Published March 2007

Not Your Father’s Service Vehicle

By Ed Wodalski

If you think today’s vacuum trucks look more like your living room and less like a truck, it’s not your imagination. They’re a far cry from the vehicles of only a few years ago. With a price tag of about $65,000 to over $150,000—with a $75,000 price tag being fairly common—today’s operator-friendly trucks sport custom-paint schemes, air-ride seats, air conditioning and CD players. Steve Nelson is the owner of TankTec in Minneapolis. He says today’s trucks are getting lighter, bigger and more efficient. And computer-monitoring systems enable some rigs to think for themselves.