— Is this the latest in automotive fashion? - visitors to the concert hall in the Moscow exhibition center Crocus Expo were surprised at the sight of a fantastic truck at the adjacent entrance to the Comtrans exhibition. No, this is a quirk of designers. And the latest fashion in the “truck” automotive industry - not only domestic, but also worldwide - was shown at the exhibition itself!
The exhibition of commercial vehicles Comtrans is becoming more and more international. Why, she has already become one.
Before the new Renault trucks and tractors appeared in France, they were brought to Moscow and the start of Russian production in Kaluga was announced at the end of 2014. At the adjacent stand is a new generation of Volvo tractors and trucks, shown for the first time in Europe: they will also begin to be produced in Kaluga next year. Here are the new DAF XF Euro 6 (it will be available to buy starting this October) and MAN Euro 6. Only Mercedes is still not bringing the new Actros to Russia: our customers will have to be content with the previous model assembled in Chelny!
The still current Comtrans became the first showroom in Europe where the heavy Hyundai Xcient series, the new Mercedes Sprinter and the “heeled” Ford Transit Connect debuted.
Finally, a foreign delegation arrived at the exhibition, consisting of journalists - members of the international juries of Truck of the Year and Van of the Year (our publication represents Russia in these juries).
The fact is that it was Moscow that for the first time became the venue for the ceremonial awards of Truck of the Year (the new Volvo FH) and Van of the Year (Ford Transit Connect). If we draw analogies from the sports world, this is comparable to the location of the Olympics!
Surely the jury will continue to hold this ceremony in Moscow, alternating between Comtrans and the IAA truck show in Hannover (it takes place in even-numbered years). True, foreign colleagues complained that all press conferences at the exhibition were in Russian...
A little about the Russian cargo market: this year, compared to last year, sales of new heavy trucks have decreased by about 30-35%: in total, about 90 thousand vehicles will be sold. But in 2015 and 2022 a sharp rise is predicted. So “truck” manufacturers have something to fight for! And there is something to show.
Exotic
Surely truck lovers have heard about the extravagant German designer Luigi Colani, who built several futuristic “egghead” tractors over different decades. In years past, I saw these cars, even once talked with Maestro Colani. But is the copy shown on Comtrans (it arrived in Russia back in 2011) also the work of Colani? After all, the designer is already 85 years old!
“Kolanimobil” has been in Russia since 2011, advertising Sberbank services and housing at a resort near Sochi
In the cockpit of the Colanimobile, only the panel with controls reminds of the ancestor of the DAF XF. Please note: the wipers rotate in a circle!
Three fingers can barely fit from the asphalt to the fiberglass body kit of the “Colanimobile”!
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Representatives of Sberbank, advertising their services in the sliding body-office, could not say anything about the truck itself, but we learned that such “Colanimobiles” are now being built by Mario Marchi, the owner of the Marchi Mobile company from Vienna, Austria - “based on the Colani design.” The base chassis is DAF XF.
The cars exist in different versions and at very different prices: for a truck tractor they ask for only 355 thousand 810 euros (note: exactly 810, not 815 or, say, 820 euros). And an incredibly luxurious residential building with a gilded body and a retractable terrace will cost 2.4 million euros. Can you imagine what kind of ordinary house you can buy for this money? Apparently, the price of a Sberbank car is somewhere in the middle. But it is clear that no one will buy such a spaceship for serious work...
Scania with “factory tuning” Black Amber (“Black Amber”) will work in the St. Petersburg company Nordland - only not 730-horsepower, as in the company photo, but 560-horsepower
But the Scania shown in the “very special” Black Amber configuration, with tuning and paintings by the Swedish designer Svempa, will run on our highways. Such a tractor, according to Scania representatives, is more expensive than any serial one: meanwhile, Evgenia Turutina, owner of the St. Petersburg company Nordland, received the keys to it at the exhibition. She already owns the unusual Scania - Dark Diamond, also with Svempa tuning, and a super-powerful 730-horsepower V8. And they all bring fish from Norway!
Mercedes Actros SLT arrived to us for the first time - a tractor for super-heavy, 250-ton road trains
At the Mercedes stand, in turn, there was an Actros MP3 from the limited edition Black Liner (“Black Liner”) - but not black, as is customary, but red. “We can do this to order,” proudly commented representatives of the Mercedes-Benz Trucks Vostok joint venture. And for the first time, a previously unseen Mercedes Actros SLT arrived in the country - a heavy-duty tractor for transporting super-heavy loads. Such cars are built individually not by Mercedes itself, but by the German company Titan: V8 engine power is 653 hp, the total weight of the road train is up to 250 tons. The price, according to our information, is 350 thousand euros. But they say that certification of the giant in Russia is problematic due to the non-standard engine.
Car classification
Vehicles, depending on their purpose, can be divided into certain types:
- cars;
- buses;
- motorcycles;
- trailers;
- semi-trailers.
The main types of cars are cars and trucks. And the first of these include vehicles with no more than 9 seats, including the driver’s seat. They are designed to transport people and their luggage.
Cars in which goods are transported or special equipment is installed are called trucks.
In more detail, each of the groups of cars is divided by purpose, by overall dimensions, by design features (layout), body type, as well as by engine type and size.
Tractors in Korean
The offensive of Chinese long-haul tractors on Russia failed ingloriously, but now the “Koreans” are rushing to us: two models debuted on Comtrans at once - the Hyundai Xcient and the Tata Daewoo Prima.
The Hyundai Xcient tractor has a “native” 410-horsepower Euro 4 engine and a 16-speed ZF gearbox
The interior is very stylish and high quality
Light upholstery is a controversial decision, but it feels like a “European”
The cabin is quickly tilted by an electric drive.
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Both look similar: two-axle, with their own high cabs, rear air suspension, 16-speed ZF gearboxes and Jost hitch saddles. But how different the execution is!
Hyundai Xcient is the first tractor from Asia, which in quality and design reminded us of the “Europeans”. The cabin, under which the “original” engine stands, is installed on a four-point air suspension and equipped with an electric lift; the interior is very spacious (from floor to ceiling - 1895 mm, bed width - a decent 80 cm) and the finish is of very high quality.
Of course, some technical solutions are a bit old (ZF gearbox with a “double H” shift pattern) or unusual (Lincoln central lubrication system, a rather low-mounted pneumatic system dryer and the output for the power take-off, which is already rusty). And a German journalist, who studied the car before us, managed to break off the driver’s seat adjustment knob.
The front trim “opens up” like a Scania: the pneumatic elements of the cab suspension are visible
By the way, one of the first copies arrived to us (VIN ends with 00028), and from Belarus: the shown tractor belongs to a Belarusian distributor, and the vehicles specially ordered for Comtrans did not have time to be delivered from Vladivostok. Company representatives do not yet know how much Xcient will cost: they only know that it is “cheaper than the cheapest European tractor.” By the way, Xсient will also be a dump truck: there was such a chassis at the exhibition.
Avtotor is going to start production of Tata Daewoo Prima tractors. Engine - 440-horsepower Cummins ISM Euro 5, gearbox - 16-speed ZF
The front panel is unpretentious
There is a refrigerator in the middle of the salon
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But the Tata Prima is made more in an Asian way than in a European way: colored transparent fuel pipes look frivolous, there is an equally frivolous protective bar at the back, and in the cabin there are huge windows in the rear wall and behind the cabin doors (which means there will be a dubak here in winter) . The quality of the upholstery is so-so, and in the middle of the engine tunnel there is a hefty refrigerator, the lid of which is not fixed, but is equipped with a limiting chain. I accidentally tore it off while taking photographs, and then, again by accident, I crushed the plastic plug inserted into the floor under the rug with my heel. And when I stuck my hand into the right glove compartment above the windshield, I discovered that there was water there, which had clearly leaked through the roof after washing! Yeah...
Kaliningrad Avtotor declares that from January 2014 it will begin assembling Tata Daewoo trucks: the declared production volume is up to 2000 vehicles per year, the estimated price of the tractor is 4 million rubles. Very expensive! After all, for 3.2 million rubles you can get a much more solid and high-quality new Ford Cargo with an Iveco engine, and for 2.8-2.9 million rubles you can get a MAZ or KAMAZ with Mercedes engines and components.
Types of passenger cars
Leading foreign automobile publications divide passenger cars into four types based on functionality.
- General purpose vehicles that are designed to travel on paved roads. The basic models of this type are a three-volume (sedan) and two-volume (hatchback) body. On their basis, coupes, station wagons, convertibles and even pickups and vans are created. As a rule, these cars are designed for 4-5 seats, their overall height is from 1.3 to 1.47 m.
- All-terrain station wagons (English abbreviation APV). These are cars with a capacity of up to 7 people and a large luggage compartment. The height of these cars is up to 1.85 m. The power unit, steering and suspension are borrowed from general purpose cars. Prominent representatives of this type are Chrysler Voyager, Renault Espace, Chevrolet Lumina APV.
- Off-road vehicles or, in other words, jeeps and SUVs with high ground clearance of up to 0.2 m, all-wheel drive, short overhangs and a base. Overall height due to the high seating position of passengers is up to 2 m.
- Sports cars with a powerful engine, often two-seaters with a very low seating position and a roof height of no more than 1.33 m.
Inter is back
How many attempts have there been to start selling new American-made tractors in Russia - and they all ended in nothing! But until now, the initiator was the St. Petersburg company Goodwill Holding: first it certified a couple of Freightliners (I also participated in their transportation), then it assembled a hundred cabover Inters (International tractors) from Brazil, and when the project died out, it brought a new hooded International Prostar to study demand .
International Prostar has already been adapted to Russian conditions
I took a picture of the Prostar cabin, standing on the mattress: the sleeping compartment is not the largest, but the bed itself...
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And now, two years later, the hooded Prostar again sparkles on Comtrans. But Goodwill Holding has nothing to do with it: International itself opened a representative office in the center of St. Petersburg and prepared Prostar in the Russian version. Its 430-horsepower engine meets European Euro 5 standards, but is equipped not with “urea” SCR neutralization, but with an EGR recirculation system (which, according to the experience of carriers, is extremely sensitive to fuel quality). The gearbox is a traditional “American” non-synchronized one. The exact price is already known: such a Prostar costs us 147 thousand dollars - that is, approximately 110 thousand euros. If you add six thousand euros, you can get a new Volvo FH! However, the company has eight official dealers (Goodwill Holding is no longer one of them) and there should be no problems with service: the country is full of spare parts stores for “Americans.”
The American Western Star was almost shown at Comtrans: since this is a brand of the Daimler concern, the Mercedes-Benz Trucks Vostok joint venture decided to sell such 40-ton mining dump trucks here. But the dump truck itself was not at the exhibition, and behind the counter with the Western Star emblem there was a bus of another Daimler brand, Setra...
MAZ and MAN
MAN has gradually begun assembling trucks at the long-promised plant near St. Petersburg: the process of launching the plant has clearly been delayed, and there has still been no official opening ceremony.
Better late than never: MAN began assembling trucks near St. Petersburg
The supposedly first copy of the St. Petersburg assembly arrived at the exhibition - the TGS WW 6x4 tractor for a 65-ton road train. True, there are doubts about the fact that it is the very first: the VIN ends with the numbers 00038.
“Does the Belarusian MAZ still cooperate with MAN?” - our foreign colleagues asked us. Alas: MAZ-MAN still builds trucks, but is not a joint venture, since the partners have gone their separate ways.
MAZ begins to supply 20 cc bodies. Like the “Chinese”!
The MAZ tractor is not only equipped with a Mercedes “robot”, but also with a Mercedes joystick!
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But MAZ is very friendly with Mercedes! But it is not going to unite with KAMAZ, especially in light of recent political events.
The Mazovians themselves invested $35 million in refurbishment of production: cataphoresis treatment of frames and cabins. And the flagship MAZ-5440 Prostor tractor received a lot of components from the Mercedes Actros MP3 model. The engine is a 435-horsepower Euro 5, the gearbox is robotic PowerShift, with a joystick on the armrest, the steering wheel with steering wheel paddles is also Mercedes. For the first time, a color display of the on-board computer appeared on the instrument panel; climate control is included in the package. The capacity of the fuel tanks is a decent 1200 liters. This is a real “SuperMAZ”! And for only 2.8 million rubles.
The MAZ-5440E9 Spacious model has a really spacious cabin and a power unit from the Mercedes Actros MP3 model, including a robotic gearbox
The interior of the MAZ is getting better and better. Among the innovations are a semicircular front panel, a color display, a Mercedes steering wheel, a navigation lamp and a USB connector.
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But the MAZ dump truck with the new 20 cc body was disappointing. Builders will drive it onto public roads with overload: according to Russian rules, a three-axle vehicle can weigh no more than 25 tons, but here the load alone will pull more than 30 tons. It turns out that the body was installed to please the customers: they complain that the “Chinese” have hefty bodies, but the MAZs have much less. But we are categorically against such decisions, due to the fact that such heavyweights destroy roads and are simply dangerous. Don't we have enough disasters with overloaded "Chinese"?
Classification of trucks by purpose
According to their purpose, trucks are divided into three main groups:
- General transport. These vehicles are designed to move cargo on public roads where there are restrictions on axle load.
- Special vehicles. They have special equipment installed on a cargo chassis: truck cranes, concrete mixers, fire tanks, aerial platforms.
- Specialized. These trucks are designed to transport certain types of cargo. Examples of them are container ships, dump trucks, and tanks.
Tipper trucks are the most common type of specialized cargo equipment. Bulk and bulk cargo are unloaded by tipping the platform with sides. These machines are divided into groups according to size and axle load.
Road dump trucks are utility, agricultural and construction trucks. Their carrying capacity can be from 1.5 to 45 tons.
Off-road trucks are mining dump trucks. Their task is to remove rock and building materials from quarries in which mineral resources are mined in open pits. These are the largest trucks. They can transport up to 400 tons of rock, but cannot travel on roads due to weight and size restrictions. They are delivered to the work site disassembled.
Kama open spaces
NefAZ will produce stylish “fire trucks” with foreign components and on a chassis from the racing KAMAZ
The Kamaz stand occupied an area of 5000 m2: it’s mind boggling! In addition to the visible part of the stand, where there was a souvenir shop, KAMAZ workers even built offices for management and a café of impressive proportions, hidden from prying eyes.
But this time the cars were spacious: the main new items were four units with cabins and engines from the Mercedes Axor model and Daimler rear axles. But the gearboxes are branded ZF, since KAMAZ has established their licensed production. Moreover, the shown dump truck even had a ZF AS-Tronic “robot” with a DAF joystick! KAMAZ, with the help of Intel, developed their own “infotainment” system with a navigator and a touch screen for these vehicles.
Cabin and engine - Mercedes Axor, rear axle - Daimler, gearbox - ZF: conveyor production of KAMAZ-5490 tractors begins in October
In the cabins of KAMAZ Mercedes there is a familiar Mercedes interior... And a strong “plastic” smell! According to unofficial information, interior elements come from Turkey
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The prices are also known: a KAMAZ-5490 truck tractor with a 428-horsepower Euro 5 engine and two fuel tanks with a total capacity of 800 liters (isn’t that a little?) costs 2 million 899 thousand rubles, and production of such vehicles will begin in October. For a three-axle 6x4 tractor they are asking 3 million 100 thousand rubles, for a flatbed 15-ton 6x4 truck - 3 million 200 thousand rubles.
Before the press conference, journalists were given leaflets with... questions and answers prepared in advance. We won't remember this! But I still took the microphone and asked KAMAZ General Director Sergei Kogogin a couple of my own questions.
First: “Does everything seen mean that KAMAZ is stopping work on its own range of cabs, created together with the Koreans?” It turns out not: the start of production of cars with their own cabins is planned for 2016. But won't the cabins be outdated by then?
Kamateiner is a project with removable bodies. The truck is equipped with air suspension in both front and rear
On press day, there was a mark from the Mercedes star on the KAMAZ steering wheels. And for the opening of the exhibition, a Kama horse was on display here!
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And my second question: “Why do KAMAZ dealers continue to sell Euro 3 vehicles manufactured in 2013, although Euro 4 standards have been in force in the country since the beginning of the year? Are these cars made to look like last year’s title?” As expected, Kogogin avoided answering: they say, I don’t know about such facts...
If we return to the exposition, then, in addition to the “Kamazomersedes” and methane versions (about them on the following pages), the Kamateiner project for interchangeable bodies and the new firefighting KAMAZ made their debut here. Its chassis is like that of a racing KAMAZ, its elegant superstructure made of aluminum and fiberglass is from Slovakia and with Swiss Hyromax equipment, which extinguishes fire using the “drip method”, the seats for firefighters are American. The production of such “fires” will be carried out by NefAZ, the plan for next year is 100 vehicles. But the price is impressive: about 8 million rubles!
"Kamazomersedes": from left to right - a 6x4 truck, a 6x6 dump truck, a 6x4 tractor. The headlights are still “temporary”: instead of round lighting equipment there will be Hella block headlights
Tractors as a separate type of freight transport
Truck tractors are also trucks designed for transporting semi-trailers and trailers. Instead of a body, they are equipped with a special saddle for quickly changing the trailer set. In Australia, with its vast expanses, there are couplings of five trailers with a total weight of more than 100 tons.
Car types vary in layout. Thus, American truck tractors are made according to the classic layout - hood. Europeans place the engine under the cab, increasing the useful length of the road train.
To tow particularly heavy loads, ballast tractors are used. They have a short body filled with ballast to increase traction weight.
Lawn Next and others
Sales of Gazelles Next are gaining momentum, and in the meantime, the Gazelle workers have equipped a medium-tonnage “lawn” with the same cabin: it’s called the Next Lawn. You will inevitably smile!
This truck with a cab from Gazelle Next is the heir to the famous “lawns”. In the middle of the cabin - that's a gearshift lever
The truck remains five-ton (load capacity is 4.7 tons for the short-wheelbase version and 5 tons for the long-wheelbase version), but the design has changed. Under the hood - either Cummins 3.8 or YaMZ-534, clutch - Sachs, integral steering mechanism, ZF brand, brakes both front and rear are disc with German components, front springs have become longer for better smoothness. We made a couple of suggestions to the GAZ designers: the high-raised cabin lacks handles that are comfortable to hold on to when landing, and the rather narrow and sloping steel bumper is uncomfortable to stand on (but the GAZ team promises to make “rough” linings). Production of Lawns Next will begin next year, and they secretly told us the price: less than a million rubles!
Standing on the bumper is not very comfortable. Under the hood is the Yaroslavl “four” YaMZ-534
Interior - like Gazelle Next
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In the meantime, GAZ is preparing a lot of other new products. Among them are the all-metal Gazelle and Sobol Next, the production of which will begin in 2015, a joystick instead of the gear lever for the Gazelle and Sobol Next, and a new Evotech gasoline engine. This is a familiar Ulyanovsk UMP, but with a deeply redesigned design: the working volume is reduced from 2.9 liters to 2.7 liters, fuel consumption is reduced by 5%, the promised service life is 400 thousand km. At the same time, only the main components will be Russian, but the price of the motor will not increase.
Promising Sable Next, and all-metal
And in the future, hooded Urals will get the cabin from Gazelle Next! “In any case, this cabin is wider than the current Ural one,” comment the designers. In the meantime, Ural has carried out a mini-restyling of the cabover model with an ancient licensed Iveco cab. It looks like the designers were inspired by the Ford Cargo... It's a pity that the interior of the Ural remains the same - outdated and rough.
For now, the promising Ural exists in the form of sketches. But the cabin will be from Gazelle Next, and the appearance will be “based on” armored Typhoons
Oh, by the way: what are the prospects for ordinary Gazelles and Sables? “We will produce them for another three to five years, and then, perhaps, we will transfer production to one of the third world countries - for example, India,” say the Gazovites.
Restyling for the veteran: the model with the old Ivekov cabin will be called Ural-M. And here is the promised gearshift joystick for the Gazelle and Sobol Next
Classification by body type
A truck body is a part of a cargo vehicle designed for transporting goods. The body is attached to the vehicle frame. Regardless of the type of cargo vehicle, bodies are classified according to purpose into:
Onboard
They are the most ancient (in origin) of all truck bodies. The flatbed body is a platform limited on all sides by sides. Each side can be removed or folded down to simplify loading and unloading procedures.
Tilt
They are a modification of flatbed bodies due to the installation of special struts on the body, onto which a “fabric” awning is stretched and secured with lacing. This design allows you to transport various types of cargo, protecting them from external environmental influences and prying eyes. Curtainsider trailers, semi-trailers and trucks differ from each other in the type of loading, the most common of which is rear loading. However, very often there are bodies with side and top loading, as well as the ability to remove all racks (full tilt), which makes loading and unloading more convenient, while reducing time.
All metal
Unlike tilt bodies, all-metal bodies have metal walls. This significantly increases the strength of the body, and the metal locking doors installed on it protect the transported cargo from possible theft. However, this design of the body imposes restrictions on loading and unloading methods.
Isothermal
An isothermal body is a body made on an all-metal basis by gluing heat-insulating materials on its walls. This allows you to prevent sudden temperature changes inside the body, in the case, for example, when the car is moving under the scorching sun. This creates favorable conditions for transporting cargo that is sensitive to temperature changes.
Refrigerators
A refrigerator (from the Latin refrigeratus - cooled) is an improved isothermal body, which is equipped with a special climate control unit (refrigerator). In this type of body a certain temperature regime is maintained. The range of supported temperatures depends on the class of the refrigerator. There are six classes of refrigerators.
| Class A: | from +12°C to 0°C |
| Class B: | from +12°C to -10°C |
| Class C: | from +12°C to -20°C |
| Class D: | less than or equal to +2°C |
| Class E: | less than or equal to -10°C |
| Class F: | less than or equal to -20°C |
Transportation of goods by refrigerators is much more expensive than their transportation in other types of bodies, due to the constantly running refrigeration unit. This significantly increases fuel consumption.
Tanks
Tanks are designed for transportation of liquid, gaseous, finely dispersed and bulk (flour, cement) cargo. As a rule, tanks are made of metal - steel or aluminum. Aluminum tanks have some advantages over metal ones - they are lighter, have greater resistance to corrosion, do not require special coating, and retain their characteristics well at low temperatures.
According to their cross-sectional shape, tanks are divided into three types - round, elliptical and “suitcase” shaped. Round tanks are the most durable in terms of pressure on the walls, elliptical tanks have a compact shape in height and strength close to round tanks. “Suitcase-shaped” ones have a center of gravity shifted to the bottom, which makes them more resistant to tipping over on their side during sharp maneuvering when cornering.
Tanks can be single-section or multi-section. Multi-section tanks contain several sections isolated from each other, each of which has its own hatch, “breathing valve” and a drain-fill tract located at the bottom, through which the tank is drained or filled. Using a lower filling path allows you to quickly fill liquids that have increased foaming and bubbling, and also avoid evaporation and leakage of substances than when filling them through the neck. To control the filling level, special electronic sensors located inside the tank are used.
Some tanks are equipped with pumps that allow the substance to be drained by creating excess pressure inside the tank.
To maintain the temperature of the transported substance, tanks often have a so-called “steam jacket,” which is a chamber surrounding the tank body through which heating steam passes. Also, to maintain the required temperature when transporting cargo in cold weather, heating elements are used - special heaters located inside the tank.
If the tank is not fully filled, then there is a risk of it overturning due to the resulting beating of the liquid against the walls of the tank when the speed and direction of the vehicle changes. To reduce the force of the hydraulic shock of the liquid against the walls, tanks are equipped with a transverse breakwater. In this regard, multi-section tanks are more preferable - due to the divided amount of substance, the force of hydraulic shocks on each of the walls is noticeably reduced.
There are still many devices and devices used on tanks, depending on the nature of the cargo being transported. For example, tanks for transporting petroleum products can be equipped with dispensing pistols with a counter for the amount of discharged substance.
Dump trucks
They are designed as an open all-metal flatbed body with a hydraulic device for automatic unloading of transported cargo. In this case, at the rear there is a side attached to the upper hinges, which automatically opens when the body is tilted under the influence of its own gravity.
Dump trucks are used primarily for transporting bulk cargo for construction purposes (crushed stone, sand, brick).
Platforms and low loaders
The platform, as well as its variety - the low-loader trawl, is a specialized cargo transport for transporting oversized and heavy cargo.
They are distinguished by increased load capacity (up to 200 tons) and the presence of special fastening devices. Depending on the nature of the cargo being transported, various devices are used. For example, a platform for transporting cars is equipped with special lifts to facilitate the loading process. Trawls also include platforms transporting cars, other machinery, equipment, timber carriers, pipe carriers, etc. Source
Alternative to diesel fuel
The trend of the current exhibition was the massive appearance of cars running on gas, not liquefied, but compressed methane. The spring decree of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on the introduction of gas transport is being implemented: just over a year ago there were only about seventy methane gas filling stations (CNG filling stations) in the country, but now there are already two hundred of them! In addition, methane is approximately three times cheaper than diesel fuel.
It is not surprising that Iveco offers trucks powered by methane (at the stand there was a delivery Eurocargo for transporting Nestle water), and even minibuses. KAMAZ, in turn, has prepared a whole range: tractor, dump truck, bus, grain truck, garbage truck.
KAMAZ has a whole range of vehicles with methane engines
This is the chassis of an experimental electric KAMAZ
The electric KAMAZ has batteries under the red cover, the electric motor is visible on the right
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Manufacturers operate with impressive figures: it is stated that a passenger-kilometer on a methane minibus Iveco Daily will cost only 5.5 kopecks (two times less than a diesel Ford Transit, and four times less than a diesel Gazelle), and the owner of a gas KAMAZ over ten years of operation it will save exactly 6 million 715 thousand rubles on fuel (is it really that much?).
It’s just a pity, methane vehicles are expensive: at the exhibition they asked for a KAMAZ-6520 gas dump truck about 3.5 million rubles, while the diesel equivalent is 700 thousand rubles cheaper.
Would you like to refuel with electricity? At the KAMAZ stand there was a prototype KAMAZ-4308 Electro, developed together with the Austrian company AVL. Behind the cabin there are Swiss batteries, under the frame there is an electric motor. It charges from a 220 V outlet, and then travels... as much as 60 km. True, the designers promise to increase the power reserve to 120 km, but this is hard to believe, and the price of such an electric car is clearly prohibitive.
Chinese bazaar
The Chinese “truck” auto industry was protected this time only by the Dongfeng company: it brought a whole range of vehicles, including pickups, minibuses and trucks with a cabin “like a Nissan Cabstar”, but they are not for sale yet. But on the bodies of the dump trucks it is written “VH-Dongfeng” - the Belgian Serge Van Hoole, known from the VH-DAF company, will now sell not only Dutch, but also Chinese trucks with us! The price of a Dongfeng 6×4 dump truck is typical for the “Chinese” - 2.8 million rubles.
Chinese “shop of happiness”: any headlight – $45, radiator grill – $150
For the first time, Naveco Yuejin, a product of the Italian-Chinese joint venture Naveco, arrived in Russia. But Iveco has nothing to do with its sales in Russia: representatives of the Ryazan plant Tsentrtranstekhmash will sell the car. And what’s Italian here is the only licensed 2.8 diesel engine and gearbox made in China. The carrying capacity of the chassis is about three tons, the price of the chassis without the “booth” is 750 thousand rubles.
And at one of the stands of Chinese spare parts manufacturers there was a real “stall” selling lighting equipment and false radiator grilles.
In AR No. 14, 2013, we said that in Siberia there is a problem with headlights for American Volvo VN: they must be ordered from the USA, and the “original” is very expensive, so local craftsmen adapt headlights from Lada Priora.
Chinese with Italian: Naveco Yuejin has an engine and gearbox licensed by Iveco
— How much does a headlight cost for an American Volvo? - we ask.
- Only forty-five dollars! Any headlight we have costs that much!
— Are there any headlights for the new Mercedes Actros tractor?
- Certainly.
— And for the newest Volvo FH, what are they standing in the next room?
- Of course! As soon as the production of a model begins in Europe, we immediately have spare parts for it.
But what is the quality of this product? By the way, the USB flash drive with press information that Dongfeng gave us was “disassembled” into pieces the first time it was used...
ZIL named MAZ
“What, ZIL still produces trucks? And why is there a MAZ snow blower at his stand?” — the visitors were surprised. Let's talk briefly. The territory of ZIL itself is now being redrawn and rebuilt, and the production of Bychkov has been moved to the small town of Petrovsky near Smolensk.
MAZ is at the ZIL stand! This truck was assembled at the Zilovsky branch in Smolensk
As for the MAZ at the stand, it was assembled using the large-knot method and equipped with its own cleaning equipment by another branch of ZIL - the Smolensk Automotive Aggregate Plant. Moreover, the gearbox here is its own, made from Smolensk, and the axles are completely Chinese FAW! The price of the chassis is 1 million 270 thousand rubles, the price of attachments is 700 thousand rubles. The prospects are still unknown: specimen No. 001 was at the exhibition. And what will happen to ZIL itself and its branches? No matter how this “MAZIL” turns out to be Zilov’s last project...
For the first time, KAMAZ and Galichanin showed a truck crane on a five-axle chassis with the index 7330 and a 10x4 wheel arrangement: the last electronically controlled axle is Dutch, the same as on GINAF multi-axle trucks. The price of the chassis is 5 million rubles, the entire crane is 14-15 million rubles. In October, KAMAZ promises to build a 10x10 chassis with a low-slung cab
