The diesel engine was not common in trucks in Europe until the 1930s. After World War I, several advances were made: electric starters, and 4, 6, and 8 cylinder engines.Īlthough it had been invented in 1897, the diesel engine did not appear in production trucks until Benz introduced it in 1923. Trucks of the era mostly used two-cylinder engines and had a carrying capacity of 1.5 to 2 t (3,300 to 4,400 lb). The first truck in the United States was built by Autocar in 1899 and was available with 5 or 8 horsepower (4 or 6 kW) engines. Other companies, such as Peugeot, Renault and Büssing, also built their own versions. A year later, in 1896, another internal combustion engine truck was built by Gottlieb Daimler, the Daimler Motor Lastwagen. Later that year some of Benz's trucks were modified to become busses by Netphener. In 1895 Karl Benz designed and built the first internal combustion truck. 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 known as light commercial vehicles, and those over as large goods vehicles. The market-share of electrically-powered trucks is growing rapidly, expected to reach 7% globally by 2027, and electric motive force already predominates among both the largest and smallest trucks. The majority of trucks currently in use are still powered by diesel engines, although small- to medium-size trucks with gasoline engines exist in the US, Canada, and Mexico. 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'. 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. Smaller varieties may be mechanically similar to some automobiles. 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. A Mitsubishi Minicab MiEV battery-electric truck.Ī truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work.

Forklift accident report