All products were introduced at the Mid-America Trucking Show:

Lighter Flatbed
Utility Trailer Manufacturing introduced the 4000A flatbed trailer, which is 400 pounds lighter than the 2000A flatbed it replaces but offers equal beam strength with higher-strength steel.

The 4000A flatbed’s lower tare weight results from an aluminum/steel composite design. A newly configured 80,000-psi high-tensile steel hat-shaped main beam top flange is responsible for the greater strength.

“Our goal was to bring to market an optimized flatbed trailer that would provide the maximum return on investment for our customers,” says Jeff Bennett, Utility Trailer’s vice president of engineering. “We did this by eliminating 400 pounds of steel and aluminum on the base model flatbed, which not only reduced material costs but enabled the trailer to carry more payload.”
Utility Trailer Manufacturing
www.utilitytrailer.com

Gen-a-Sys Solutions Hybrid APU
Portland, Ore., small fleet owner and part operator Bruce Wingen designed Enertek Solutions’ new Gen-a-Sys Solutions hybrid auxiliary power unit, which debuted at MATS in the fifth-wheel-mounted daycab pictured. Wingen and company then toured the nation showing off the nickel metal hydride battery-powered daycab system and the hybrid sleeper system.

The 1987 Peterbilt 359 they toured in is part of Wingen’s 40-truck Chevelle Trucking fleet, and it was outfitted with an Espar fuel-fired heater, two Electro Energy NiMH batteries mounted in a box on the frame rail, a Coleman A/C unit and a 4-stroke, liquid-cooled twin cylinder genset that powers on and off as it senses auxiliary battery charges reaching low levels.