The Very-Many-Questions-Not-Worth-Their-Own-Thread Thread XXXIV

[Timsup2nothin]

Why do European trucks look different than American trucks?
Yes, could be a design thingy, but i thought most of the design was dictated by aerodynamics and other engineering properties.

Edit: this is a typical German truck

Spoiler :

Thus is what I consider to be an “American“ truck. Never seen one like those

Spoiler Truck :

Range.

 

[Broken_Erika]

European trucks don't need to drive for days or weeks at a time.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

European trucks don't need to drive for days or weeks at a time.

I said that.

I used just one word.

I win.

 

[shadowplay]

I said that.

I used just one word.

I win.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Is that from Carmageddon?

 

[Chukchi Husky]

It's from Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing, one of the worst games ever made.

 

[Arakhor]

That was my first impression, too. Carmageddon (particularly its sequel) was thoroughly tasteless, but it worked well and was actually fun to play.

 

[Cutlass]

Why do European trucks look different than American trucks?
Yes, could be a design thingy, but i thought most of the design was dictated by aerodynamics and other engineering properties.

Edit: this is a typical German truck

Spoiler :

Thus is what I consider to be an “American“ truck. Never seen one like those

Spoiler Truck :

You got most of the pieces already. There's more backstory to it. The US and Canada are far more dependent on trucks for freight hauling than Europe. They are faster and more flexible than trains. Well, the train can go faster, but the freight gets to its destination faster by truck. And in the huge parts of the nation where the population is thinner than most of Europe, the freight rail system is less extensive, and so not of use in any case.

Add in also that European towns and cities largely cannot accommodate trucks that size, and American and Canadian cities can. So you can more easily get from endpoint to endpoint with the bigger truck in America.

Now when you've got the freight to fill it, a bigger truck cost less per mile to operate. Your main parts of the operating cost are the fuel and the driver. The American driver is moving as much as 3 or 4 European drivers. And probably working longer days and driving greater miles per day as well. But is using much less than 3-4 times the amount of fuel also. So the per-distance freight cost is lower.

That space behind the driver's seat window is called the sleeper. In one that size, the driver can have a bed, chemical toilet, refrigerator, coffee maker, and cabinets. It's a miniature camper. The space below that is all fuel tanks. If necessary, that driver doesn't need to exit the cab of that truck at all for several days at a time. No European country is too large to drive across in a day. And I'm betting that even with the EU, few trucks are spanning the whole continent. That's not true in North America, where that truck could from Boston to Los Angeles in maybe 5 days. And it's not at all uncommon for an American truck like that to clock 100,000 miles in a year.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Isn't the American trailer also hauling standard shipping containers? I imagine less goods in Europe are transiting through a port on the way to their destination, unlike American and Canadian goods imported from Asia.

 

[Cutlass]

Isn't the American trailer also hauling standard shipping containers? I imagine less goods in Europe are transiting through a port on the way to their destination, unlike American and Canadian goods imported from Asia.

Only a minority of them. Inter-modal transport, as the name says, goes by multiple carrier types. But will spend most of its distance on ship or train. Those usually only have their terminal destinations by truck. Most freight that goes by truck goes in trailers like the one in The_J's picture. Inter-modal is low cost, as it reduces the expense of handling and loading the carrier. But it's not fast. So is used for international transport and low value transport. That trailer in that pic may have more than 25% more volume than an inter-modal shipping container. And it weighs a lot less, as that trailer has a steel frame, but, very thin, aluminum walls. Where as an inter-modal container is steel thick and heavy enough to be stacked 8 high.

 

[Takhisis]

I've seen it that way too. Anglicized nitwits. I met one woman with that spelling who insisted hers was the correct Gaelic spelling. She couldn't even tell me what it meant.

Tell her that Sh and bh are pronounced h and v in Gaelic and there's no V grapheme in the current alphabet. Also, have you ever spelled it Sioḃan?

Where's the cheapest place to buy and dl DRM free songs? No strings attached, I just want a song file I can do whatever with.

Rip the song off Youtube and mail a check for 99 cents to the artist.

This.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

Tell her that Sh and bh are pronounced h and v in Gaelic and there's no V grapheme in the current alphabet. Also, have you ever spelled it Sioḃan?

That would be silly. There's no "vee" sound then to the uneducated eye. Unless you were just planning to be stylish.

 

[Hrothbern]

Why do European trucks look different than American trucks?
Yes, could be a design thingy, but i thought most of the design was dictated by aerodynamics and other engineering properties.

Much bigger, range and space for sure the big reason.... but also much more variety in shape
Not an effecient boring box, but trucks with a real identity.... a piece of beauty.... something to be proud on and to love.

Has that not also to do with the ownership ?

In Europe drivers are and have mostly been employees. And is it not so that in the US it is much more common that drivers own or lease their truck ?
(perhaps that changed over the last decades...)

That space behind the driver's seat window is called the sleeper. In one that size, the driver can have a bed, chemical toilet, refrigerator, coffee maker, and cabinets. It's a miniature camper. The space below that is all fuel tanks. If necessary, that driver doesn't need to exit the cab of that truck at all for several days at a time

European trucks have also their sleeping 1-2 bed sleeping space.

Sounds to me for American truckers as much more than a job, but a way of life
without that much of a life at home, if any at all.

 

[metatron]

Why do European trucks look different than American trucks?
Yes, could be a design thingy, but i thought most of the design was dictated by aerodynamics and other engineering properties.

It's largely a matter of regulation - the European trucks look the way they do in direct response to stringent taxation rules and regulations up to outright prohibitions.
To that end all manner of things (like aerodynamics or driver leisure space) are compromised.
Regulations and taxation relating to vehicle length alone "kill" the (obviously sensible) motor-in-front-of-cabin arrangement stereotypically associated with American trucks.

 

[Snerk]

This.

No. All the music. Not just niche slav music. Thanks though.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Sounds to me for American truckers as much more than a job, but a way of life without that much of a life at home, if any at all.

It's exactly like that for a lot of them. There were even a couple of TV series about it, back in the '70s. One was called Movin' On, starring Claude Akins and Frank Converse. I found some episodes on YouTube. The theme music is kinda catchy.

The other was called BJ and the Bear, starring Greg Evigan. I remember a line from the theme song... trucking is definitely a way of life for BJ, as he lives in his truck, and there's a line: "And best of all, I don't pay property tax!"


As for real life, my dad was a trucker for awhile, and sometimes he was gone for long periods - trips to BC or up north. But it was just a job to him, and not a way of life.

My mom's second husband was also a trucker. As for his way of life... best not to get into that on a day when I don't want to be angry.

 

[Zkribbler]

Occupational hazard of being a trucker.

 

[Takhisis]

That would be silly. There's no "vee" sound then to the uneducated eye. Unless you were just planning to be stylish.

Notice that it's a ḃ, i.e. a b with a dot on it. Anybody with a decent ‘Irish’ setting on their keyboard should be able to use lenited consonants as is done on old books:
ḃṗṁċġḋṫ
(and get proper rendering support)

No. All the music. Not just niche slav music. Thanks though.

In general, go for bands who distribute their own music, rahter than Gene Simmons who thinks people should be charged every time they listen to a KISS song.

Oh… Black Sabbath have officially uploaded their first two albums to YouTube already. If you don't like Black Sabbath you don't like heavy metal and if you don't like heavy metal then you're not a true Scandinavian Viking.

 

[Snerk]

Sorry but again no. Don't care about that. I'll go for the music my ears enjoy the most. Regardless of the any thoughts the creators may or may not have on the payment structure of music distribution.

 

[Takhisis]

Then just do as Lexicus says.