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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said last week it will conduct research surveys of motor carriers, truckers and technology vendors in an attempt to meet a court requirement that electronic onboard recorders are not used to harass truck drivers.

Green Energy Oilfield Services said it will take delivery of 60 Peterbilt 388 liquefied natural gas-powered trucks in April.

Brenntag North America, a distributor of diesel exhaust fluid, said it opened a bulk rail transfer terminal in Leduc, Alberta, its fourth in Canada.

Smith Electric Vehicles Corp., a manufacturer of all-electric commercial vehicles, said it has signed a letter of intent with Wanxiang Group, a maker and supplier of automotive parts, to develop electric commercial vehicles for multiple industries in China.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will hear public comments at the Mid-America Trucking Show next month about the potential that drivers using electronic onboard recorders could be harassed by the carriers they drive for.

Fleet maintenance directors and their suppliers will return to Tampa, Fla., this week to discuss ever more complicated techniques for eking out new slender margins of efficiency to keep the nation’s trucks rolling down highways longer and more smoothly.

Equity firm Audax Group on Monday announced it has acquired Phillips & Temro Industries, a manufacturer of heating, cooling and silencing products for heavy-duty truck engines. Terms were not dislosed.

With a federal mandate on the use of electronic onboard recorders looming over the trucking industry, U.S. carriers may be following a regulatory course similar to one that their European counterparts have been dealing with for several years.

Software providers Ortec and Xata Corp. have announced enhancements to Ortec Mobile, a routing and scheduling software for fleets.