We are pleased to welcome Charlie Cox & Bob Towle to our Emissions Specialists Team
Charlie Cox is an Emissions Compliance Specialist with Velocity Vehicle Group. Charlie has a great deal of experience designing compliance strategies for clients who are subject to diesel emission regulations from the California Air Resources Board (CARB), as well as local air pollution authorities like the South Coast AQMD. He is a member of CARB's Off-Road Implementation Advisory Group (ORIAG) and currently serves as the first chairman of the ORIAG retrofit subcommittee. He has developed emissions compliance plans for several of the largest construction and trucking companies in the United States representing more than 100,000 vehicles and has contributed to several industry publications on the subject of emissions regulations and retrofit technology.
Charlie's experience in working with grants and funding programs makes his consulting experience highly relevant in the current regulatory climate. He has been invited to speak before local, state and regional-level events conducted by the Associated General Contractors of California, Faster Freight/Cleaner Air, Californa Trucking Association, Great West Truck Show, AQMD, California Bus Association, California Dump Truck Owners Association, Clean Cities Coalition, National Pavement Expo and numerous educational events on the subject of emissions compliance.
Bob Towle has been worked in the diesel filtration market for twenty years and diesel emission reduction for the past seven.
His involvement in the emission technology started in the voluntary markets from the Ports of Long Beach to Oakland along with School Bus fleets. When the first regulations from the California Air Resource Board were mandated to the Solid Waste Collection industry, he worked with the majority of these fleets on a statewide basis.
As regulations developed with municipalities, utilities, off road and LSI, he has continued to worked with some of the largest fleets in the state with compliance strategies and programs. With new regulations addressing PM and NOx, he felt that it was important to offer all aspects needed to be in compliance.
With Velocity Vehicle Group, Bob can assist with sound compliance strategies that offer PM retrofits, EPA 07 Gliders, newer used vehicles, and new vehicles. This “total package approach” is what is needed to meet the new regulations.
VELOCITY VEHICLE GROUP PROVIDES TOTAL SALES, PARTS AND SERVICE SUPPORT ALL THE BRANDS BELOW,
THROUGH OUR VAST RANGE OF DIVISIONS
• LA Freightliner • South Bay Truck Center • San Diego Freightliner • Silver State Truck & Trailer • High Desert Truck & Trailer • Crossroads Equipment Lease & Finance • BusWest • Fleetlogic • SelecTrucks • TransWest Truck Center
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We are very pleased to announce the we have added Trans-West Truck Center in Fontana to the Velocity Vehicle Group.
The addition of Ford with their broad line of commercial vehicles will greatly expand the range of products that we can offer our existing customer base. Trans-West has access to almost the full line of Ford products, including trucks from Ranger, F150 and up to F750, vans from the new little Transit van to the E350, cab and chassis products for our bus division and SUVS and Crossovers including the Expedition, Explorer, Escape and the hot new Edge and Flex. Sorry no Mustangs or Tauruses as the “car” products are not covered by this dealership. The company will be owned by a new wholly-owned subsidiary of Los Angeles Truck Centers, Transwest Truck Center, LLC.
This marks the second acquisition this year for VVG after the earlier purchase of Diversified Truck Center’s Autocar business. The company is pleased to be in a position to take advantage of opportunities to grow and position ourselves to increase our leadership position in the commercial vehicle industry.
Please note, in the coming weeks we shall be updating all of V.V.G.s websites to reflect the additional truck sales, parts and service location in Fontana, including a revamped Trans-West website coming soon.
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— Southbay Truck Center Service has been selected for the 2008 Best of Carson Award in the Repair Shops category by the U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA).
The USLBA "Best of Local Business" Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USLBA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.
Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2008 USLBA Award Program focused on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USLBA and data provided by third parties.
About U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA)
U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA) is a Washington D.C. based organization funded by local businesses operating in towns, large and small, across America. The purpose of USLBA is to promote local business through public relations, marketing and advertising.
The USLBA was established to recognize the best of local businesses in their community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations, chambers of commerce and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to be an advocate for small and medium size businesses and business entrepreneurs across America.
SOURCE: U.S. Local Business Association
CONTACT:
U.S. Local Business Association
Email: PublicRelations@USLBA.net
URL: http://www.USLBA.net
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WHITTIER - When truck retail giant Los Angeles Freightliner opened for business 30 years ago, a big rig's smog controls weren't exactly a big selling point.
Dealers moved trucks by touting raw horsepower, reliability and comfort.
While power and economy are still important today, new air quality regulations have made emissions a top feature - particularly for the estimated 14,000 drivers hauling goods in and out of the sprawling Long Beach-Los Angeles seaport.
"Back then, (drivers) were interested in air suspension, big power and power steering," said Dean Kitakis, a Freightliner dealer who has sold trucks in Southern California since the early 1980s.
"I can't remember anybody being concerned about emissions. Now, they tend to ask," he said.
The sea-change in attitude about emissions has been prompted by recent clean-air proposals by port authorities on both sides of San Pedro Bay. Under pressure from community groups concerned about soot-spewing trucks, port commissioners are seeking to ban access to marine terminals by the most-polluting rigs (those built before 1990) starting Jan. 1, 2008.
The ban would grow progressively stricter through 2012, when all harbor drayage trucks would need to meet 2007 EPA emissions standards - either through vehicle replacement or, in the case of trucks built after 1994, retrofit with a particulate filter.
If the plan withstands potential legal challenges by the trucking industry, many of the estimated 16,000 trucks currently doing business in the harbor will be phased out in the next half-decade.
Economists put the cost of such a fleet turnover at more than $1.5 billion - nearly half of which is expected to come from grants provided by public agencies.
For dealerships like Los Angeles Freightliner, the pending changes could mean a windfall in sales in the near future.
"We're getting a lot of interest from drivers and motor carriers curious if there's enough trucks available and cost and things like that," said Kitakis during an interview inside the company's Whittier headquarters. "We think (our) supply chain could handle an order of 500 or more trucks very fast."
L.A. Freightliner is counting on long-term relationships in and around the harbor to secure business during the changeover.
The company estimates it has sold several thousand trucks that immediately or eventually went into service in the harbor, including more than 500 to drivers using port-sponsored grants since 2002.
Those grants, offered through the Gateway Cities Council of Governments, provide drivers with highly subsidized newer trucks - often exceeding 80 percent of the total purchase cost - in exchange for their old beaters.
Joe Palma, a harbor trucker for 35 years, purchased a truck from Freightliner in 2004 using a Gateway grant.
In exchange for his 1983 Kenworth, Palma received $38,000 in credit toward a greener truck. He picked out a 2000 Freightliner retailing for $52,000, applied the credit and took out a loan for the remaining $14,000.
The newer truck, which is more than five times cleaner environmentally, required no down payment.
"I didn't have to pay anything out-of-pocket except for a few dollars for (administrative) fees," said Palma, who works as an independent contractor in the port. "I was skeptical when I first heard about the program, but it's been good. My truck has been great, and the mileage is much better."
The Gateway program often offers drivers more trade-in credit for trucks burning the most fuel and spitting out the most smoke.
For example, a smog-spewing clunker from the late 1970s can fetch substantially more than a mid-1990s model, even though both are much more polluting than a new truck.
But because pre-1989 trucks had virtually no emission controls to trap hazardous diesel particulate matter, they are considered the most dangerous - and therefore the most valuable to take off the road.
Beginning in 1994, federal air quality regulations placed the first emission controls on heavy-duty trucks. This engineering feat will allow mid-'90s and later models to undergo a retrofit to be accepted in the port plan, but at a cost of around $15,000 to $20,000 per vehicle.
As yet, grants have not been made widely available for retrofitting and interest is weak, but L.A. Freightliner is gearing up for such projects.
The company is working with Cleaire, a particulate filter production company, for retrofitting on a large scale, Kitakis said.
As for sales, the company believes it can provide several hundred trucks on short notice, and maintains an inventory of several dozen new and used trucks at its Whittier lot.
Smaller lots in Long Beach and Fontana can also accommodate a rush.
"We have a large staff that understands this industry, what (drivers) need and what kind of financing they would be comfortable with," said Freightliner Account Manager John Cannon.
Always the consummate salesman, Kitakis said the new trucks are not only less-polluting, but average more miles per gallon, have better turning radius and are more reliable.
"When these guys trade in their old trucks, which a lot of times are being held together by rubber bands and glue, they feel like they've died and gone to heaven," Kitakis said. "It's that much of a difference."
Author: Kristopher Hanson
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