D
NEWS
The new car transporter in operation – Picture Andrew Geddes
Legless and holey…and clever A PIONEERING NEW KIWI-BUILT double-deck car transporter breaks new ground – as much for what it leaves out, as for the features it includes. As in the absence of posts supporting much of the upper deck….and computer-designed cutouts in the steel structure of the trailer, designed to minimise tare weight. The holey transporter is the work of Dunedin company TL MacLean – commissioned by the transport arm of Southland and South Canterbury car sales operation HVS and its partner Kirk Haulage. A legless upper hydraulic ramp, a remote control run through a smartphone app and 3D computer-designed lightweight technology all feature in the new HVS transporter, which can be configured to take five large cars, utes or SUVs or up to seven smaller cars. TL MacLean managing director Barry
Armour says that the new-design two-axle trailer has “got some features that other car transporters don’t have. The hydraulic lowering bottom deck is pretty normal for a transporter, but the key feature of this is that the top deck doesn’t have any posts, which hydraulically lock in the top deck. “So when the deck’s down, it’s free: There’s nothing sticking up or in the way, so you can put something bigger through there like a truck with duals, because the posts aren’t in the way. The removal of the posts has been a big thing: You don’t hit doors, or mirrors. They’re always a pain and they stress-crack, because the top deck’s leaning on them. And they add weight.” It took almost 18 months to design the transporter and three or four months to build and test it: “The whole thing is done on a very clever computer programme that retains the structural integrity,” says Armour of the cutout design. “The size and location of the holes is all
worked out by TransTech Dynamics (transport engineers). The weight is taken out of the right places, with a virtual stress analysis system, so it doesn’t create a stress point, and it’s relieved of structural issues: It still has strength where it needs it, but you take out every bit of weight you don’t want or need. “We’ve been using this system for quite some time….we have a similar, computer-designed trailer that’s been running for over 10 years – but this one is all new and the biggest we’ve done.” Operation of the upper and lower ramps is controlled by a conventional remote, while a new Knorr-Bremse intelligent trailer access point (iTAP) app for Apple and Android smartphones wirelessly raises or lowers the trailer’s air suspension and reads axle weights. Says Armour: “It’s a bit new for NZ…we’re one of the first to run the new iTAP remote control.” T&D
Trucks & Trailers salesman takes top award MERCEDES-BENZ VAN SALESMAN FOR Auckland dealer Trucks & Trailers Vijay Chhagn has won a trip to Austria – for being the make’s top van salesman for the second consecutive year. His prize was attending the exclusive launch of the new Mercedes-Benz X-Class ute – the first of which are due at the Manukau City dealership next year. Trucks & Trailers has been an M-B van dealer in the North Island for 17 years and says it’s looking forward to adding the new ute to its model range. It’s already taking deposits for the ute – and is planning a state-of-the-art Mercedes-Benz van and ute showroom at its Manukau base. T&D 12 | Truck & Driver
*
Vijay Chhagn
T O F a b 3