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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.

Federal regulators said they plan to issue proposed rules this year covering stability control systems and speed limiters on heavy trucks, as well as establishing a national drug and alcohol clearinghouse for commercial drivers.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Officials of brake manufacturer Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems said they are wrestling with the challenge of manufacturing and distributing replacement parts for a defective valve that could cause braking problems, which prompted federal and heavy-duty truck manufacturer recalls.