Portland Community College (PCC) / News / June 11th 2010
Photos and Story by James Hill
The pollution caused by the new Cascadia Freightliner Class 8 truck that was donated to the Portland Community College Foundation last week is 1/68th of a truck built before 1998.
This high-tech, fuel efficient rig will be dissected, worked on and explored by PCC’s Diesel Service Program students to keep them abreast of the latest technology. Last week, it was donated to the school by Daimler-Freightliner Trucks via one of its local dealers – McCoy Freightliner. It’s part of an ongoing partnership with the PCC program, based at the Rock Creek Campus (17705 N.W. Springville Road), to train qualified workers in diesel service technology.
“The truck by itself is great, but Daimler has also provided us access to Freightliner,” said Russ Dunnington, diesel service instructor and program chair. “We will have an online ability to access information and interface with the vehicle. So all of these things together, the access to Freightliner, the truck, all of the components and the technical support we get from them, makes it a very good base for us to take things further. Technology is changing so fast. It’s hard to keep training up to pace without these sorts of donations.”
Keith Harrington of Daimler-Freightliner Trucks said the company had invested $450 million in this series and the engine alone represents more than $1 billion dollars in research and development. With help by Pat Thomas of Freightliner, who serves on the program’s advisory panel, the truck will be put to good use.
“It’s a significant piece of equipment in the industry today,” Harrington said. “The technology in these trucks continues to advance and it’s very important for students to understand that these things are becoming more and more electronic so, they still need to understand the basics, but the electronics are becoming very important. It’s amazing where the technology is going. The students need to be trained on the latest.”
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