The list of companies includes the Russian truck maker Kamaz, which is now subject to a list of EU sanctions. Kamaz was involved in a joint venture with Daimler Trucks, but the company has now discontinued all business operations in Russia.

“I would stress that our co-operation with Kamaz is and always was purely civilian in nature and was only concluded with this focus”, a spokesman for Daimler Truck told MT. “Daimler Truck supplies KAMAZ with civilian truck components exclusively and in the joint venture, only non-military Mercedes-Benz trucks and cabs were manufactured for Kamaz. It goes without saying that we have always strictly complied with all applicable export control and sanction regulations.”

The spokesman continued, “We are deeply shocked by the military violence in Ukraine and very concerned about the threats to peace and stability in Europe. We clearly stand for peaceful global cooperation and categorically reject any form of military force. Reflecting the geopolitical situation further intensifying, we have decided to immediately suspend all our business activities in Russia until further notice. We are monitoring the situation very closely and will continuously review our decision. We will obviously comply with all measures taken by the German government and the EU.”

Truck manufacturers have worked hard over many years to build up business in Russia and the current situation is undoubtedly causing problems. A statement from MAN lays out the company’s position: “MAN Truck & Bus is stopping the delivery and supply of trucks and after-sales components to Russia and Belarus with immediate effect until further notice, in light of the current sanctions situation. Local sales of trucks in Russia have also been discontinued. Production in St. Petersburg, which employs around 70 people, has been ramped down.”

In addition, the war has caused supply bottlenecks, resulting in production stoppages at MAN. This is affecting components plants in Nuremberg and Salzgitter.

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is also being affected, “This is accompanied by restrictions in the creation and scheduling of orders and delays in vehicle production, delivery and the supply of original parts. This has a direct impact on the availability of the MAN TGE,” the MAN statement continues.

“MAN Truck & Bus is doing everything in its power to keep delays in delivery times as short as possible. Due to the volatile situation however, short-term adjustments to the production programme are possible at any time.”

DAF is not involved in local manufacture or joint ventures in Russia but has operated one sales unit and 30 dealer locations in the country. In response to US and EU sanctions, a spokesman told MT, “We have therefore stopped the deliveries of our trucks and parts to Russia for an indefinite period. Orders for the coming months will be cancelled and postponed.”

Volvo Group operates a truck plant at Kaluga some 93 miles southwest of Moscow producing both Volvo and Renault Trucks. Like its competitors, production has ceased.

“Due to the military conflict in Ukraine, the situation in the region and the developing sanctions and export control regulations, the Volvo Group was forced to immediately bring all its operations in Russia to a temporary halt and take further measures to comply with applicable regulations. Such measures have included a temporary halt of all sales, service and parts distribution activities in Russia as well as a halt of production of trucks in the Kaluga plant, effective immediately”, a spokesperson for Volvo Trucks told MT.

The company has three wholly owned workshops in Russia as well as a further 78 with private partners. Volvo sold 5,700 trucks in Russia last year and has 346 employees there out of a total 1,337 employed by the Volvo Group. Russian-built Volvo trucks are not sold in the UK.

The Volvo Trucks workshops are dual-branded with Renault Trucks, which sold 899 trucks in Russia last year. A Renault Trucks spokesperson told MT, “The Volvo Group has temporarily halted its operations in Russia and taken further measures to comply with applicable regulations. Such measures include a temporary halt of all sales activities in Russia as well as a halt of production of trucks in its Kaluga plant effective immediately."

Tyre maker Bridgestone has also stopped its manufacturing in Russia and exports to the country. With no end to the conflict in sight, it is difficult to predict when sanctions will be lifted and production and sales might resume in Russia.

The post Truck manufacturers suspend trade with Russia as sanctions bite appeared first on Motor Transport.

In addition to a radical financial shake-up, the company unveiled more plans for its electric future with technology partnerships announced for advanced battery development, as well as high-speed charging and hydrogen fuelling infrastructures.

While the company enjoys a 40% market share in North America, chief executive Martin Daum warned: “We will reset profitability. Every region must deliver competitive performance and we are willing to implement the measures necessary to achieve this goal. We are willing to take hard decisions to lower our break-even and raise our performance."

The company will aim for an overall double-digit return of sales by 2025, as well as reduce fixed costs, capital expenditure and R&D spending by 15% by 2025, compared with 2019. Fixed cost reductions will include reducing personnel costs by €300m by next year.

The company promised a stronger focus on the more profitable heavy-duty segment in its main regions. At the same time it plans to grow its aftermarket and services revenue, including financial services, from 30% currently towards 50% in 2030.

In the firing line are all internal combustion engines. Daimler will work with partners instead to provide engines, as it does currently with Cummins for medium duty trucks. The company will seek more partnerships for heavy duty engines, a radical shift for when it has previously always developed and produced its own engines. Spending on conventional powertrain will be progressively reduced with the vast majority redirected to zero-emission technologies by 2025.

Both battery electric and hydrogen fuel-cell electric trucks will replace conventional power. Although the company recently said it expects that fuel-cells will likely power long distance trucks, it will also launch a battery-powered eActros with 500km range in the next few years and aims for an 800km (500 mile) range capability for a battery powered vehicle.

Read more

• Daimler fuel cell trucks to hit the roads in 2021
• Daimler/Volvo fuel cell joint venture a giant leap towards electric future
• Daimler/Volvo joint venture reaches major milestone with launch of Daimler Truck Fuel Cell subsidiary

To reach its future drivetrain targets, Daimler Truck has announced a range of new and expanded partnerships to deal with the key issues. The company has expanded its current global partnership with CATL to supply batteries for the eActros truck, starting from 2024. The partnership will also produce truck batteries for Daimler Truck’s North American operations. The aim is to develop more advanced lithium-ion battery packs with high energy density and longer cycle life.

Battery-powered trucks are going to need more developed charging facilities than those being installed for electric cars. To address this, Daimler Truck has established a partnership with Siemens Smart Infrastructure, ENGIE and EVBox Group to deal with strategic charging infrastructure.

This is aimed at charging infrastructure solutions for depot charging systems for truck fleets, as Andreas von Wallfeld, head of marketing, sales and services at Mercedes-Benz Trucks, explains. The partnership has been set up, "in order to be able to assist our customers with all manner of questions concerning planning, application and implementation processes concerning charging infrastructure, as well as with connection to the electrical network”.

As reported recently, Daimler Truck and Volvo Truck laid out their plans for the cellcentric hydrogen fuel cell joint venture. While that addressed the production of fuel-cells to power trucks, it does not cover the necessary hydrogen fuelling infrastructure that is needed across Europe to re-fuel these vehicles in the future.

This will be the subject of another joint venture agreement that Daimler Truck has announced, this time with Shell New Energies of the Netherlands. Shell plans to roll out a hydrogen re-fuelling network to connect three hubs for the production of “green” hydrogen – produced from renewable energy sources. The hubs are located at the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and Cologne and Hamburg in Germany. Shell’s aim is to open the fuelling stations between these locations from 2024. As previously reported in MT, Daimler Truck aims to hand over its first heavy-duty hydrogen fuel-cell trucks to customers in 2025.

Under the plan, the hydrogen freight corridor will be continuously expanded, with the aim of covering 1,200km by 2025. This should deliver 150 hydrogen re-fuelling stations and some 5,000 Mercedes-Benz heavy-duty fuel-cell powered trucks by 2030.

Daimler Truck and Shell are both members of the H2Accelerate consortium launched last December, which also includes IVECO, OMV and the Volvo Group. The consortium aims to expand the hydrogen fuelling infrastructure and stimulate production of fuel-cell powered trucks to reach 10,000 by 2030 in Europe.

The post Daimler Truck sets out independent future appeared first on Motor Transport.

By coincidence, two significant developments took place recently to address both issues.

In January MT made reference to the joint venture between Daimler Trucks and Volvo Group to develop and produce hydrogen fuel-cell systems. At the end of April, the chief executives of both companies jointly announced how they would go about this process. The joint-venture company was launched in March and was given the name cellcentric.

Both companies believe that there will be both battery electric trucks, like those appearing already, and fuel cell powered vehicles. Fuel cells will power vehicles where there is a need for long range, fast refuelling and high payload. Cellcentric was formed to speed up the development process.

Martin Lundstedt, Volvo Group president and chief executive explained that 2040 was the latest date by which all Volvo products should be CO2 free, while Daimler Truck chief executive Martin Daum explained that the truck industry fully agreed with the 2016 Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the EU Green Deal, which sets out to make Europe climate neutral by 2050. “The fuel cell is imperative for this ambitious timetable," said Daum. “We need a second source of energy as cars, trucks, buses and other vehicles all need electricity. We are reducing costs step by step."

Pre-series production is already under way and customer trials are due to begin using Daimler, Volvo Trucks and Renault Trucks vehicles in the next three years. Then by 2025, series production will be under way in a new factory. The location for this new plant has yet to be announced.

Daum laid out three essential elements – an attractive vehicle offering, hydrogen fuelling infrastructure and cost parity with diesel powered vehicles. Regarding infrastructure, Daum said, “Infrastructure needs massive investment and it has to start now. We need energy company and political involvement.”

Read more

• Daimler/Volvo fuel cell joint venture a giant leap towards electric future
• Tevva joins forces with energy firm Vattenfall to offer operators electricity and hydrogen infrastructure
• Government urged to back hydrogen fuel cells after bringing forward carbon emissions target

He believes that around 1,000 fuel stations will be needed across Europe by 2030 - “And it must be 'green' hydrogen, or it will be better to go on burning diesel.”

To be viable, Lundstedt believes that the price of 'green' hydrogen – produced from renewable sources, must be around €3 to €4 per kg. Pricing is clearly a concern. As Daum pointed out, zero emission trucks will be more expensive than diesel models and the risk that diesel powered vehicles could undermine those powered b 'green' hydrogen is one that needs to be taken seriously.

Infrastructure to distribute and dispense hydrogen safely is key to the take-up of fuel-cell powered vehicles. We take high-pressure diesel pumps at re-fuelling stops for trucks for granted. The design is the same across Europe and beyond and it will need to be the same for hydrogen too. That is the concern of the MultHyFuel project, a public/private partnership facilitated by the EU. The project is being co-ordinated by Hydrogen Europe, in collaboration with Air Liquide, ENGIE Lab CRIGEN, HSE, INERIS, ITM Power, Kiwa, Snam, Shell and ZSW.

Even though the UK has left the EU, both ITM Power and the HSE are providing valuable input to the project. Sheffield-based ITM Power manufacturers electrolysers to produce hydrogen from electricity, which can then be used to produce electricity in hydrogen fuel cells.

Hydrogen Europe was established in 2008 and has over 185 members, while its research group has some 83 members. Its remit goes beyond road transport into a wide range of industries that need hydrogen including railways and shipping.

MultHyFuel will cover a range of activities including standards, safety, education and consumer awareness. From a transport perspective its specific interests will be the regulation and safety of fuel dispensers for pressurised hydrogen gas, recognising that some countries have no regulations for hydrogen fuelling stations. It will consider the design of the vehicle connectors, co-location of hydrogen dispensers next to other forecourt fuel pumps and all the safety issues around dispensing flammable fuels.

With involvement from the project stakeholders, it will use the results to produce a report in 2023. Time will be tight if fuel cell vehicles are to hit the road in 2025.

The post Hydrogen lobby pumps up the volume appeared first on Motor Transport.

Even so, under the EU VECTO plan (Vehicle Energy Consumption Calculation Tool), carbon dioxide emissions from trucks must be cut by 2030. Since our trucks and buses are mostly sourced from EU countries and VECTO is applied to the manufacturer, the fact that the UK has left the EU is barely relevant as the vehicles produced would be designed to conform to the VECTO rules.

This means that by 2025, vehicle manufacturers must cut the CO2 emissions of their vehicles listed in the regulations by 15% by 2025, when compared with emissions in July 2019. The cut will then be increased to 30% by 2030, this time compared with emissions from June 2020. VECTO will apply to all vehicles exceeding 7.5-tonnes gross vehicle weight (GVW). A review next year could also include trailers under the regulations too.

This is likely to mean that measures to improve engine thermal efficiency discussed in recent years could find favour, since such developments would reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. These developments include exhaust energy recovery systems and we may well see more turbo-compound engines too.

Manufacturers may also consider hybrid diesel/electric powertrains. These measures are unlikely to provide a large enough improvement on their own and manufacturers will also have to consider other measures including improved aerodynamics and lower rolling resistance tyres.

VECTO is effectively the first simulation tool that can be applied to every single truck available to provide a useful measure of its individual CO2 emissions. VECTO will need data regarding vehicle category, axle configuration, weight, tyres, engine characteristics, transmission and auxiliary equipment such as air compressor, steering pump, air conditioning and their respective power consumptions. You might be surprised by how much power these systems consume. Then usage factors could also be factored in, including driver behaviour, payload, and vehicle configuration – what truck and trailer combinations it can be used with.

Since CO2 emissions and fuel consumption are linked, this could be good news for hauliers since a 15%t reduction in CO2 emissions translates roughly into a 15% reduction in fuel used, which could represent a significant cost saving.

Tyres undoubtedly have an important part to play. Low rolling resistance tyres can reduce fuel consumption and to meet the VECTO regulations, manufacturers are likely to be more specific about using low rolling resistance tyres on their vehicles. To obtain the optimum percentage reduction in emissions, you can guarantee that manufacturers will assume that tyres are inflated to the correct pressures, are in good condition and axles are properly aligned. To optimise the benefits on your own trucks it will be necessary to follow the same steps, i.e. using low rolling resistance tyres where possible, checking tyre pressures and tyre condition regularly and also ensuring that axles are correctly aligned.

VECTO will also make it easier for vehicle buyers to make comparisons of vehicle combinations using different manufacturers’ vehicles, because the VECTO data will be available at dealers. So if you want to compare how your operations are likely to perform using a range of trucks from different manufacturers, the data will help you to choose the vehicle combination that offers the lowest CO2 emissions, which will be the one that uses the least fuel.

On the downside, trucks with more advanced powertrains are likely to cost more and systems such as exhaust energy recovery systems and hybrid drivelines are likely to carry a weight penalty too. Since all manufacturers will be similarly affected, these things will be hard to escape.

From the regulator’s perspective, this is a matter of squaring the circle. This is the first time that CO2 emissions reductions targets have been set for trucks. Similar targets have been set for cars and vans, while electrification is likely to accelerate reductions in direct emissions from light vehicles. The European Commission has suggested that if nothing is done, the share of CO2 emissions from heavy vehicles could rise by around 9% between 2010 and 2030. Since the EU would like to reduce CO2 emissions overall by 60%t from 1990 levels by 2050, any increase would be off the table.

The post Truck makers mull best ways to slash CO2 emissions under EU VECTO plan appeared first on Motor Transport.

Wind back six months to the publication of 'SME Green Freight', commissioned by the Department for Transport from Ipsos MORI. DfT identifies barriers to small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) road freight operators from adopting 'greener' practices such as eco-driver training, telematics and switching to alternatively-fuelled vehicles.

Early in the report it states that there are three key barriers to SME hauliers adopting emissions reduction technologies, practices and behaviours, including two cost-related issues – the long payback period to recoup the initial purchase price and the high initial purchase price. The report then identifies three incentives previously explored, including financial incentives, then states, 'Financial incentives generated the most interest and offered the most potential to engage SMEs.'

The DfT doesn’t even have the excuse that the report was produced before the pandemic. Yet here we are six months later, still in lockdown and the government is cutting what provision there was.

'SME Green Freight' does attempt to quantify what SME hauliers could expect from adopting the various measures. Eco driver training could yield a 5% reduction in fuel used, with a payback period of between 12 and 18 months. Telematics systems offer savings of up to £3,600 per year per vehicle, while natural gas-powered vehicles offer a payback period between two and over five years.

What have hauliers experienced themselves? Alternative fuels seem to present the same issues – cost and fuelling infrastructure, as Derek Mitchell, MD of Caledonian Logistics, based near Aberdeen told motortransport.co.uk: “We’ve thought about natural gas powered vehicles but there is not much infrastructure in Scotland for the vehicles.”

Read more

• Cut to plug-in grant ‘a blow for commercial vehicle sector’, says BVRLA

Another issue is the payback period. If it takes over five years to gain payback, it would run foul of the replacement cycles that Caledonian Logistics follows, which is to replace vehicles every three to five years. The company could risk not recouping the cost of the vehicle in that time.

Fuelling infrastructure was also an issue identified by Robert Wilcox, MD of Somerset-based Massey Wilcox: “We would need a supply in the depot as being based rurally, it’s not likely we will see a facility close to us for quite some time. Of course to have this in the depot would be quite an expense and would mean that room had to be found above ground, whereas our diesel is underground. So I can’t envisage this happening any time soon.”

Logistics UK's policy manager for vans and urban, Denise Beedell, highlights another issue: “SMEs operators on the whole are the ones that are much more reliant on the second hand market.” That would inevitably rule many out from the alternative fuel market, although Beedell adds that Logistics UK has seen a bigger uptake in leasing for vehicles of all sizes among its members.”

Massey Wilcox has used a fuel bonus scheme to incentivise drivers, but found that it created problems of its own. “We had a fuel bonus running and it was the same band of drivers that attained it. The consensus of the others was generally they couldn’t be bothered to try. It could be that the remuneration is already quite high driven by the shortage, and they didn’t need to put themselves out to get the bonus?”

Similarly, eco-driver training might not be as effective as it could be for reasons beyond the hauliers’ control, “We have a good central core of drivers who stick with us, have good accident records and look after their trucks”, says Wilcox. “It’s the 20% margin or so that come and go with increasing regularity looking for the “next perfect job”. This is a result of the underlying shortage and drivers walk out of one job (often without working a notice) and into another no questions asked, because they can.”

As 'SME Green Freight' finds, the surest way to reduce the barriers for SME hauliers seems to be with money, which could support those wishing to try alternative fuel vehicles. It’s difficult to escape the fuelling infrastructure issues too. At a time when the government seems keen to cut budgets, extra financial support looks doubtful.

The post Major barriers remain for SME hauliers looking to go green appeared first on Motor Transport.

Despite the pandemic, 2020 was a year marked by a number of electric commercial vehicle launches including light and heavy CVs. There are more electric CVs on the market, with more to follow this year, than ever before.

At the light end of the market, this is partly driven by the desire to end sales of new cars with internal combustion engines by 2030 in the UK. Since most vans share their drivelines with car models, they will inevitably follow. While this does not directly affect trucks, the direction of travel is the same, with truck makers working towards climate neutral and sustainable transport by 2050.

Clearly this raises big questions about electricity generation. There are some 40 million vehicles on the roads in the UK and only around 100,000 of them are electrically powered at the moment. Switching some 40 million vehicles from internal combustion engines to electric power won’t happen overnight, but it certainly raises big questions for the electricity generation and distribution sectors. How will we provide enough electricity to power motor vehicles? How much of a problem is it?

"There is definitely enough energy and the grid can cope easily. The growth in renewable energy means this is not static and smart metering will make this more efficient”, Russell Fowler, senior transport decarbonisation manager at National Grid told motortransport.co.uk.

He is even prepared to talk numbers: “The growth in wind power from the extra offshore wind farms being developed will adequately meet the future demand for electrifying transport – an extra 100 terrawatt hours from our current 300 terrawatt hours consumption. Preparations have been underway for a while, as we’ve been discussing how best we can work towards the green transport changeover with government, electricity distribution companies, who transport the energy from the grid to homes and businesses, service station operators and charge point providers for over two years."

Read more

• Daimler/Volvo joint venture reaches major milestone with launch of Daimler Truck Fuel Cell subsidiary
• Daimler and Volvo in new joint venture to launch first hydrogen powered trucks by 2024
• Volvo to launch fully-electric heavy duty trucks

This may come as something of a relief. There will be a secure future for road transport without diesel in the UK. Clearly we will be heavily dependent on renewable energy to de-carbonise transport, but there are obviously issues when the wind doesn’t blow. Looking further ahead, probably on a 50-year timescale, there are other promising technologies under development.

Nuclear fusion is the process by which the sun produces energy and it has many advantages compared with nuclear fission, the way that we currently use nuclear energy to generate electricity.

Dr Nick Walkden, a senior scientist at the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and executive officer to the chief executive explains further: “It’s zero carbon. The process that you use to produce electricity does not produce carbon as a by-product. It is 'base load', so you can turn it on and off as you need to, or you can leave it running for 24 hours a day. It’s abundant, the fuel sources that we use are readily extractable from sea water, or will be by the time that fusion comes on line. We estimate that there’s about a million years of fuel resource within sea water and if we can’t do better within a million years we probably don’t deserve to.”

Compared with fission, nuclear fusion also generates minimal amounts of the long-lived radioactive waste that is problematic with fission. “That’s the stuff that really requires tens of thousands of years of storage. We don’t have that in fusion”, says Walkden. Because of that, it would be possible to build fusion reactors in town, on the coast, in the countryside, in fact just about anywhere they would be needed and they would not be the large structures that fission reactors demand.

In the meantime, National Grid has other technologies it can call on, such as interconnectors – high voltage cables that are used to connect the electricity systems of neighbouring countries. “They allow us to trade excess power, such as renewable energy created by the sun, wind and water, between different countries,” explains Fowler. “We already have interconnectors linking us to France, Belgium and the Netherlands and each year these power five million homes with clean energy.”

National Grid is working on two more to link the UK to Norway and Denmark. By 2030, 90% of the energy imported via interconnectors will be from zero carbon sources.

The post Daimler/Volvo fuel cell joint venture a giant leap towards electric future appeared first on Motor Transport.

It is many years since questions were first raised about the future capacity needs for road haulage and the realisation that our current reliance on the 13.6m long triaxle trailer would be unlikely to satisfy the capacity needed in years to come.

The government’s decision comes as the consultations on the 48-tonne intermodal freight trial closed in early January and on the longer semi-trailer (LST) trial closed at the beginning of February. These appear to be positive signs that the government recognises the need to address the freight capacity issue, although the DfT has yet to seek decisions on either consultation from government ministers.

What is not clear at this stage is whether the trial of the Denby Eco-Link will be permitted to proceed at 60-tonnes gross combination weight (GCW) on eight axles compared with the current 44-tonnes on six axles. At that weight, two Eco-Link B-doubles could replace three conventional 16.5m long artics. These vehicles could also provide reduced axle loads with an average of 7.5-tonnes per axle, reducing the potential for road damage.

Even allowing for the greater weight, if two Eco-Link road trains were able to replace three conventional artics, this would yield a reduction in overall fuel consumption, reducing costs as well as carbon dioxide and toxic pollutant emissions in the process.

Kevin Buck, managing director of Hazcomp, who has been involved in Denby’s campaign told MT: “60-tonne B Doubles suffer a lot less with individual axle overloading than a standard five-axle 40-tonne articulated vehicle operating in Europe.”

Read more

• Denby Eco-Link to hit the road ahead of major trial of 25-metre artics
• Dick Denby still hopeful for road trial of Eco-Link after 17 years

Although this all makes for a compelling argument, politicians and the general public tend to look at overall weight and size. Individual axle permitted weights and loadings take some explaining - and even though there is a positive case where cost, fuel consumption, emissions and road damage are concerned, 60 tonnes is a large increase over 44-tonnes and a 25.25m long combination is notably longer than 16.5m artic. This is where ministerial nervousness and civil service caution in anticipation of that nervousness could conspire to reduce the trial gross weight from 60-tonnes.

That would then hang a question mark over the point of the trial. Trials are run to gather as much data as possible and if the trial were to start by significantly reducing the options that could be included, it would substantially reduce the amount of useful data that could be gathered from the trial.

The additional weight of the second trailer would add somewhere between six and eight tonnes to the weight of the combination. Consequently, if trials were operated at 50-tonnes GCW, the additional weight would not offer an increase in payload compared with a 44-tonne GCW standard artic and may even offer a reduced payload. The Denby Eco-Link could carry around 12 to 14 more standard pallets than is possible with a 13.6m tri-axle trailer.

Commenting on the trial, Buck at Hazcomp said: “They offer the best environmental, commercial and operational benefits at 60-tonnes GCW, so anything less will be a compromise too far that would jeopardise any trial and potential take up of these vehicles.”

In a recent email to a DfT official, Dick Denby pointed out that LHVs are operating in six European countries at 60-tonnes GCW, and fearful that the government might want to run the trial at a lower gross weight added: “Many would find it difficult to imagine why the government would want us to run part loaded.”

Separately, DfT has told MT: “The Denby Eco-link is to be permitted specifically for tests. The details of the necessary permits, including operating arrangements and conditions of use, are to be finalised. Further consideration is being given about whether to allow more vehicles of this kind to be used for testing and, if that is the case, how to design a wider trial.”

One of the issues believed to be concerning the DfT is driver licensing to drive the Denby Eco-Link. Denby Transport’s own training department would be happy for any C+E licence holder to drive, if supervised by one of the company’s qualified trainers. If a more cautious approach is favoured, Denby has suggested that drivers licensed to STGO category two may offer a suitable starting point for the trials.

The post Denby Eco-Link trial go-ahead leaves key concerns unanswered appeared first on Motor Transport.

Even so, it could not have come at a worse time. The introduction, originally set for October 2020, had to be postponed until 1 March 2021 because of the pandemic and that date is looming up quickly. TfL has responded to concerns expressed by hauliers and organisations like the RHA about delays both in the application system and in having necessary equipment fitted to vehicles. Although the 1 March date still stands, TfL has granted a grace period of 90 days to operators who are having difficulty in fitting Safe Systems to vehicles that will need them. But that grace period only applies if the operator has applied to join TfL’s Allow List by 1 March.

Somerset operator Massey Wilcox has applied for 24 permits using TfL’s multi-vehicle application method. One was eligible for a permit immediately, 20 were zero star rated and the other three were not on the TfL database because they were new vehicles.

General Manager Ray Conneely takes up the story: “My biggest issue is the three that were not present on their database. Currently with new vehicles it can take up to 28 days for DVLA to update TFL’s database. Once it is on the list you can then apply, which can take another couple of weeks.”

It hasn’t ended there though: “It has been extremely difficult with installers insisting that vehicles are stood for 72 hours prior to fitment in order to reduce chances of residual viral contamination and cabs having to be totally cleared of personal property for the safety of the fitting staff.”

We took the problems up with TfL’s strategy and planning manager Alina Tuerk: “The 28-day delay is an issue for us, it’s really an issue for brand new vehicles, where we are relying on data from the DVLA to be able to pick them up on our database.”

One of the problems, says Tuerk is that TfL is currently limited to receiving data at 28-day intervals from DVLA. TfL has implemented systems improvements to try and combat this: “Even if it takes 28 days, there has been a shorter permit application time and one of our delivery partners who’s dealing with the single vehicle permit applications is now processing those within one day of receipt, so much quicker than it was before.”

Other steps include improving data transfer processes with some vehicle manufacturers. In some cases this means that TfL does not need to rely on DVLA data. TfL is also considering an option for operators to self-certify their zero star vehicles, on the understanding that the necessary work to fit Safe Systems is carried out.

The Road Haulage Association points to other problems surrounding fitting the equipment: “It is about sourcing the equipment, particularly if the supplies are coming from Europe, all wrapped up in that set of issues and then the time taken to fit the equipment”, says Chris Ashley, head of policy - environment and regulation. “We’re getting extensive feedback to say that the fitters involved are either furloughed or they’re self-isolating and in some circumstances we’ve had reports of fitters who are not actually willing to travel because they don’t want to spread the virus.”

That isn’t cutting much ice with TfL, though. Tuerk said TfL has spoken to a number of fitting companies both large and small: “They were looking at about a two week wait time at the moment, so with this grace period of 90 days, that should be able to take care of that.”

To qualify for the grace period, operators need to be on TfL’s Allow List. They will need to supply TfL with details of Safe Systems fitting dates and vehicle registration numbers. A special email address has been set up for the purpose on TfL’s DVS web page – details are below. But Tuerk stresses that operators must make sure they get onto the Allow List before 1 March: “They will not qualify afterwards”, she warns.

The post Direct Vision Standard – a good idea at the worst possible time? appeared first on Motor Transport.

Malcolm operates trains on regular routes running from one of six multimodal terminals in Scotland. Using skeletal trailers and containers, or swap bodies, Malcolm is able to considerably reduce the number of road movements south by using rail to take loads to the Daventry International Freight Terminal (DIRFT).

Using the rail journeys from Grangemouth in Scotland to DIRFT, Malcolm reckons that with a train taking a typical load of 28 containers and maximum of 36, it can save between 19,000 and nearly 25,000 road miles with each train round trip. Malcolm’s proposal has been named, “48 Tonnes for 48 Miles”, because it is designed to use specific designated routes to the railhead using trunk roads over relatively short distances.

Why 48-tonnes? This is driven by the difference in weight between a typical trailer and container/swapbody combination used for intermodal operations (approximately 10.8 tonnes) compared with a curtainsider used for general haulage (approximately 7.0 tonnes), which gives a 44-tonne GCW curtainsider combination a payload advantage of around 3.8-tonnes. The move would compensate for the extra weight of the container/swapbody combination and encourage more freight movements by rail.

The Malcolm proposal came on the DfT’s radar and plays a significant part in the DfT’s consultation for a similar trial. The consultation opened on 9 November and will close on 4 January 2021. Details are listed below and DfT is inviting both responses as well as applications to take part in a trial, should one proceed.

Both the DfT and David Turner, the rail director at Malcolm Logistics point out that the trial is not intended to be a back door route to extending 48-tonnes GCW operations to general haulage. There is a good reason for that as the consultation document highlights, “If this trial goes ahead, it would not be allowing the use of 48-tonne maximum laden weights for all intermodal journeys in Great Britain because most bridges and structures are not designed to accommodate these loadings.”

Read more

• DfT mulls trial of 25.25m long, 60-tonne road train
• Operators could be allowed longer semi-trailers after successful trial
• Road trains could offer eco-friendly solution to shifting freight

An extensive and costly programme of reinforcement would be necessary even to permit trials over all possible routes to intermodal terminals, let alone any possible extension to general haulage.

The central features of the proposal are that any trial would be limited to specific routes, would be likely to be limited to a maximum journey length which is proposed to be 50 miles, while movements would have to be part of a domestic intermodal (road and rail) operation.

DfT’s preliminary technical assessments shows that there may be public benefits if these operations were to help rail freight gain a larger market share than it might otherwise have. In addition, where the road routes do not result in specific extra costs for relatively weak infrastructure, the quantified public benefits could outweigh the costs and disadvantages. DfT sees a trial as the way to gather the information needed to assess the costs and benefits and other considerations. The Department also concedes that secondary legislation is likely to be needed to allow the trial to take place.

This is probably because of the current limitations of permitted axle loadings and outer axle spread. Malcolm logistics acknowledges that operation up to 46.25 tonnes GCW is possible within existing designs, but that to go to 48-tonnes GCW will require changes.

“To get to 26-tonnes on a tractor, you need an outer axle spread of 4.3m," product manager at Volvo Trucks John Comer told motortransport.co.uk. This would favour tag axle designs rather than pushers and as Comer points out, the market for tag axle designs is quite small. Other concerns include the use of 10.5-tonne drive axles, which might have a serious impact on traction, perhaps favouring double drive.

David Turner at Malcolm Group told us, “It’s about an opportunity to grow intermodal freight by balancing the capabilities of road and rail and taking the journeys off motorways and trunk roads.”

Links: DfT Heavier Intermodal Freight Trial: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/heavier-intermodal-freight-trial. Full details of the consultation and how to respond.

The post DfT considers trial of 48-tonne trucks for intermodal operations appeared first on Motor Transport.

One of the ERFs was powered by a 12-litre Perkins Eagle Tx engine rated at 340hp and the other by another Eagle Tx, but converted to spark ignition to run on compressed natural gas (CNG) and rated at 300hp. We were accompanied on the comprehensive test by Brian McMurray, then the engineer in charge of the Perkins natural gas engine conversion programme and probably one of the most experienced gas engine engineers in the UK at the time.

The objective was to assess the viability of natural gas as a road fuel. We expected the diesel to deliver better fuel consumption, partly because the extra horsepower suited the challenging test route that we had prepared. For the record, the diesel returned 8.27mpg, while the CNG engine delivered 7.83mpg. That was a lot closer than the hotel bar estimates we had come up with the night before the tests.

A great deal has changed since then - technology for one thing. These days most natural gas powered trucks run on liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the engines are purpose-built production line engines built alongside their diesel counterparts, not converted by specialist teams. Both spark ignition and diesel-cycle compression/ignition engines are in production too. At the time, I commented that the gas-powered ERF offered notably less engine braking, something that would be overcome by the current diesel cycle engines.

Scale has also changed. There were a handful of gas-powered trucks on UK roads at the time and current sales, while still comparatively small compared with diesel, number in the hundreds.

Other things are relatively unchanged though. Back then our Euro I or II compliant CNG engine offered much cleaner emissions than the diesel with far lower emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx), particulate matter (PM) and carbon monoxide (CO). Those advantages have been eroded by advancing technology and the report prepared by Cenex last year, 'Dedicated to Gas', on the Innovate UK trial of 20 gas vehicles showed that the principal advantage natural gas power offers is in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The report states that, 'GHG savings are significant even with small blends of biomethane.'

Otherwise, NOx levels were similar to Euro-6 diesels and PM similar for the LNG models in the trial, although the CNG models demonstrated slightly higher PM emissions than Euro-6 diesel.

The fuelling infrastructure for natural gas is still relatively small but larger than it was and growing. Since government incentives have encouraged the production of biomethane, operators can run vehicles on gas produced from environmentally-friendly sources, mostly from anaerobic digestion of sewage, reducing the consumption of fossil fuels.

Market size

How big is the market for natural gas powered trucks? The only manufacturer that was prepared to talk numbers to us was Volvo which has sold 395 of its LNG compression/ignition-powered trucks so far this year. This compares with sales of 142 for the equivalent period last year. That represents a 278% increase on 2019 – respectable when the Covid-19 pandemic is factored in too.

“This technology offers up to 20% reduction in CO2 and in the recent 'Dedicated to Gas - An Innovate UK Research Project to Assess the Viability of Gas Vehicles' report published by Cenex, the Volvo truck in the trial delivered a 13% reduction in the total greenhouse gas emissions”, says John Comer, head of product management, Volvo Trucks UK and Ireland. “This can be taken close to 100% well-to-wheel with the use of liquid biogas and renewable HVO in lieu of diesel.”

Volvo’s diesel cycle 420 and 460hp engines offered in the FM and FH use up to 5% diesel in the combustion process – a quantity of diesel fuel is used to initiate combustion, with LNG completing the process.

Scania was coy about discussing numbers. Vincente Connolly, UK sales director, Scania (Great Britain) told us: “Scania is enjoying considerable success in the developing gas market.” Gas powered Scania buses went into service with Reading Buses in 2013. “Since then, other UK bus and truck operators have introduced dedicated gas-powered Scania vehicles into their fleets, taking them in considerable numbers,” says Connolly.

Mercedes-Benz currently produces the Econic NGT and Actros NGT models, although the Actros NGT has not been offered for sale in the UK. Both models are to be discontinued. A spokesman told us, “We believe CNG fuel is a stepping stone on the way to CO2 neutrality, and we’re advancing production of our electric trucks.

“Daimler Trucks is investing in new vehicles for CO2-free transport, and this requires huge investments that focus primarily on electromobility.”

Production of both gas models will probably be discontinued by the end of 2021. Mercedes-Benz has said it is committed to supporting customers who are operating the Econic NGT. Customers include Liverpool Council which purchased 20 Econic NGT models in 2019.

Renault Trucks has adopted a similar position. The company offers a Range D CNG model, but also places the emphasis on electric vehicles for urban and last mile deliveries. The Daimler Trucks joint venture with Volvo Trucks will give Renault Trucks access to fuel cell technology by the second half of the 2020s, when hydrogen will be the gas focus for the company.

Iveco is the only other manufacturer currently supplying natural gas powered vehicles and we did not receive a reply to our requests for information.

Sales trends

Gas sales for commercial vehicles are another good indicator of the state of the natural gas truck market. Biomethane supplier Gasrec is also seeing large increases at the moment: “Two or three years ago, there weren’t that many gas vehicles on the road, because we were moving from Euro-5 to Euro-6”, says James Westcott, chief operating officer. “As the manufacturers have launched new product, the market has grown quite quickly and our sales volumes now are double what they were in January and they were double what they were the January before.”

This seems to support the sales trend that Volvo Trucks has seen. The government has made a commitment to keep fuel duty lower for natural gas vehicles than diesel-powered vehicles until 2032, with a consultation in 2024. As Comer at Volvo comments, “This will support the transition of the current fleet into the used market.”

Interestingly, There are differing opinions about which truck segment is better suited to gas powered vehicles. Connolly at Scania told us: “At the present time, return-to-base operations are the most popular (due to pioneering operators investing in on-site refuelling stations) although improvements in range also see the product suiting many regional applications.”

For Comer at Volvo Trucks, it’s a different picture: “Our LNG models are best suited to long and regional haul, with annual mileages above 120,000km, which is sufficient to deliver a return on investment in 2.5 to 3 years.

“The majority of our LNG customers are in the retail sector, or are contract hauliers supplying retail.”

Westcott at Gasrec also sees the heavy end of the market as the most likely sector for gas-powered growth: “I think that for the heavy end of the market, the vehicles require a lot of energy to be a commercial solution. I think it’s unlikely that that’s going to change in the next 15 to 20 years.”

Despite growth, infrastructure is still an issue with a comparatively small number of fuelling sites across the UK. There are both CNG and LNG stations around the country with multiple sites around Bristol, Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Northampton, Nottingham and Swindon according to the Gas Vehicle Hub (https://gasvehiclehub.org/).

In addition there are six other sites dotted across England, but notably no sites in Wales, Devon, or Cornwall. It’s an issue that Westcott at Gasrec acknowledges: “We have eight facilities at the moment, two of which are public. The vast majority of investment decisions we’re making at the moment are for public facilities, but we’ll probably have two more on the ground in the next quarter and then next year we’d hope to have the same number again. So we’d like to be up to around 12 or 13 by the end of next year and with the balance more on a 50/50 basis, open to the public.”

That would bring a useful increase to the current number of sites, but would still leave plenty of room for expansion, which is likely to be key for operators thinking of taking on natural gas powered trucks.

A further complication are ferry and tunnel company regulations, a potential issue for those on international haulage. Both Brittany Ferries and Irish Ferries state that LNG (not CNG) is permitted for models produced by recognised manufacturers with standard specification. The gas supply must be switched off for the crossing. Eurotunnel does not permit gas powered vehicles of any kind.

Stena Line did not respond to our request for information.

The post Natural gas – the future of long distance haulage? appeared first on Motor Transport.