3 Ways Our Customers Have Inspired Our Hauler Designs

When designing a new generation of hauler, manufacturers are up against several challenges. First, how to increase performance and payload while also improving fuel efficiency. And second, how to add new technological and safety features while maintaining ease of use. From a customer standpoint, we’re also seeing increased requests for customization of haulers to meet their unique application requirements. Here are ways customer feedback has shaped our articulated hauler lineup.

1. Balancing payload and fuel efficiency: We understand that customers want to increase payload capacity, but not at the expense of burning more fuel. So, when Volvo Construction Equipment increased the payload capacity of several of our models — including 1-ton increases on the A25G, A30G and A35G — we also added new fuel-saving features such as our Volvo Dynamic Drive, which provides an improved gear shifting strategy that can result in a 3 to 10 percent improvement to fuel efficiency, depending on the model.
2. Balancing new technology and ease of use: From a safety standpoint, Volvo Construction Equipment has integrated a number of new technologies aimed at making it easier for operators to work more safely and make more informed decisions. For instance, on-board weighing automatically alerts operators when nominal load has been reached to prevent overloading, Hill Assist holds the hauler in place when working on uphill slopes of 10 percent or greater without the need to engage the parking brake, and our Dump Support System allows operators to see the percentage side inclination of the truck and set allowable parameters for safe dumping operations.
3. Building custom applications: While the articulated hauler is often viewed primarily as an off-road production machine, many customers see unique benefits in using the platform of a hauler for different applications. As such, we formed a Special Application Solutions group that can help customers with manufacturer-supported customization solutions to Volvo haulers. Popular specialty applications for our chassis include water trucks, fuel tankers, containers for waste, log hauling and pull-behind scrapers. Many of these options are particularly popular as low-hour, second-life customizations to a used hauler that was retired from a production environment.

Visit our Special Application Solutions page to learn more about customizing Volvo articulated haulers to match your specific jobsite requirements — and be the inspiration that helps keep product design on the cutting edge.