“I have missed seeing my daughters grow up and now they’re grown. “The worst thing is that you are always away from home,” he says. The tachograph ensures he doesn’t break the rules, not that Lázaro has any interest in doing so. After the second six-day stretch, he goes home to the town of Blanca, in Murcia, where he has two days off before getting back to work. Then he starts over for another six days. After six days, he parks at a service area and stops for 24 hours straight. He takes a 45-minute break every four hours. Lázaro always drives at 90 kilometers per hour, for nine to 10 hours per day over six uninterrupted days. Time is measured by the boring passage of kilometers and hours by the cups of coffee drunk alone in gas station cafeterias and by visits to industrial parks to drop off or pick up freight. Normally, though, absolutely nothing happens.
The car was dragged for around 10 meters but the driver was unhurt.
SAMUEL SÁNCHEZĭuring his career as a truck driver, there have been a few incidents: once, years ago, near a French gas station, an immigrant hid under his vehicle in a bid to enter the UK and was spotted by French police another time, in winter, on the outskirts of Berlin, his diesel and heater pipes froze and he had to spend the whole night in the freezing cold without the option of moving from the parking lot and once, on the outskirts of Paris, he had an accident – his only one – hitting a car while changing lanes. Inside his cab, he uses his laptop to keep himself entertained. Trucker Lázaro Bermejo, in the first photo at Cambridge Services in England, and in the other images, at a service station near Blois (France). Lázaro is 51 and has been traveling roads and highways like this one for 24 years. If not, he will toss and turn in his narrow bed, as usual. If he’s lucky, he’ll get drowsy and fall asleep fast, like he used to when he was young. It’s the second time he’s watched the series. Lázaro eats some of the food from his fridge and climbs onto the mattress in the cabin to watch a couple of episodes of Breaking Bad on his computer, recorded on a flash drive. The handful of other truckers that are parked there are already asleep or resting in their cabins. It’s a bit chilly outside and there’s no one about. He also takes a look at the cooling system, which keeps up a steady buzz all night. He casts his eye over the trailer locks and the wheels and checks the tachograph, which records speed and distance. The routine is the same tonight as every other night. Lázaro prepares to spend the night there. He parks behind the gas station next to another huge truck that has its cabin curtain drawn. Lázaro left the southeastern Spanish region of Murcia two days ago with 24,000 kilograms of grapes that must be delivered undamaged by Friday near Cambridge in the United Kingdom. This service area is no different from any other. Lázaro Bermejo arrives with his refrigerator truck at the Beaugency-Messas service area near Blois, in central France. Day 1 Meeting at the Beaugency-Messas rest area (France) EL PAÍS rode with a veteran Spanish truck driver for four days through France and the UK and found that driving a truck is not only unromantic, it can also be very depressing. Despite the money that can be made, the younger generations are not tempted. Trucking is a hard and extremely lonely job, involving days away from home and nights at unwelcoming service areas or lay-bys. In Spain, the required figure is over 15,000. In Europe, demand will be around 400,000 over the next few years.
It will surely sound like the future.įor the latest car news, follow and Dan Carney on Twitter.The lack of international truck drivers is one of the causes behind the bottleneck in international trade.
But most critically for truck operators, it will get the equivalent of 10 to 15 miles per gallon, as compared to 5.5 mpg for a diesel.Īnd in addition to using less fuel, that natural gas is also cheaper than diesel and the first 5,000 customers to place orders are promised free gas at Nikola’s 20 nationwide fueling stations for their first million miles.Īll of this surely sounds like a no-brainer to truck drivers, but the sound we want to hear is that of this turbine-powered hybrid electric on the road. Zero to 60 acceleration time is halved, from one minute to 30 seconds. It has about quadruple the horsepower and double the torque of a regular truck, so it can power up steep hills at 65 mph, when today’s trucks would slow to 20 to 40 mph in such climbs. This arrangement gives the One a driving range of 800 to 1200 miles per tank, compared to 500 to 700 miles for a conventional truck. Diesel-electric locomotives employ a similar system for its tremendous efficiency, but the One goes that model one better by using inexpensive and clean-burning natural gas in place of grimier diesel fuel.