This past week I was asked by Warner Truck Center of Salt Lake City, UT to attend the Utah Trucking Association Convention in Saint George, UT as their guest to host a ride-n-drive session with some of the other UTA members. I gratefully accepted this opportunity to showcase my truck “Silver Lining” and show the good folks of the UTA just how the Cascadia Evolution DD15/DT12 combination is revolutionizing the trucking industry. It was also a great way to get away to some of the most beautiful landscapes I know of in the West, the red rock canyon backdrops of the Saint George area.
The night prior to the actual event, I met several prominent fleet owners at the UTA pre-event dinner and was thrilled at their receptiveness to the new fuel efficient trucks coming into the market. Many had heard a little something about the new DT12 automated manual transmission, but most were stuck in the mindset of comparing it to other transmissions already on the market. Overcoming the "black cloud" aspects of other automated transmissions would need a real "test drive" to be dispelled. Knowing how other AMT’s have performed in the past through personal experience and use, I openly invited them to participate in taking my truck out the following day on a test run around Saint George.
On the day of the event, it would be an understatement to say that a few people wanted to try out the new Evolution equipped with the DT12 AMT. Most of the fleet owners I had the pleasure of meeting were involved to some capacity in the heavy-haul portion of our industry. With rumors circulating at the convention of a heavy-haul version of the DT12 in the works, they were anxious to get a taste of the current Detroit transmission and its practical capability. As I am a solo driver, I can honestly say I have not sat shotgun in my own truck, ever. I was a little nervous about the idea of letting someone I didn’t know drive my truck, but was calmed by the fact that all of the participants were fleet owners that had driven for many years. The response to the new truck was just as I hoped and expected. All of the comparative statements made were soon forgotten as they applied the accelerator and felt the smooth shifting of the DT12. Being able to have a conversation without screaming over the noise of an engine, due to the superb insulation in the Evolution, was another key feature that most noticed as we cruised down the road. The other key feature that received a fair deal of attention was the creep mode, which I chose to demonstrate on a steep freeway offramp at the end of the course. They were blown away by the fact that the truck would inch itself from a standing start without acceleration, even while fully loaded and on an incline.
I never thought I would be able to relax and have a good time watching other people drive my truck, which would usually pose a very stressful situation to even think about. In doing so, I learned even more about the features of my truck and how to better utilize them in my own applications. I would like to thank all the great folks over at Warner Truck Center of Salt Lake City for inviting me to this event and allowing me the opportunity to show others just how well the Freightliner Evolution equipped with the DD15 engine and DT12 AMT can perform in real-time.