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Truck

A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction, with a cabin that is independent of the payload portion of the vehicle. Smaller varieties may be mechanically similar to some automobiles. Commercial trucks can be very large and powerful and may be configured to be mounted with specialized equipment, such as in the case of refuse trucks, fire trucks, concrete mixers, and suction excavators. In American English, a commercial vehicle without a trailer or other articulation is formally a "straight truck" while one designed specifically to pull a trailer is not a truck but a "tractor".[1]

"Trucks" and "Lorry" redirect here. For other uses, see Truck (disambiguation) and Lorry (disambiguation).

The majority of trucks currently in use are powered by diesel engines, although small- to medium-size trucks with gasoline engines exist in North America. The market-share of electrically powered trucks is growing rapidly, expected to reach 7% globally by 2027, and are already in service in various roles.[2] In the European Union, vehicles with a gross combination mass of up to 3.5 t (3.4 long tons; 3.9 short tons) are defined as light commercial vehicles, and those over as large goods vehicles.

" 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, and is widely used in the rest of the world. They were common in North American heavy-duty trucks but lost prominence when permitted length was extended in the early 1980s. Nevertheless, this design is still popular in North America among medium- and light-duty trucks. To reach 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 require the short turning radius afforded by the shorter wheelbase of the cab over engine layout.[42]

Cab over

"Cab-under" is where the driver is positioned at the front at the lowest point possible as means for maximum cargo space as possible.[44][45][46] Examples were made by Hunslet, Leyland, Bussing, Strick[47] and Steinwinter.[48]

[43]

"Conventional" cabs seated the driver behind the engine, as in most passenger cars or pickup trucks. Many new cabs are very , with a sloped hood (bonnet) and other features to lower drag. Conventional cabs are the most common in North America, Australia, and China, and are known in the UK as "American cabs" and in the Netherlands as "torpedo cabs".

streamlined

"Cab beside engine" designs are used for at shipping yards and for other specialist vehicles carrying long loads such as pipes. This type is often made by replacing the passenger side of a cab-over truck with an extended section of the load bed.

terminal tractors

HC: Heavy Combination, a typical prime mover plus semi-trailer combination.

MC: Multi Combination, e.g., B Doubles/road trains

Operations issues

Taxes

Commercial trucks in the US pay higher road use taxes on a state level than other road vehicles and are subject to extensive regulation.[110] A few reasons commercial trucks pay higher road use taxes: they are bigger and heavier than most other vehicles, and cause more wear and tear per hour on roadways; and trucks and their drivers are on the road for more hours per day. Rules on use taxes differ among jurisdictions.

Damage to pavement

The life of a pavement is measured by the number of passes of a vehicle axle. It may be evaluated using the Load Equivalency Factor,[111] which states that the damage by the pass of a vehicle axle is proportional to the 4th power of the weight, so a ten-ton axle consumes 10,000 times the life of the pavement as a one-ton axle. For that reason, loaded trucks cost the same as thousands of cars in pavement costs, and are subject to higher taxes and highway tolls.[38][39]

14.4% of trucking accidents cause cargo to spill

6.5% cause open flames

at Curlie

Truck

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Different sizes and classes of trucks in the UK

Hutchinson, Rollin W. Jr. (January 1912). . The World's Work: A History of Our Time. XXIII: 268–187. Retrieved 10 July 2009.

"Motor Trucks – The New Freighters: Quicker and More Reliable Service, Cleaner and Less Congested Cities, Concrete Examples of Saving"