Lesser players up their game
Western Star adapts to ever-increasing demands; Toyota has green ideas
There are three big players on the commercial rig playing field. Kenworth, Peterbilt, Freightliner. The lesser players are Volvo, International, and Western Star.
Drivers and company owners usually have their favourite, unless one of the other just mentioned companies offers a no-brainer can’t-pass-up deal to purchase one or more of their units. I’ve been in that picture, and have also been tempted, but never answered the call to buy or drive a Western Star. I wish I had.
Western Star started in our backyard, in Kelowna when logging was the major economic source of the area’s income. This was in the 60s when White Motor Company’s new plant in the Interior began to build White Western Star trucks. They were designed especially for the British Columbia logging industry.
Those first rigs, were put together by hand. Company executives and salesmen worked along side mechanics to assemble those units. They could be personalized for the new owners’ wishes, but the main factor was they were heavy. They were sturdy. They could take a beating, and still answer the bell. Took just under 150 hours to build one rig.
In 1971, designers came up with a new design, featuring a shorter distance between the front bumper and the back of the cab. The turning radius was now a lot shorter, which allowed the rig greater maneuverability. Sales increased, and suddenly more Western Star rigs were pulling highway trailers and not just logs.
Today, the company continues to adapt to the ever-increasing demands of their very loyal new owners and drivers alike.
In the early 80s, White Motor Company went bankrupt, and Western Star was sold a couple of times before it was purchased by Daimler, which is a division of Mercedes-Benz. The new owner shut down the Kelowna plant, and moved the operation to Portland, Oregon, where it still builds their very successful highway and logging tractors.
Another new wrinkle on the big rig front comes from the a little further down the west coast, at the port facilities of Los Angeles.
Toyota. Yes. A new player in the big rig sand box has joined with the L.A. Port Authority to introduce a new concept with a fledging concept. They call this idea, “Project Portal.” Toyota has built a hydrogen fuel cell system designed for commercial rig use on the docks. These units shuttle containers all around various parts of that enormous facility. The rigs produce 670 horsepower and 1,320 pound feet of torque from two fuel cell stacks and one 12 kWh battery.
That one battery in itself is significant, as today’s rigs need four regular size or two extra large batteries just to keep rolling and charged up. These Toyota powered dock rigs can keep pulling 36,300 + kilogram loads for up to 325 kilometres, before refuelling.
Toyota officials are not trying to disrupt the pecking order of highway rigs, but are just “planting the flag” and hoping other players will join in and make our industry cleaner, and more environmentally friendlier. This all started with the request and desire of the Port Authority in the City of Angels.
Vancouver’s ports? It’s hard to even see our facilities through the clouds of diesel smoke belching from all their ancient equipment. Toyota could have a field day at Vancouver’s four port docks. Just saying.