More to CO2 emissions than tailpipe averages08 October 2010

Fleet engineers who made it to the 63rd IAA (Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung) Commercial Vehicles Show in Hannover last month cannot fail to have been impressed. Not only by the scale of the event (12 burgeoning halls at this massive fairground), but also by the sheer variety of trucks, trailers, vans, specialist vehicles, buses and coaches – and the equally comprehensive range of supporting technologies from suppliers world-wide.

Was it variety for variety's sake? Or technology for technology's sake? Not a bit of it. If one point was crystal clear from Hannover, it was that the transport sector as a whole is on a mission to cut vehicle running costs – and therefore also carbon emissions – to the bone, while simultaneously improving efficiency and safety, using every available technique. We're talking about engines, transmissions, hybrids, braking systems, fuel systems, suspensions, tyres, aerodynamics, telematics, electronics, driver training… The list goes on. And it all counts.

Very much part of this mission is getting the legislative direction and framework to make sense for the industry. As Leif Johansson, chairman of the commercial vehicle board at ACEA (the European Automobile Manufacturers Association) and president and CEO of Volvo Group, put it: "It is important that legislators support our efforts [to reach Euro 6, US EPA 10 and beyond] with a policy approach that matches the reality of commercial goods and passenger transport."

Making the observation that climate change is a global phenomenon and that the transport industry, too, operates around the world, Johansson challenged governments to put more urgency into harmonising standards. But he also urged regulators to consider the fact that CO2 emissions from commercial vehicles depend massively on their size, shape and the work they do – the load type and weight carried, distance travelled, speed, stop-start cycles etc. Hence, a 'one size fits all' approach, based simply on average tailpipe emissions, just doesn't work.

And thirdly, on light commercial vehicles, Johansson warned that failure to pull back from the legislative proposals for reducing CO2 emissions, adopted by the European Commission last October, may not only damage western economies and employment, but even adversely affect the very environment they set out to improve. His – and the industry's – argument is not only that the targets are too much, too soon, to be feasible, but also that fuel efficiency is already one of all buyers' key purchasing criteria – so competition is driving developers as fast as they can go.

Additionally, as with trucks, LCVs' other purchasing priorities have to do with load, volume, interior refitting etc – all of which impact on emissions and limit the value of static targets.

Part of ACEA's solution is its carbon emissions evaluation tool, launched at IAA and aimed at helping operators find the most fuel-efficient trucks and buses for each job – taking into account engine-gearbox combinations, aerodynamics and tyre specs on simulated duty cycles. Another is its promotion of the notion of 'work done', reflecting emissions as grammes of CO2 per tonne-km, per m3-km or per passenger-kilometre.

These are critical to the direction and well-being of an industry that has already spent billions on the road to Euro 6, for particulates and NOx. It's time to make ourselves heard.

Author
Brian Tinham

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