Mack Trucks releases MD Series upgrades
The Mack MD Series is available with diesel or electric drivetrain options in the MD6, a Class 6 model with a Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) of 25,995 pounds, and the MD7, a Class 7 model with a GVWR of 33,000 pounds. Mack Trucks, part of the Geely-owned Volvo Group, says the updates on these vehicles are now standard on the MD without raising its price.
Mack Trucks says the updates include enhanced driver comfort and safety features while improving ease of installation for body builders. The biggest change is that the MD’s cab is now four inches longer than the previous version, which gives drivers more seat recline and leg room.
The new dimensions make the updated MD Series easier to install a wider array of body installations than before, says the truck maker. This is owing to pre-wired body builder connections, relocated air dryer, and updated wheelbases to industry-standard Cab to Axle (CA).
The truck maker has now also added characteristics that it says have been popular with its Class 8 customers, and are now available for its Class 6 customers. This includes steering wheel controls for cruise control and the addition of telephone and audio functions, which the company says increase driver convenience and safety.
“The MD Series continues to build on the success of our initial medium-duty offering,” said Jonathan Randall, president of Mack Trucks North America. “Built with Mack’s heritage of reliability, these enhancements will provide a more versatile and efficient truck, across a wide range of applications,” he explained.
The MD Series is used in applications that include dry van/refrigerated, stake/flatbed, dump and tank truck vocations. The advantage of the Class 6 offering is that the MD6 model does not require a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) to operate for non-hazardous payloads.
Mack announced that its medium-duty Mack MD Electric available for the US vehicle classes 6 and 7 was available for order in July 2023, as the manufacturer’s second battery-electric model. The Mack MD Electric was first unveiled in March and is an offshoot of the diesel-powered version introduced in 2020.
Mack Trucks began with electric models with the LR heavy-duty electric model which it has been serially producing in the USA since 2021 at its plant in Macungie, Pennsylvania. In 2022, Mack Trucks launched a Vehicle-as-a-Service (VaaS) program. The all-inclusive leasing scheme was introduced to help customers manage expenses associated with acquiring the Mack LR Electric truck and integrate it into existing warranties.
Mack Trucks shares battery technology with its mother company, Geely-owned Volvo Group which has been making leaps and bounds in electric trucks with a full range of zero-emission vehicles for commercial operations.
Earlier this month, the US government released a further 521 million dollars in grants for the construction of over 9,200 new electric vehicle charging stations for commercial vehicles. The funds will be applied across thirty U.S. states. The largest project in California will receive $102 million for the ‘West Coast Truck Charging and Fueling Corridor Project’ to deploy charging and hydrogen fueling stations for zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles along 2,500 miles of key freight corridors in California, Oregon, and Washington, which marks the largest investment in the funding round.
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