Freightliner parent Daimler accepts federal funds

The new line of Freightliner trucks were unveiled at the Charlotte Bobcats Arena on Wednesday night. The new truck called the Cascadia will be produced at the Cleveland plant in Rowan County. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

The parent company of Freightliner Trucks has received nearly $40 million in federal funding to help develop cleaner, more fuel-efficient trucks, the U.S. Department of Energy announced Monday.

That money, in addition to $40 million in private company funding, will be spent for the most part at Daimler Trucks North America's existing research and development facilities at its headquarters in Portland, Ore., the company said Monday evening.

The money going to Daimler, which manufactures Freightliner trucks in Cleveland, is part of more than $187 million the federal government is awarding to nine projects to improve fuel efficiency for heavy-duty trucks and passenger vehicles.

Most of that money — $115 million — will go to Daimler and Navistar to develop more efficient Class 8 trucks, the largest long-haul trucks, and Cummins, which makes engines for the so-called "SuperTrucks."

"We are extremely pleased to receive this grant from the U.S. Department of Energy," Martin Daum, president and chief executive officer for Daimler Trucks North America, said in a company press release.

"This is an essential partnership that will ultimately create highly efficient technologies that will benefit the environment and the commercial vehicles industry," Daum said. "We see this as acknowledgment of our key strategic goal to make commercial transportation as environmentally friendly and as fuel efficient as possible and are committed to match it despite continuing economic and industry challenges."

The funding includes more than $100 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Private matching funds will push the total amount of money going into the projects to nearly $375 million, the Department of Energy press release said.

According to the press release, the nine projects will create more than 500 jobs, primarily researchers, engineers, and managers who will develop the new technologies. By 2015, the companies expect their projects expect to create more than 6,000 jobs, many in manufacturing and assembly.

The research and development project won't affect employment at the Freightliner plant in Cleveland, a company official said Monday.

"The majority of the planned $80 million in project funding, including the $40 million DOE award, will be spent in the Portland area for the duration of the SuperTruck project," Daimler spokeswoman Amy Sills said in an e-mail. "We will rely heavily on our Portland-based research and development and engineering staff to move this project forward, which now numbers 750. There are no plans to move engineering positions out of Portland.

"We will likely have additional local hiring requirements as time goes on, but it is too soon to provide specifics," Sills continued. "Note we are just now returning to full-time strength with our office and professional staff following a 10 percent capacity reduction in 2009, which was implemented due to recessionary pressures and an industry-wide drop in orders."

Elmar Boeckenhoff, senior vice president of engineering and technology for Daimler Trucks North America and director of the company's SuperTruck project team, said the funding will allow the company to "significantly accelerate our research and development" and "help us to quickly and fully explore the 'stretch' technologies that can lead to the next level of product innovation."

The Daimler SuperTruck project team will begin operation immediately, the company said. Project goals include the demonstration of a 50 percent total increase in vehicle freight efficiency through a five-year process focusing on advanced vehicle systems and engine technologies.