By: Minesh Bhagaloo
Hanover - The organisers call it the world’s most important trade fair for mobility, transport and logistics. We call it the Hanover Truck Show.
Having said that, this biennial tribute to anything commercially related to motoring needs to be seen to be believed. Ask anyone involved with this harder side of the industry and he or she will tell you that this event is the platform for tomorrow’s trucks and tech.
This year’s show (the 65th), which took place last month, had no less than 322 world premieres of various sorts, and a total of 2 066 exhibitors from 45 countries showing their wares (China again headed the list of the 10 best-represented foreign countries).
But just as you start thinking that all we’re talking about here is a sea of trucks, think again. We flew over to Hanover to wander about the halls and were surprised to find the level of interactivity and novel wares doing the rounds.
REMOTE CONTROL
A highlight at the outset is the innovation arena, where we saw a driver step out of his cab and control his 25m-long truck remotely through a tablet, manoeuvring it backwards into a loading bay.
We saw the world’s first fully automated truck too, which (as with such cars) will – through various radars, sensors and cameras – steer itself safely along highways.
SIMPLE YET BRILLIANT
And there was our personal favourite, the trailer with rear axles which turn. Such a simple idea, yet so impactful on a decent trailer turning circle – we’ve all seen trailers battle through our suburb’s tiny intersections.
Another very cool spot is the test drive area which had a couple of intimidating heavy-weighters, but also proffered a few all-electric smaller commercials.
ELECTRIC VW UP
It was there that I got to pilot VW’s e-Load up, which debuted at the show. It’s a small urban delivery van based on the Up city car (which we don’t get in South Africa – probably cause we have the Polo Vivo), and I got to stretch its whizzy load-hauling legs.
With a total payload of 306kg and 1400 litres of lugging space, this thing would have Postman Pat green with envy. The 60kW/210Nm electric motor offers instant and zippy response, but the lack of sound certainly startled a few showgoers.
VW claims 12.6 seconds to get from standstill to 100km/h – before topping out at 130km/h – and it certainly felt capable. And most important, range is a very-usable 160km on a full charge, which should keep your city postman reasonably happy – as would an 80 percent recharge in 30 minutes at a European charging station.
VW TRISTAR - THE FUTURE HAULER
And while we’re talking VW, the manufacturer showed another little concept stunner called the Tristar, complete with 20-inch display, video conferencing, and even an onboard espresso machine. We didn’t get to play with this one, but it really was the swiss army knife of vehicles on show.
Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the first Syncro concept, the Tristar marries heavy-duty offroad bakkie with flexible transporting. The extended cab makes for roomy lodgings, the permanent 4x4 with mechanical rear diff-lock means you can get serious with your bundu-bashing, while the futuristic styling will make sure you don’t look out of place at your larney shopping mall. We also liked the watertight drawer under the flatbed, and the turnable front seats for those more sociable moments. Nice.
PIMP MY TRUCK
What we didn’t expect to find at the show was the Brakpan-spec pimp-my-ride specials. And as you can see from the pictures, trucks certainly make for a cool canvas to get creative.
It was interesting that MAN encourages a colourful approach, showing a series of “tattoo trucks” which you’d never want to get dirty. The many trailer designs were cool too, with the Jaegermeister tanker a top-10 show attraction.
CLASSICS
And then there were the classic trucks. Man oh man, which kid hasn’t dropped a jaw when seeing some load-hauling goliath come down the road.
These beauties will rumble you down memory lane, reminding you that there was also a classic and elegant side to trucking back in the day.
LEAN AND GREEN
Of course, like all motor shows these days, it’s all about lean and green, with Mercedes-Benz showing a sci-fi concept that was only missing Will Smith behind the wheel. Officially it’s called the Mercedes-Benz Future Truck 2025.
The overall show focus was firmly on CO2 this and Euro 6 that, with mention made of huge tax savings for European fleet owners running efficient fleets.
What also became obvious as I walked the halls was what a clean and white-collar industry trucking in Europe is, versus our old bangers and largely poorly trained drivers in South Africa (which is no fault of their own).
Yup, the IAA Commercial Vehicles, as its officially called, is quite a colourful event – with those who attend rather chatty and cheerful.
It’s also accessible, with trains out of central Hanover running right onto the showgrounds (or Messe as its known). And it’s rather successful too, with over a quarter of a million visitors going through the gates.
Now I wonder how difficult it is to get a truck licence.
Saturday Star