Collaborating with the low carbon CV sector

The Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership has witnessed some real progress in the push for a greener commercial vehicle sector. Managing director Andy Eastlake explains why 2016 will be no different and why progress should become more noticeable.

This time last year the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP) was contemplating what our main theme to take into the LCV Event at Millbrook would be. It was becoming increasingly clear to us, and many of our partners and stakeholders, that the issue of CO2 emissions from commercial vans and trucks has been for far too long neglected. Passenger cars have been in the spotlight for many years and there’s been great progress in improving the efficiency and polluting emissions from buses too. For several reasons, these are easier ‘nuts to crack’ than commercial vehicles which come in many sizes, shapes, forms and uses.

But the broader commercial vehicle sector is responsible for around 40 per cent of road transport carbon emissions, so if we’re going to meet the emissions reduction targets – brought into even sharper focus by the landmark Paris agreement on climate change – we’re going to need progress across the board.

Progress for commercial vehicles
The LowCVP has increasingly been turning its focus on what needs to be done to stimulate the low carbon commercial vehicle market and for it to emulate the progress now underway by cars and buses.
For last year’s LCV Show we decided that our main focus would be on ‘bigger thinking in commercial vehicles’. A year on and things have really moved forward.

New players (and some familiar names) recently launched products at the Commercial Vehicle Show. With the backing of SAIC, one of China’s largest automotive names, LDV has introduced the EV80 full-electric van. In London, BD Auto has begun offering full-electric versions of the Ducato and Traffic vans. With full EC whole vehicle type-approval and five-year warranties these vans are now real options for a wide range of fleets and not just as trial demonstrators. These new models, of course, join the established Nissan ENV200 and Renault Kangoo electric which have between them taken the lion’s share of the government’s Plug-in Van Grants.

In the truck sector, the UK’s Low Carbon Truck Trial is now complete and the final results for the 390 trucks trialled over the three year programme, will be shared at an event in the West Midlands on 14 July. The performance of the latest Euro VI gas‑powered trucks has been reviewed by the LowCVP, with funding from the Department for Transport (DfT) and, although the results for that are not yet published, our sneak preview shows some very encouraging carbon results and the promise of more to follow.

With this renewed focus and interest in the low carbon commercial vehicle sector, the LowCVP is proud to be a partner in the inaugural Commercial GreenFleet event on 1 July in Birmingham. The arrival of such an event shows how things are really beginning to move forward in this area. There’s plenty of new information to bring to delegates at the event, as well as new, innovative hardware to view and trial.

Rapid shifts
The van sector is now facing the next iteration of emissions legislation – Euro 6 mandated from September this year – and this is certainly exercising the manufacturers with noise over ‘Dieselgate’ still ringing in their ears. I am confident that we will see a rapid shift and a sudden surge of innovation in this segment over the next couple of years.

In earlier work, the LowCVP identified three main opportunities for cutting emissions from trucks which pointed to the need for specific interventions: independent testing to validate the effectiveness of retrofit technology; conversion to the use of natural gas/biomethane; and supporting the uptake of hybrid and pure electric vehicles, particularly for use in urban environments.

In the HGV sector, the transition to the Euro VI emissions requirement is of course complete and the technologies are well established in use and (from the work LowCVP has done) showing very impressive emissions performance under every operating condition.  However, there are perhaps fewer options for decarbonising the vehicles and, certainly, full electric operation is not yet a possibility in long-haul heavy trucks. Low carbon fuels such as biomethane, biopropane or waste‑derived bio diesel are gaining supporters and prominence. Scania and Iveco have launched a range of gas-powered dedicated trucks (from vans to 40‑tonne artic units) and there are a range of dual-fuel conversions currently in use and under development.

Measuring up
Against this background one of the primary questions has been how to measure the performance of a low carbon commercial vehicle and this is the challenge that the LowCVP and its members have been addressing for much of the last year.

Launching this summer is the new accreditation process, developed by the LowCVP in collaboration with a consortium of industry leaders. This test uses the latest emissions measurement equipment as specified for the vehicle certification process.

By running real trucks under repeatable but representative driving conditions on UK test roads at venues such as Millbrook and Horiba MIRA, the real emissions and fuel consumption of loaded commercial vehicles can be rapidly and cost-effectively assessed and compared. This means the performance of carbon reducing technology can be confidently validated.

Working with the Transport for London’s (TfL) LoCITY team – the new five-year industry‑led programme to reduce the emissions of London’s freight and fleet operators – the test process is being extended to incorporate a city centre driving cycle which would be typical for a London van.

This complements three other truck cycles representing urban, regional and long haul operating characteristics, allowing a comprehensive measurement of any typical commercial vehicle driving situation.

With the ability to properly measure the carbon performance of different variants of trucks and vans, we are hopeful that we can unlock the potential for the government to much more effectively support the introduction of low carbon technology to the commercial vehicle sector and stimulate the innovation needed in the long term to decarbonise our road freight operations.

So, from last year’s aspirational ‘Bigger thinking on commercial vehicles’, we have seen some real progress and clear signs that 2016 is becoming the big year for greener trucks and vans.

Further Information
www.lowcvp.org.uk