Trucking news and briefs for Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024:
Nikola opens new hydrogen refueling station in SoCal
Nikola's newest hydrogen refueling station is now open in Santa Fe Springs, California.Nikola
Nikola Corporation via its HYLA brand opened a new hydrogen refueling station in Southern California off of I-5 in an effort to support volume ramp-up for its Class 8 hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks.
Located at 13443 Freeway Dr. in Santa Fe Springs, California, the new HYLA modular refueling station is located at Tom's Truck Center, an important part of the Nikola sales and service dealer network. It began operations Monday, Aug. 12, and supports Nikola’s goal of 14 refueling solutions by year-end, reflecting a mix of HYLA and partner stations available for its customers.
Nikola continues to launch stations and deploy assets based on anticipated demand, the company said, with the main objective of staying ahead of hydrogen fuel cell electric truck deployment to ensure fueling solutions are ready and available for end fleets.
“Nikola is committed to leading the hydrogen revolution by collaborating with key industry partners to strengthen and expand our hydrogen supply chain,” said President of Energy, Ole Hoefelmann. “Our efforts to grow the HYLA refueling infrastructure underscore our dedication to meeting the rising demand for hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks and driving the transition to zero-emission transportation.”
The HYLA refueling network is structured to offer a diverse portfolio of solutions for Nikola’s hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles and additional Class 8 customers, including modular and permanent HYLA stations, “behind-the-fence” options, and partnerships such as with FirstElement Fuel in Oakland.
With the addition of the Santa Fe Springs station, Nikola is completing a crucial hydrogen fueling triangle in Southern California. This strategic location, together with its Ontario and Long Beach stations, now forms a network that spans multiple counties, serving a population of more than 12 million people.
[Related: Nikola's CEO and software chief provide exclusive walkthrough of improved BEV 2.0]
Daimler recalls more trucks over tie rod defect
Daimler Trucks North America is recalling more than 3,400 trucks with potentially defective front axle tie rods, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration documents. The company previously recalled approximately 540 trucks for the same issue in one recall, and another 60 trucks for a separate tie rod issue.
The new recall affects approximately 3,421 model year 2025 Freightliner 108SD, 114SD, Business Class M2, Cascadia and Western Star 47X vehicles. The tie rod in the front axle may contain ball studs that have been incorrectly heat-treated, which can cause them to break, and result in tie rod failure. Tie rod failure can cause a loss of vehicle steering control and increase the risk of a crash.
DTNA said the recall affects trucks equipped with specific Meritor front axles built in DTNA’s Saltillo and Santiago plants between April 22 and June 26.
Dealers will replace the tie rod assembly, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed Sept. 29. Owners can contact DTNA customer service at 800-745-8000 with recall number F1007. NHTSA’s recall number is 24V-571.
[Related: 16 Peterbilt, Kenworth models caught in recall]
FMCSA exploring updating, eliminating guidance documents
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced in a Federal Register notice to be published Tuesday that it will review its existing guidance documents to evaluate their continued necessity and whether they should be updated or eliminated.
As part of its review, the agency is asking the public to help identify and provide input on guidance documents that are good candidates to be updated or removed.
FMCSA is required by the 2015 FAST Act to review its guidance documents every five years to determine whether the documents are “consistent and clear, uniformly and consistently enforced, and still necessary.” A similar review was conducted in early 2020, which resulted in the effective reissuance of all of the guidance in FMCSA’s guidance portal on March 3, 2020.
FMCSA’s current guidance can be viewed online here. The public is encouraged to identify guidance documents that are inconsistent or unclear; may not be conducive to uniform or consistent enforcement; or are no longer necessary. (FMCSA houses more than a thousand such documents at the online portal, relating to all manner of regulatory issues and interpretations.)
Comments can be filed beginning Tuesday, Aug. 13, at www.regulations.gov by searching Docket No. FMCSA-2024-0208. The comment period will remain open for 30 days.
The agency asks commenters to provide the following information:
- A specific reference to the guidance document and associated statutes or regulations that the comment discusses, including the title or subject, date of issuance, guidance docket number if available, web address of guidance location, or other source of the guidance document. If available, the reference should include citations to the associated statutes (e.g., FAST Act) or regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations.
- A description of the problem with the specific guidance document explaining why the document should be revised or removed. Comments that reflect experience with the guidance or a related statutory or regulatory requirement and provide data describing that experience are more helpful than comments that are not tied to direct experience.
- A description of alternatives that are better than the specific guidance document.
- Examples of entities that are, have been, or will be negatively affected by the specific guidance document and examples of entities that will benefit if the guidance is removed or revised.
[Related: Do dispatch services need broker authority? FMCSA issues final guidance]
Rail giant to issue lockout notice to Teamsters if agreement not met
The Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) rail giant formed by the merger of the Canada Pacific (CP) and Kansas City Southern (KCS) railroads said it will lock out Teamster employees if union leadership and the company are unable to come to a negotiated settlement or agree to binding interest arbitration by Aug. 22.
The lockout notice will be issued to the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) Train and Engine division, and the TCRC Rail Traffic Controller division.
CPKC said it “is committed to continuing good faith negotiation throughout.”
The decision to issue a lockout notice comes after the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) on Friday, Aug. 9, issued its decision determining that no services need to be maintained during a railway strike or lockout in order to protect Canadian public health and safety. The CIRB also ordered a 13-day extension of the cooling off period which ends on Aug. 22. Following the expiration of the cooling off period, a legal strike or lockout involving the two Teamsters divisions could occur.
“All stakeholders want an end to this needless uncertainty as rapidly as possible so that we can continue serving the North American economy,” CPKC said. “Stability could be restored today if the TCRC would accept CPKC’s offer to resolve the current labour dispute through binding interest arbitration.”
The company added that it’s “acting to protect Canada’s supply chains, and all those who depend on them, from the more widespread disruption that would be created should a work stoppage occur during the fall peak shipping period. Delaying resolution to this dispute only makes things worse, causing more disruption and damage to Canada’s international reputation as a reliable trading partner.”
CPKC said as it prepares for a possible shutdown, it will issue an embargo for all toxic by inhalation (TIH) dangerous goods traffic to allow for it to safely exit the rail network before a work stoppage.
[Related: 'Get ready to compete': New rail behemoth sets sights on trucking]
