higher on the NA tractor.

 

Ill look for a picture but David does not like unauthorized pictures put in the public domain.
If you can get David to agree Ill post a picture.

 

There are US cabovers with the same like in Europe steps.

As example - International Cabovers, like 9800i

Before this crisis in Ukraine there was International assembly shop in Odessa and one in st. Peter in Russia.

They offered EU specified international trucks, including workstar series.

 

Ok, but the ones you showed and this Kenworth are of the other type. And unless I'm mistaken that was the type you were complaining about, if I may put it like that. And I agree, this is not the best way to build a cabover.

 

I have never seen a big carrier with a 100+ trucks that didn't have at least a half dozen idle tractors parked on the yard. Yes it costs money to have idle trucks but for fleets it is also a fact of life. There will always be a few empty trucks sitting around. I doubt that's any different in Europe.