A truck (North American, Irish and Australian English) or lorry (British and Commonwealth English) is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile. Commercial trucks can be very large and powerful, and may be configured to mount specialized equipment, such as in the case of fire trucks and concrete mixers and suction excavators. Modern trucks are powered by either gasoline or diesel engines, with diesel dominant in commercial applications.
Lorry has a more uncertain origin, but probably has its roots in the railroad industry, where the word is known to have been used in 1838 to refer to a type of truck (a freight car as in British usage, not a bogie as in the American), specifically a large, flat wagon. It probably derives from the verb lurry (to pull, tug) of uncertain origin. With the meaning of self-propelled vehicle for carrying goods it has been in usage since 1911.
In the United Kingdom, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Ireland and Hong Kong lorry is used instead of truck, but only for the medium and heavy types.
In American English, the word "truck" is often preceded by a word describing the type of vehicle, such as a "fire truck" or "tanker truck". In British English these would be referred to as "fire engine" and "tanker" or "petrol tanker", respectively. In Canada "fire engine" is also used.
The United Kingdom and the rest of Europe now have common, yet complex rules (see European driving licence). As an overview, to drive a vehicle weighing more than for commercial purposes requires a specialist licence (the type varies depending on the use of the vehicle and number of seats). For licences first acquired after 1997, that weight was reduced to , not including trailers.
In Australia, a truck driving license is required for any motor vehicle with a Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) exceeding . The motor vehicles classes are further expanded as:
There is also a heavy vehicle transmission condition for a licence class HR, HC or MC test passed in a vehicle fitted with an automatic or synchromesh transmission, a driver’s licence will be restricted to vehicles of that class fitted with a synchromesh or automatic transmission . To have the condition removed, a person needs to pass a practical driving test in a vehicle with non synchromesh transmission (constant mesh or crash box).
In 2006, the U.S. trucking industry employed 1.8 million drivers of heavy trucks. There are around 5 million truck drivers in India.
There are several possible cab configurations: Cab over engine (COE) or flat nose; where the driver is seated above the front axle and the engine. This design is almost ubiquitous in Europe, where overall truck lengths are strictly regulated, but also widely used in the rest of the world as well. They were common in the United States, but lost prominence when permitted length was extended in the early 1980s. To access the engine, the whole cab tilts forward, earning this design the name of tilt-cab. This type of cab is especially suited to the delivery conditions in Europe where many roads follow the layout of much more ancient path, and trackways which require the additional turning capability of the cab over engine type. The COE design was invented by Viktor Schreckengost.
North American manufactured highway trucks almost always use an engine built by a third party, such as CAT, Cummins, or Detroit Diesel. The only exceptions to this are Volvo and its subsidiary Mack Trucks, which are available with their own engines. Freightliner Trucks, Sterling Trucks and Western Star, subsidiaries of Daimler AG, are available with Mercedes-Benz and Detroit Diesel engines. Trucks and buses built by Navistar International usually also contain International engines. The Swedish manufacturer Scania claims they stay away from the U.S. market because of this third party tradition.
In the European Union, all new lorry engines must comply with Euro 5 emission regulations.
Double-clutching allows the driver to control the engine and transmission revolutions to synchronize, so that a smooth shift can be made, e.g., when upshifting, the accelerator pedal is released and the clutch pedal is depressed while the gear lever is moved into neutral, the clutch pedal is then released and quickly pushed down again while the gear lever is moved to the next higher gear. Finally, the clutch pedal is released and the accelerator pedal pushed down to obtain required engine speed. Although this is a relatively fast movement, perhaps a second or so while transmission is in neutral, it allows the engine speed to drop and synchronize engine and transmission revolutions relative to the road speed. Downshifting is performed in a similar fashion, except the engine speed is now required to increase (while transmission is in neutral) just the right amount in order to achieve the synchronization for a smooth, non-collision gear change. Skip changing is also widely used; in principle operation is the same as double-clutching, but it requires neutral be held slightly longer than a single gear change.
Common North American setups include 9, 10, 13, 15, and 18 speeds. Automatic and semi-automatic transmissions for heavy trucks are becoming more and more common, due to advances both in transmission and engine power. In Europe 8, 10, 12 and 16 gears are common on larger trucks with manual transmission, while automatic or semi-automatic transmissions would have anything from 5 to 12 gears. Almost all heavy truck transmissions are of the "range and split" (double H shift pattern) type, where range change and so-called half gears or splits are air operated and always preselected before the main gear selection.
Though they may be welded, crossmembers are most often attached to frame rails by bolts or rivets. Crossmembers may be boxed or stamped into a c-shape, but are most commonly boxed on modern vehicles, particularly heavy trucks.
The frame is almost always made of steel, but can be made (whole or in part) of aluminium for a lighter weight. A tow bar may be found attached at one or both ends, but heavy trucks almost always make use of a fifth wheel hitch.
Concerns have been raised about the effect of trucking on the environment, particularly as part of the debate on global warming. In the period from 1990 to 2003, carbon dioxide emissions from transportation sources increased by 20%, despite improvements in vehicle fuel efficiency.
In 2005, transportation accounted for 27% of U.S. greenhouse gas emission, increasing faster than any other sector.
Between 1985 and 2004, in the U.S., energy consumption in freight transportation grew nearly 53%, while the number of ton-miles carried increased only 43%. "Modal shifts account for a nearly a 23% increase in energy consumption over this period. Much of this shift is due to a greater fraction of freight ton-miles being carried via truck and air, as compared to water, rail, and pipelines."
According to a 1995 U.S. Government estimate, the energy cost of carrying one ton of freight a distance of one kilometer averages 337 kJ for water, 221 kJ for rail, 2,000 kJ for trucks, and nearly 13,000 kJ for air transport. Many environmental organizations favor laws and incentives to encourage the switch from road to rail, especially in Europe.
The European Parliament is moving to ensure that charges on heavy-goods vehicles should be based in part on the air and noise pollution they produce and the congestion they cause, according to legislation approved by the Transport Committee. The Eurovignette scheme has been proposed, whereby new charges would be potentially levied against things such as noise and air pollution and also weight related damages from the lorries themselves.
{|class="wikitable" border="1" style="text-align:left" |+Largest truck manufacturers in the world as of 2009, over 16 tons GVW in 2009. |- !Pos.!!Make!!Units |- !1 |Daimler AG (Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner Trucks, Sterling Trucks, Unimog, Western Star, Fuso)||478,535 |- !2 |Volvo Group (Volvo, Mack, Renault, UD Nissan Diesel)||438,954 |- !3 |Dongfeng||341,875 |- !4 |Tata Group (Tata Motors, Daewoo Commercial Vehicle)||159,237 |- !5 |Hyundai Kia Automotive Group (Hyundai)||157,781 |- !6 |Toyota Group (Hino Motors)||129,107 |- !7 |Fiat Group (Iveco, Magirus, Astra, Seddon Atkinson, Yuejin)||127,542 |- !8 |PACCAR (DAF Trucks, Kenworth, Peterbilt, Leyland Trucks)||126,960 |- !9 |Volkswagen Group (Scania, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles)||110,617 |- !10 |MAN SE (MAN SE, Volkswagen Trucks and Buses, China National Heavy Duty Truck Group)||92,485 |}
Motor truck cargo insurance protects the transporter for his responsibility in the event of damaged or lost freight. The policy is purchased with a maximum load limit per vehicle. Cargo insurance coverage limits can range from $10,000 to $100,000 or more. Pricing for this insurance is mainly dependent on the type of cargo being hauled.
Truck shows provide operators with an opportunity to win awards for their trucks.
Category:Commercial item transport and distribution Category:Carriages and mountings
ang:Hlæstƿæȝn ar:شاحنة bs:Kamion bg:Камион ca:Camió cs:Kamion cy:Lori da:Lastbil de:Lastkraftwagen nv:Chidítsoh el:Φορτηγό es:Camión eo:Kamiono eu:Kamioi fa:کامیون fr:Camion ko:트럭 hi:ट्रक hr:Kamion io:Kamiono id:Truk is:Vörubíll it:Autocarro he:משאית sw:Lori la:Autocinetum onerarium lv:Kravas automašīna lt:Sunkvežimis ln:Kaminyɔ hu:Tehergépkocsi mr:ट्रक ms:Lori nl:Vrachtwagen ja:貨物自動車 no:Lastebil nn:Lastebil nds:Lastkraftwagen pl:Samochód ciężarowy pt:Camião ro:Autocamion qu:Chaqna antawa ru:Грузовой автомобиль sco:Larrie sq:Kamioni simple:Truck sk:Kamión sl:Tovornjak szl:Auto ćynżarowe sr:Камион fi:Kuorma-auto sv:Lastbil ta:சுமையுந்து tr:Kamyon uk:Вантажний автомобіль vi:Xe tải yi:לאסט אויטא zh-yue:貨車 zh:载货汽车This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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