I’ve often thought said why can’t they put solar panels on top of trailers to produce some electric make trucks a hybrid instead of full electric
and the asbestos industry.
and the lead industry.
I could easily list a thousand more like pesticides, food additives, etc etc etc.
Simply fact, if someone can make money pushing something, they’ll sit on the evidence it does harm for as long as possible while raking in the cash.
The ancient Roman’s knew asbestos was harmful. And we only banned in a few decades ago.
Over the next few decades gradually evidence will leak into the common arena showing how harmful many medicines actually are, once the patents are long expired and the billions are made.
but aren’t we really re-inventing the wheel. By the time you stick catenary along a hundred miles of motorway, you might as well revitalise the railway network and change from this modern narrow market approach of long distance block trains, back to intermediate haul, multi modal flexible destination system we actually invested heavily in after world war 2, only to then cancel it with Herr Beeching’s Reshaping the Railways report.
In modern day railway operation the main reason that shorter than 150 mile trips aren’t economic, is simply because of the false division of operator, from rolling stock provider, from railway network. Each now separate business insists on making it’s own activity into a profit making experience, rather than looking at the whole door to door experience.
Which is why we can then undercut the railways even though we only take at most one 45 foot container at once, at a maximum of 56mph, but because we see the job through from door to door, and we don’t have ASLEF and the NUR backing our wage claim for £35 an hour basic.
It’s ironic that we more or less invented the railways here, but almost every other european country since WW2 has now upgraded their system far more than we have. But then, we are the more most dense country as these forums show 
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That’s very interesting, thanks for taking the time to write it.
The worst thing would be the night time closures that come with building that s hit 
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The idea of platooning has also gone very quiet, that’s one tractor unit at the front with or without a driver to be pulling several trailers behind it.
Travel on any motorway on any day and you’ll see that the idea is alive, well and flourishing 
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That pantograph technology has been surpassed with new battery technology & cheaper battery prices. they also had their share of problems too.
Electric trucker got onboard one to see how they fair, the trip out in one starts at 16:28.
The idea of charging batteries whilst driving along main routes is excellent.
Using batteries to go to and from depots but using pantographs whilst on main routes to provide drive and recharge batteries (zero down time) is great.
I haven’t seen the video yet, so of course it is only the principle I am commenting on, not the real world of today.
EDIT
And smaller batteries hence cheaper and lighter, needed if they are only needed for the off main route stretches.
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Tailgating, see that every day.
Cheers Lanc.
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Meanwhile we’ve got rail running on red diesel because it’s cheaper than using the electric lines.
Why would anyone working in road transport want to further the interests of rail when the two modes are in competition for the same tonne miles of freight movement.
I would say it is more than that.
Unless both ends have their own rail station the multiple handling of the goods makes the time lost is also a factor.
Transfer from collecting vehicle to train, load up train with multiple unit loads, move train, offload onto another road vehicle to deliver.
We used to deliver from Hampshire to Glasgow area.
Load a flatrack and drop at the railhead. Load a flat trailer and head north. Tip trailer Glasgow and go to railhead to collect flatrack for tipping. Sometimes we would be there before the train!
For long distance it makes some sense. For Tesco I can see the benefits, but for anyone smaller, not so much in the UK.
I know a few companies that are running on red diesel, kerosene and paraffin to fuel their lorries.
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Why would you care? You’re not a truck driver and haven’t been so for thirty years.
I know some that used to many years ago, but I wonder is it common today?
I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times my tank was dipped to check for fuel type.
Are checks carried out now? Or is there meant ot be some sort of paper trail whereby companies running trucks need to show purchases of road fuel?
I thought buying “red” was pretty difficult these days? Never tried myself.
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Same here, In all the years I was driving HGVs only once was I stopped by PC Plod & chaps in brown coats & had my tank dipped on the A38 going into Derby in the early 1980s.
I follow a few canal & boating channels on YT & see them fill up with red diesel with them paying a 60/40 split for the tax man.
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Heating oil in France was or still is red diesel to run the motor on refrigerated trailers, it was available all over France with an Automatic Station account or AS24.
If caught in the UK running on red, kerosene or paraffin, the officers from the HMRC road fuel testing unit have the authority and power to seize the lorry, the registration document of the vehicle is given to them, the vehicle is then sold at auction.