As expected, ATA's Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) Annual Meeting and Expo last month was a busy one. Technology took center stage for the majority of the event, with dozens of new product announcements and educational sessions geared around emerging technologies such as telematics and remote diagnostics, alternative powertrain designs and more.
If you didn't make it to Orlando, had to leave early or just couldn't quite keep up with everything happening, here's our comprehensive recap of everything Trucks, Parts, Service covered during the busy week.
TMC kicked off as it always does with a full slate of new product announcements on Sunday, Feb. 26.
TPS had people on site covering all of it and the other new products that followed during the event expo. The best way to see everything that was released during TMC is to check out the always updating New Product Releases section on our website. As a quick glance indicates, a lot of products hit the market at the end of February and first days in March.
The second day of TMC was task force day, when the council's more than dozen study groups get together to develop, update and brainstorm recommended practices (RP) for maintenance in the trucking industry. That's when we checked in in on the progress of a proposed RP for Safety Aspects for Electric Vehicles in service operations.
Chaired by Navistar’s Chas Voyles, the new task force hopes to develop a final RP document within the next two years and bring a fully formed RP to ballot at TMC’s Fall Meeting in 2024. Voyles admitted the timeline is accelerated — most RP take twice as long to develop — but said it is necessary. Most technicians in heavy-duty service bays today have never serviced a BEV in any capacity. Voyles said, “50 volts can stop a human heart” and added “education is of the upmost importance.”
TMC also had a strong list of technical sessions during the week.
