Motor Transport 24 February 2020

Sharp ■ Informed ■ Challenging

24.2.20

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END OF AN ERA: UK hauliers undertaking international work in the EU should prepare for the ending of cabotage from next year, according to the RHA. It is expected that the European Commission will disallow cabotage operations from UK companies in the EU from 1 January 2021 when the transition period ends. The RHA said this could change as a result of negotiations, but operators should assume cabotage will no longer be

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permitted from next year. Article 8 of Regulation 1072/2009 provides that every haulier is entitled to perform up to three cabotage operations within a seven-day period starting the day after the unloading of the international transport. According to the association, the UK policy has been that there should be “symmetry” and therefore EU operators would not be allowed to undertake cabotage in the UK from 2021.

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Time called

FORS does not meet objective p3

Dear doctor

Doctors on Wheels working around ban on medicals p4 Shutterstock

Toilet break

Drivers’ welfare ignored in plans to scrap Operation Brock p6

All-party group for road freight to study effect on haulage industry and calls for industry input

Have your say on clean air zones

By Steve Hobson

A national survey of road freight operators on the effect of clean air zones (CAZs) has been launched by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Road Freight and Logistics as part of its first inquiry of the new parliament.

The APPG is chaired by former transport minister Sir Mike

Penning MP (below), who said: “We all welcome the government’s determination to tackle the challenge of air quality in our towns and cities, but it is essential that well-intentioned policies do not lead to damaging an industry so vital to the UK economy.

“This inquiry will look at how decisions have been taken and what steps can be put in place to ensure the haulage industry continues to play its essential role throughout our towns and cities.”

Approximately 30 UK cities are considering introducing CAZs – which can see non-compliantEuro-6 trucks charged up to £100 a day to enter – as part of government moves to ensure the UK meets EU air quality standards.

While financial assistance to upgrade fleets is on the table,

operators argue it is not enough and many face having to avoid the zones or pay the daily charge.

The survey focuses on the effect of CAZs on the haulage industry, the approach taken by local authorities and whether the national government has provided enough support for affected businesses and local authorities.

RHA chief executive Richard Burnett welcomed the inquiry and urged hauliers to submit as much evidence on the effect of CAZs as soon as possible. “The government has taken an unstructured approach to air quality by leaving it to the local authorities,” he said.

“It is catching out a lot of hauliers and too many businesses are struggling to change their vehicles as the secondhand market for Euro-6 trucks is just not there.”

The full list of questions can be found on motortransport.co.uk and the deadline for written submissions is 11 March 2020.

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SHEFFIELD

Tuesday u 17 March 2020 8:30 - 14:00 Magna Science Adventure Centre, Sheffield Rd, Templeborough, Rotherham, S60 1FD Sheffield’s clean air zone will be introduced in 2021, affecting buses, taxis, vans and HGVs. At this free half-day roadshow you’ll hear directly from the council about its air quality plans and support measures to help local businesses, followed by preparation workshops. You’ll also get to see the latest Euro-6 and alternatively-fuelled vehicles on the market.

Register free at motortransport.co.uk.

News

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Record £380,000 fine for forging records Pembrokeshire haulier Mansel Davies & Son has been hit with a record £380,000 fine with £120,000 costs for forging lorry maintenance records.

The company, based in Llanfrynach, received the fine, the heaviest secured by the DVSA, at Swansea Crown Court after pleading guilty to 19 offences of forgery and counterfeiting maintenance records from October to December 2017 at an earlier hearing.

Jonathan Phillips, of Mynachlog-ddu, who was an administrative assistant at the company, was also given a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and has been ordered to pay £1,500 costs after pleading guilty to forging maintenance records.

The sentencing follows an investigation by the DVSA that found the company was forging its lorry maintenance records to suggest it was carrying out its regular full vehicle examinations to meet the requirements of its O-licence.

A handwriting expert identified that one person in the company was writing the false records.

Accreditation scheme does not meet original objective of keeping people safe

Critics call time on FORS audits

By Chris Tindall

FORS audits are not worth the paper they are written on, according to an increasing number of critics calling time on the industry accreditation scheme.

Responding to comments from traffic commissioner (TC) for the west of England Kevin Rooney that FORS was no longer fit for purpose because of the presence of member operators appearing at public inquiries, one transport consultant and former auditor of the scheme said it needed to be disbanded. “It proves you have a system in place,” he said. “Whether it works or not is irrelevant.

“Within my audits now there’s a question: are you FORS accredited? If the answer is yes I point out it’s not worth the paper it’s written on, as far as TCs are concerned.

“I stopped being an auditor for FORS. How can I stand before a court of law and say I have carried out a FORS audit on this operator and it has passed and then the next day go before a TC and say their operating system has failed?

I can’t.”

A trade association auditor told MT that the scheme had “completely lost its way” and added: “They have tried to put too much into it. It doesn’t meet the original objective, to keep people safe on the roads.

“It needs a complete revamp and a change in management. It’s not working well, unfortunately,

when you’ve got Gold, Silver and Bronze operators going to PIs for major failings.”

FORS director John Hix said its scheme was a voluntary accreditation scheme and the audits must not be confused with an O-licence compliance audit.

He said: “FORS members – regardless at which stage of accreditation they sit – are still subject to the law and, therefore, must at all times uphold their O-licence obligations in the same way that nonFORS members must.

“Being a FORS member does not mean operators can rescind on their legal and O-licence obligations, and any operator doing so may face a PI and risk having their O-licence revoked.”

Responding to its rule about criticising FORS, Hix said: “The general obligations laid out in FORS’s terms and conditions state that FORS members must ‘not commit any act or omission, or make any statement or otherwise behave in any manner, which may result in any harm or damage to the reputation or the operation of FORS’.”

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News

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Operators warned to check drivers’ insurance as DVLA ban of Doctors on Wheels being ignored

DoW still offering D4 medicals

By Carol Millett

Doctors on Wheels (DoW) is circumventing a DVLA ban on its D4 medicals by offering HGV drivers medicals with self-employed doctors, MT has learnt.

The DVLA stopped accepting all D4 medicals from DoW from 20 June last year after an investigation into the company, which saw raids on the firm’s offices in Swindon, Leicester and Huddersfield. The joint investigation by DVLA and Swansea Trading Standards was prompted by claims that D4 medicals were not being completed properly by the firm, with unhealthy drivers being passed as fit to drive.

Despite DVLA warning that it

is not accepting D4 medicals, the company is still offering them on its website.

DoW director Andrew Eburne told MT the company is offering D4 medicals via doctors who are self-employed and insisted the medicals were valid. He added the company was discussing the matter with the DVLA after taking legal advice.

One driver who booked a D4 medical with DoW in January this year, which was carried out at the Quality Hotel in Dudley, said the doctor insisted there would be no reference to DoW “anywhere” on the form. The driver was also told by the doctor that if there were any issues with the form to

contact the doctor directly and not contact DoW. Asked if medicals booked through DoW are being accepted by the DVLA, a DVLA spokesman told MT: “We are still not accepting D4 medical examination reports from Doctors on Wheels. The examining doctor must include their name, GMC registration number and the company or practice address they work for on the form along with contact details for the company or practice.”

When asked to comment on the validity of medicals booked by DoW and carried out by selfemployed doctors, the spokesman said: “DVLA is continuing to investigate Doctors on Wheels.”

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has warned operators to check with their insurer to clarify the status of any driver whose most recent D4 medical was with DoW, irrespective of whether it was before or after DVLA ceased accepting medicals from the company.

A spokesman said: “It may be that the insurer will require drivers to submit to another medical because it is a legal requirement that drivers are fit to drive.

“If a driver’s medical is not compliant then the employer may be in breach of the terms of its insurance, which would make it potentially liable in the case of a claim.”

Immigrant points system could decimate industry, FTA warns Classifying HGV drivers as low skilled and refusing potential overseas applicants visas could cause the industry to grind to a halt, business groups have warned.

The government last week unveiled its plan to move away from the UK’s reliance on “cheap labour” from Europe and instead “encourage people with the right talent”. The proposals include expanding the definition of skilled workers to those educated to A-level/Scottish Highers equivalent standard. A points-based system would also be introduced, with overseas citizens having to reach 70 points before being allowed to work in the UK.

4 MotorTransport

But the FTA said it was appalled that the government had deemed HGV driving, along with other logistics occupations, as low-skilled activities and urged it to reconsider.

“The UK economy cannot operate without the logistics workforce,” said Sally Gilson, FTA head of skills policy. “The sector is already facing a severe labour shortage – 64% of transport and storage businesses are struggling to fill vacancies – and with EU workers constituting 13% of the entire logistics workforce, it is obvious how detrimental this policy will be on the very businesses charged with keeping the UK trading.”

Nigel Cook, MD of Consettbased Elddis Transport, said he was concerned the plans would worsen the current driver shortage further and increase wage inflation. “The number of drivers from abroad is more prevalent the further south you travel in the UK, but UK drivers may choose to migrate if wages are pushed up through further driver shortages in areas such as the south-east or Midlands,” Cook said.

“Unfortunately successive governments have not done anything to address the problem through making funding more accessible for employees and employers to gain vocational licences.”

CUSTOMERS FIRST: Marks & Spencer is to close two DCs in Derbyshire and Sheffield, putting 662 jobs at risk. The hub in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, is run by DHL while the DC in Thorncliffe, Sheffield, is operated by XPO. The retailer attributed the closures, which are planned for 2021, to efforts to cut costs and improve stock availability. The closures follow depot closures at Hardwick, near Warrington and Neasden in west London in 2018 and will leave M&S’s clothing business operating out of just six warehouses. The planned closures are part of the retailer’s five-year transformation programme that includes creating a single-tier Clothing and Home logistics network, which will cut costs by moving products more quickly from suppliers to stores and by having fewer large DCs. The retailer said: “Moving the operations is not a decision we have taken lightly but it is an important change to help us best serve our customers as we move to a nationally connected network.”

Haulier removes assets before administration The administrator handling the affairs of failed Cornish haulier Ian Aldridge Transport said a director removed assets from the business before it was appointed, potentially breaching insolvency laws.

BDO joint administrators Simon Girling and Christopher Marsden were appointed to the firm on 24 July 2019 following “poor trading conditions and the resultant pressure on working

capital facilities”. However, they said the majority of the haulier’s major assets, which included vehicles, trailers, plant and machinery, “were removed by one of the directors” before BDO was appointed.

Girling said: “I have attempted to discuss their plans for the return of these assets with the director but he has not sought to engage in any meaningful way on this subject.”

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25/11/2019 11:03

News

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Drivers’ welfare ignored in plans to scrap Operation Brock and introduce portable toilets on M20

Unite slams movable barriers

By Chris Tindall

The Unite union has strongly criticised plans to rely on a movable concrete barrier on the M20 to deal with cross-channel disruption while ignoring the welfare needs of HGV drivers.

It said the replacement of former traffic initiative Operation Brock with a new system was going ahead without consultation with the industry and with inadequate

welfare provisions. The union quoted an “admission” from the DfT in a Freedom of Information response that “in the event of severe traffic disruption, the Kent Resilience Forum will make an operational decision on whether to deploy portable toilets on the M20 junctions 8 to 9 coastbound and on both sides of the M26”.

Unite national officer Adrian Jones said: “There is no provision

for the most basic welfare provision in the scheme. The delivery of a few portable toilets as an afterthought is not good enough. If a problem arises on the roads to Dover not only is there no welfare provision but drivers have no idea how long disruption will last, making it almost impossible to abide by driving regulations.”

Transport secretary Grant Shapps announced that the

KNDL fined £800,000 over safety breaches Kuehne + Nagel Drinks Logistics (KNDL) has been fined £800,000 after a series of safety failures resulted in a worker being run over by a forklift truck and scarred for life. Gary Odger suffered severe injuries and almost lost his legs when a forklift truck loaded with kegs reversed into him in July 2017 at KNDL’s Dagenham site.

After an investigation by Barking and Dagenham Council, the company was found guilty of failing to operate in accordance with health and safety policies. It was fined £800,000 and £25,000 costs.

In a hearing at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court, district judge Susan Holdham strongly criticised the company. “The level of culpability is high,” she said. “While KNDL had some systems in place, these were insufficient.”

KNDL failed to ensure drivers

6 MotorTransport

Motor Transport was launched in 1905 as Motor Traction. We look at a story published 100 years ago

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 23rd 1920

The New Petition of Right.

The Rise in Petrol Prices. A Request to Readers to Help Themselves by helping Those who are Doing Something.

and crews were not permitted in the warehouse or yard while forklift trucks were operating; failed to provide barriers around the warehouse; failed to provide painted floor markings and zebra

crossing points; and failed to provide separate entrances for vehicles and pedestrians, as the fire door only had a handle on the inside and could not be used from the outside, said Holdham.

Act now to avoid disruption when IR35 changes kick in Operators are being urged to act swiftly to avoid disruption to businesses from an imminent crackdown on bogus self-employed workers. Despite the government’s announcement that it intends to review the proposed application

replacement to Brock, which involves Highways England deploying a barrier on the M20 to keep Kent’s roads moving at times of disruption, could be set up within hours and will be on standby later this year. The new solution also means Highways England’s work on an off-road replacement for Operation Stack, which included a new lorry holding area in Kent, has been scrapped.

of IR35 to the private sector, driver recruitment specialist Driver Require said operators should not see this as a postponement or cancellation of the IR35 plans but for what it is: a review with no guaranteed outcome.

Financial secretary to the treasury Jesse Norman said: “We recognise that concerns have been raised about the forthcoming reforms to the off-payroll working rules. The purpose of this consultation is to ensure implementation of these changes in April is as smooth as possible.”

To encourage hauliers to continue preparing for the IR35 legislation being rolled out in April, Driver Require has published an

‘IR35 action plan’ aimed at helping operators understand the steps needed to be taken to be ready for the changes. The plan talks operators through seven steps of action including formally determining the company size (firms categorised as a ‘small company’ are exempt from IR35 legislation), and working with HR departments to prepare status determination statements for each category of agency workers that is engaged.

It also covers what operators should do to ensure they are prepared for the repeal of the AWR Swedish derogation, and provides guidance on the negotiation of new charge rates between hauliers and their agencies.

An article on the rise of motor spirit prices in our issue of February 11 pointed out that, while no immediate development of alternative fuel supplies could be expected, we must look to the Government to begin such development at once, and, if necessary, its members should be “gingered up” to effective action. In the advert pages of this issue appears an announcement to which we should like to call the very attention of our readers.

You will see the advert is merely the practical application by the Automobile Association and Motor Union of the principles advocated.

Practical? Yes! The Automobile Association is at least doing something, and, in our opinion that something is the most effective something under the circumstances – a petition that will reflect the feeling in the country on the action of the petroleum interests and the need for checking a dangerous monopoly. Therefore, we ask you, in your own interests, to sign the petition. It is a matter affecting your living.

24.2.20

I-See more than ever before Volvo FH with I-See predictive cruise control equips your truck with the power of foresight. Using map-based topography data, it knows the gradients of every road ahead, preparing the engine and I-Shift transmission to maximise the truck’s kinetic energy, reducing your fuel consumption by up to 5%*. Effortless efficiency.

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Search: VolvoTrucksUK *D13TC Euro-6 Step D with I-See v D13 eSCR Euro-6 Step C without I-See when used on ‘long haul’ operations (more than 160,000km per annum). Actual fuel economy is affected by many factors including, use of cruise control, vehicle specification, load and weight, topography, the driver’s driving experience and weather.

Focus

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There are deep inequalities in adult learning opportunities. We can help change that, says Skills for Logistics MD David Coombes

Time to support adult learning It almost went by unnoticed. But, in its pre-election manifesto, the government pledged to invest £600m every year for the life of this parliament, (£3bn) on a new National Skills Fund.

This funding will be targeted at life-long learning and is aimed at empowering millions of UK citizens with the right to retrain, achieve their potential and keep pace with technological changes.

While apprenticeship training will undoubtedly benefit, I view this as an opportunity to support individuals and small businesses, giving them the chance to level up with high-quality education and training.

As I write, the proposal is still at consultation stage. How the fund will be spent is still to be clarified, and importantly, we’re waiting to hear how it will sit alongside other similar funds and the budgets.

Inequalities in learning opportunities

News of the government’s pledge coincided with the release, last month, of the Adult Participation in Learning Survey 2019 by the Learning and Work Institute. This showed that the number of adult learners has plummeted by nearly 4 million since 2010. Just one in three adults has taken part in learning in the past three years, the lowest figure ever recorded.

The survey shows deep inequalities in access to learning, with those who could most benefit from taking part being least likely to do so. Adults in lower socio-economic groups (DE) are half as likely to 8 MotorTransport

take part in learning than those in higher socio-economic groups (AB). What’s more, adults who left school at 16, or younger, are half as likely to take part in learning as those who stayed on in full-time education until at least 21.

This decline should be a real cause for concern, especially given the many benefits of participating in lifelong learning.

Increasing the number of adults who can access education and training is vital. Not only to boost productivity, but also to support adults to adapt to rapid economic change. Beyond the economic benefits, evidence also shows that adults who take part in learning are more likely to have better health and wellbeing, and to be active in their communities.

We have a chance to have our voice heard on the final design of this new fund to ensure the money is invested wisely. Please jump on board with me in a call for action.

Please send me your thoughts and questions and I will ensure your views are represented during this consultation stage.

24.2.20

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An event that promotes collaboration and new ways of thinking, along the road to achieving ‘Net Zero’.

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12 million man hours, 20,000 new parts, fuel savings and much, much more from MAN’s new TGX

It’s an MAN for our time

By Will Shiers

MAN has launched its New Truck Generation TGX, its biggest project since the TGA in 2000. The truck, which is the product of 12 million man hours (1,300 years), features 20,000 new parts.

Although the 20-year-old cab shell remains unchanged, all of the external panels have been redesigned. It’s more slippery than its predecessor, which together with its Euro-6d engine makes it up to 8% more fuel efficient than a current generation Euro-6c. You

10 MotorTransport

can expect this figure to improve further when the redesigned mirrors are replaced by cameras.

The front of the truck supposedly resembles a lion’s face and MAN said this inspired the gold launch colour.

The biggest changes are inside the cab, which features a new dashboard and a pair of colour screens.

The primary one, in front of the driver, comes in a choice of 5in or 12.3in, while the secondary screen is 7in or 12.3in. Neither are touchscreen, and are controlled by a pair

of Smart Select dials. MAN said touchscreens are not suitable for trucks, due to the difficulty of operating them accurately while seated in an air-suspended seat.

The quality of the interior has been stepped up, and the revised switchgear is more tactile than before. A new multifunction steering wheel features two banks of switches. Those on the left are for driving the truck, while the right ones are dedicated to infotainment.

Headlight, hazard light and door lock switches are located on the

bottom of the driver’s door, operated from outside the truck when the door is open. The truck features a dash-mounted electronic handbrake, but like the dash-mounted screens, in some markets it will be a delete option.

MAN also launched the Individual Line flagship truck, which features a few extra bells and whistles. It also revealed facelifted versions of the rest of the range, comprising TGL, TGM and TGS models, all featuring the availability of digital dash screens.

24.2.20

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Viewpoint

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Industry needs money not words T he fact that logistics has not been included in the list of skilled occupations under the government’s proposed post-Brexit points-based immigration system is disappointing but not in the least surprising.

Despite Sir Mike Penning MP pledging Steve Hobson to put logistics on the radar of central Editor government when he reformed his Motor parliamentary group of freight and logistics Transport (MT 11 November 2019) there is precious little sign that Boris Johnson’s government understands the importance of the industry any better than its predecessors.

The combination of the new immigration system, the clampdown on bogus self-employed drivers by HMRC and the continued weakness of sterling means that the UK’s shortage of HGV driver – currently put at 50,000 and increasing – is going to get worse before it gets better.

Launching its immigration policy, the government said employers should stop relying on low-cost immigrant labour and

invest in automation and training UK workers. Assuming self-driving trucks aren’t about to appear on our roads any time soon, that leaves training more Brits to drive trucks.

The cruel irony of that is that everyone accepts that the Apprenticeship Levy is not fit for purpose when it comes to funding young people to get an HGV licence.

Logistics has contributed nearly £300m in levy payments yet has drawn down less than a tenth in funding – the system isn’t working and the government needs to admit it if it is serious about helping the industry replace foreign drivers. The government has backed the RHA’s Road to Logistics scheme with £1m in direct funding, which is welcome but it is a drop in the ocean of money that is really needed.

Penning’s first enquiry of the new parliament is looking at the effect of clean air zones – another big issue for road transport – but let’s hope he hasn’t given up on the driver shortage.

Glasgow is rising to the challenge T

Mags Simpson Head of policy for Scotland and northern England FTA

he government’s announcement that it will be bringing forward the ban on sales of new diesel and petrol cars and vans from 2040 to 2035 has sent shockwaves through the logistics industry, with Scotland looking to phase it out even earlier; by 2032.

The FTA’s members believe it is vital that the government reconsiders this plan. Homes and depots where vans are currently located do not carry enough power supply to charge the vehicles and as companies do not own or control the power supply network, this responsibility lies with government. If these deadlines are to be adhered to, government must take urgent action to ensure the correct infrastructure is in place.

Logistics businesses in Scotland – specifically Glasgow – could face further challenges due to the Conference of Parties 26 (COP26) event taking place in the city later this year. With up to 30,000 delegates expected daily, there will be significant disruption to transport in Glasgow and the Central Belt of Scotland. And, due to the sheer numbers of people attending and servicing the event, there will be an increased demand for movement of goods and services into and around the city.

The FTA is working closely with the authorities, council and government to keep transport moving throughout

the event. And while there are obvious concerns, the businesses organisation (??) is confident that by working together we can keep logistics moving as normal, demonstrated by the successful roll out of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014.

Glasgow will face the spotlight once again with the introduction of a low emission zone (LEZ) on 31 December 2022, effectively banning non-compliant vehicles from entering the area; including HGVs that do not meet emissions standards.

And while businesses in the sector are committed to improving the city’s air quality, it is crucial industry can continue delivering the vital goods that our hospitals, schools and supermarkets need.

Despite these potential challenges, the FTA will continue campaigning to ensure logistics businesses in and around Glasgow remain able to carry out their vital work.

The FTA hopes for a bright future for the city, with the correct power infrastructure in place that will allow more businesses to switch to electric vehicles, thus meeting government targets and reducing the potential effects of the LEZ.

The newspaper for transport operators

To contact us: Tel: 020 8912 +4 digits or email: name.surname@roadtransport.com Editor Steve Hobson 2161 Head of content Tim Wallace 2158 Events and project editor Hayley Pink 2165 Group production editor Clare Goldie 2174 Deputy production editor Jo Betts 2173 Key account manager Andrew Smith 07771 885874 Display telesales Barnaby Goodman-Smith 2128 Event sales Tim George 0755 7677758 Classified and recruitment advertising rtmclassified@roadtransport.com Head of sales Jo Pembroke 07590 561925 Sales director Emma Tyrer 07900 691137 Divisional director Vic Bunby 2121 Head of marketing Verity Callum 07823 440821 MT Awards Katy Matthews 2152 Managing director Andy Salter 2171 Editorial office Road Transport Media, First Floor, Chancery House, St Nicholas Way, Sutton, Surrey SM1 1JB 020 8912 2170 Free copies MT is available free to specified licensed operators under the publisher’s terms of control. For details, email mtsccqueries@roadtransport.com, or call 01772 426705 Subscriptions Tel 0330 333 9544 Quadrant Subscription Services, Rockwood House, Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 3DH Rates UK £135/year. Europe £163/year.

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Alternative fuels

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NET GAIN ITM Power is a driving force in UK efforts to develop fuel cell and hydrogen energy technologies. Steve Hobson talks to CEO Graham Cooley

S

heffield-based ITM Power is the leading manufacturer of electrolysis plant to make hydrogen, so it is no surprise that its CEO Graham Cooley sees a big future in the use of hydrogen to power heavy trucks.

ITM Power is the UK lead in H2ME, a €170m (£143m) collaborative project involving 43 partners to develop fuel cell and hydrogen energy technologies around Europe.

In total, the project plans to open 49 hydrogen filling stations and put 1,400 hydrogen fuel cell cars and vans on the road by 2022.

14 MotorTransport

ITM Power already has eight hydrogen stations in operation or in progress in the UK and opened its first publicly accessible hydrogen station in September 2015 at the Advanced Manufacturing Park in Rotherham. The station was the first in the UK to use excess wind energy to generate hydrogen on site using electrolysis.

Its station at the Centre for Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence (CEME), a not-for-profit education and skills organisation in Rainham, East London, uses excess solar electricity to generate the hydrogen.

The fourth station was opened in February 2017, ➜ 16 24.2.20

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Motor Transport

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Alternative fuels and it was the first hydrogen station in the UK to be located on a forecourt, Shell’s Cobham motorway service area on the southern stretch of the M25.

“ITM Power makes hydrogen energy systems to produce green hydrogen,” says Cooley. “There is no carbon in the whole supply chain. The electrolyser splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. We connect directly to renewable power or we can use the electrolyser to balance the electricity grid. We vent the oxygen and use the hydrogen as a transport fuel.

“The refuelling station in Sheffield is connected directly to wind power or we connect directly to solar, as in the refuelling station at CEME, or we buy renewable energy contracts.”

ITM Power works closely with industrial gases company Linde to install hydrogen filling stations; Linde makes the compression, storage and dispensers and ITM Power makes the electrolysers and builds the system. Linde, which also owns BOC, has a 20% stake in ITM Power.

Cooley says there are two important strategies for hydrogen refuelling stations. “One is building a countrywide infrastructure so you can have coverage for passenger vehicles and the other is the return to base principle,” he says. “The idea is that you strategically position refuelling stations and the fleet operator has specific stations where they always go back to refuel. This will be true of buses, trucks, trains and ships.”

Larger tanks needed

A fuel cell electric car typically uses just 5kg of hydrogen to drive 350 miles. Heavy trucks obviously need more energy and may use 100kg of hydrogen for the same distance, so they need larger tanks and fuelling stations.

“We have a 3MW refuelling station on the Tyseley Energy Park in Birmingham to refuel buses and cars,” says Cooley.

“We are looking more and more at combining them so they will do buses, heavy lorries and cars.”

With any electric drivetrain the vehicle needs an energy storage system and usually there are three options: a super capacitor; a battery; or a fuel cell with a hydrogen tank.

“With hydrogen you have all three onboard,” explains Cooley. “It is a hybridised system for energy storage. You use the super capacitor for a big burst of energy for take off to get the vehicle moving, and you use the battery for acceleration and for regenerative charging. A fuel cell EV always has a battery onboard to recover energy as you brake. The fuel cell is for when you’re gliding – the most efficient way to use fuel cell is when the vehicle is at constant velocity. This combination gives EVs the highest performance.”

Compared with full battery EVs, refuelling times are much lower with a fuel cell. “With a truck we are looking at a four to six minutes’ refuelling time – and ranges are far longer,” he says. “A battery stores all the energy and if you need a longer range you need more and more batteries and so the weight goes up and it becomes selflimiting. With hydrogen to increase the range you just make the tank bigger, so you can get very high ranges.”

With any alternative fuel the industry faces a classic chicken and egg dilemma – with no vehicles on the road no one will invest in refuelling infrastructure but with no refuelling stations operators are slow to buy vehicles.

US start up Nikola has gained some credibility by teaming up with Iveco to develop its battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell trucks, while both Toyota and Hyundai are already testing heavy duty vehicles powered by hydrogen.

“There is a lot of bluster, but Toyota and Hyundai actually have vehicles on the road,” says Cooley. “We are not talking about development vehicles any more – those vehicles are being tested for performance.”

Another barrier to the adoption of new, clean technology is the high upfront cost of the vehicles before they get into volume production, but Cooley is optimistic that these costs will quickly start to fall.

16 MotorTransport

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“Hydrogen will not always be more expensive,” he says. “Fuel cells have come down in price a lot and hydrogen is lower cost than petrol or diesel. The full life cost can be lower because there are far fewer moving parts.”

Another development that could reduce the carbon emissions from trucks powered by natural gas is to blend hydrogen with methane.

“We are working with Cadent and Northern Gas Networks on HyDeploy, a power-to-gas energy storage project,” says Cooley. “This is taking excess renewable power, converting it to hydrogen and putting it directly into the gas grid.”

HyDeploy is a £6.8m project, funded by energy regulator Ofgem, to establish the potential for blending up to 20% hydrogen into the normal gas supply to reduce carbon emissions. HyDeploy is a year-long trial with blended gas on part of the University of Keele’s gas network to determine the level of hydrogen that could be used with no changes to existing domestic appliances.

ITM Power is supplying the electrolyser system.

“This is the first project injecting significant percentages of hydrogen into the gas grid,” says Cooley. “We are starting with a closed gas grid in Keele before going to the wider gas grid.

“It important to remember that prior to 1969 our gas grid was 55% hydrogen. That was called town gas before we converted everyone to North Sea gas. We don’t want to do that project again – if we can stabilise on 20% hydrogen you don’t need to change the gas burners in anyone’s houses. If you look at decarbonising, heating hydrogen really is the only solution. It is not like we are doing something we don’t know all about from the past.”

Blending hydrogen and methane to make ‘hythane’ can also be done at a refuelling station, but Cooley points out that the vehicle tank must be designed to accept this hydrogen-methane fuel.

Renewable sources

Hydrogen is, of course, only green if the power used to make it comes from renewable sources, something that the UK has pledged to achieve by 2050.

“We are producing in the UK roughly 30% of our power from renewable sources,” says Cooley. “The UK is incredibly well positioned – we have the richest wind resource in Europe across Scotland, Northern Ireland and the North Sea-facing coastline.”

Getting to net zero carbon will also require energy storage, to store the intermittent renewable power from solar and wind and to allow transport operators to access the energy in a useable form.

“They are larger problems than decarbonising electricity,” says Cooley. “It will need joined-up thinking – if you store excess renewable power by making hydrogen and putting it in the gas grid, the gas grid becomes a huge tank of renewable hydrogen.

“Building wind turbines to make hydrogen makes energy renewable and it gives us fuel security because we are making our own gas. Today we import 50% of our natural gas as LNG and I would rather replace that with renewable gas made in the UK. “The UK government needs to act. The Commission for Climate Change is calling for between 2GW and 17GW of electrolysis for energy storage by 2050. So we have 30 years to build up to 17GW of electrolysis – which is a very significant amount. ITM Power is the only electrolyser supplier in the UK and we have just announced the world’s largest electrolyser factory in Sheffield.

“The government needs to define a tariff to put hydrogen into the gas grid and it needs to include hydrogen in the renewable transport fuel obligation.

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Power distribution

What’s the charge?

At a recent FT Future of Mobility summit, National Grid project director for electric vehicles Graeme Cooper talked about the future of road transport. Motor Transport catches up with him and takes a detailed look at the role of the grid in enabling electric vehicle charging

18 MotorTransport

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hile HGVs powered by battery electric or hydrogen fuel cells are still some way off volume production, the current UK government’s vision of a netzero carbon emissions economy by 2050 means fossil fuels’ days are numbered.

But switching long-distance heavy road transport away from diesel will require much more than just developing low-emission vehicles. Battery electric trucks will need recharging both at base and on the road, while producing hydrogen in large volumes will also require abundant electricity, preferably from low-carbon renewable sources such as wind or solar.

To connect low-emission vehicles with the sources of energy when and where needed will involve significant investment in the electricity grid, which is run in England and Wales by National Grid. Its project director for electric vehicles Graeme Cooper (pictured, left) tells MT the company already has plans in place to make sure power will be available where and when it needs to be.

National Grid runs the national high-voltage transmission network connecting power stations and renewable energy sources to the 14 regional distribution network operators (DNOs) that supply electricity to customers.

“They are all connected and they all need to work together,” said Cooper. “We don’t make or sell electricity; we just allow it to flow to where it’s needed. We are very confident that the way the energy industry is making electricity cleaner all the time means we will have the volume of green juice we need to decarbonise transport.

“The next element is: how do you get it to the right place?”

For the foreseeable future, battery electric vehicles – especially HGVs – will not have the range to complete long journeys without recharging en route. Luckily when it comes to providing more on the road recharging capacity the National Grid infrastructure often follows trunk roads. “When you’re on a motorway count the pylons,” says Cooper. “There is about a 60% synergy between the strategic road network and our network. To provide coverage for 99.6% of the roads for 50 driven miles we 24.2.20

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worked out there are 54 strategic sites in England and Wales. Nearly all of them are on existing motorway service areas [MSAs].”

There are around 85 MSAs in total in England and Wales. At those sites National Grid envisages there would also be hydrogen production by electrolysis to power fuel cell vehicles, as well as recharging batteries.

Not all those connections would be provided by National Grid itself, as the local DNOs would also have a role.

“The transport sector doesn’t care who owns the wires,” says Cooper. “They need a network that gives the right connection with the right capacity at the right price so there is a consistency across the UK. Those 54 sites will be a mixture depending on which is able to deliver most effectively.

“National Grid has identified the sites and we will work with government, the motorway service areas and the industry sectors to see how those are delivered.”

National Grid is a licensed monopoly, regulated by Ofgem, and also operates the national high-pressure gas grid, so has to be “technology agnostic”, Cooper insists.

“We are just responding to what we see in the market,” he says. “Networks respond to customer demand and at the moment we see a new customer likely to come forward and that is the decarbonisation of road transport.

But it is very difficult for us to respond to a market that is starting to form.

“Instead of just responding after the event, we are hoping to help government and industry and the players by asking ‘what is the infrastructure you need, when do you need it and what does it look like?’ We have tried to help the sectors come together to find the answers and understand what we need to do to make sure our infrastructure is an enabler for a low-carbon future, not a barrier.”

What Ofgem will be keen to avoid however is the risk of ‘stranded assets’, built on a contingency basis but ultimately in the wrong place.

“Do we put something in and suddenly there is a technology change that means it is a wasted asset?” says Cooper. “It is not for us to decide if it is electric or hydro24.2.20

gen – we are here to serve whatever turns up. We will not be doing the refuelling – we just bring the appropriate grid capacity.”

An “appropriate” future-proofed MSA grid connection will probably be around 10MW to 12MW. “No one can second-guess the end state,” says Cooper. “But we run the risk of the perfect being the enemy of the good. We believe that, in the debate around how the energy industry helps the transport industry achieve its objectives, that is the minimum viable product. We feel that is the best way to do it rather than just wait and see what the market does.”

Another challenge for the National Grid is balancing increasingly intermittent generation from renewable sources such as wind and solar with these very large local loads. “In a future where we have more variable generation, we will need more variable demand,” says Cooper.

“So flexibility in the energy system will become even more important as we become more decentralised and cleaner in our energy provision. We are already starting to see large-scale battery storage projects applied to grid connections. At charge points on a MSA what you may start to see is battery storage between the grid and the vehicle charging point to flex demand on the grid.

“Hydrogen also has a role because you can make hydrogen at time when the grid is cheap and clean and store it in a pressurised vessel to put into a vehicle. So the solution is not likely to be a wire from the grid to a truck – there is likely to be something else associated with the refuelling. That is not very different from the way MSAs buy and bunker their diesel today.”

This process will be made easier if the government passes legislation requiring all electric vehicles to be connected to the grid via smart chargers that can communicate with the whole network. This will enable better decisions to be made about when EVs should take power from the grid, allowing better balancing of the network without the need to bring on non-renewable generation.

“Charging is getting smarter and the ability of the generation to meet the demand by being able to see what is happening is improving all the time,” says Cooper.

“My electric car at home is already only charged when demand is low and the grid is clean. That means my car isn’t charging on a cold winter morning when demand is at peak. That technology is already there and there is no reason to think it won’t find its way into the commercial sector.”

As and when large HGV fleets move to battery or hydrogen electric trucks, they will also need high-capacity electricity connections at their bases to recharge the vehicles. Most DCs today are in key geographical locations chosen to serve customers in the most efficient way, and these are not necessarily close to the electricity grid.

“We are trying to bring three industries – energy, transport and digital – together,” says Cooper. “I can bring the energy component but we need people to step up with the vehicle and technology components. Trying to get grid capacity to a legacy depot can be expensive and challenging. Some of the discussions we are starting to have are around ‘is there an opportunity to plan moving your big fleet depot to where there is power capacity?’

“National Grid has 346 sub-stations in the UK and we have capacity at each of those. We are having early discussions with some of these big fleets about whether they would consider, when the lease is up on their current yards, planning to relocate to where the power is, rather than trying to dig long expensive routes to bring power to where they are.

“You can look on the National Grid website and see where all those 346 sub-stations are, so there is an opportunity for the large fleets to relocate their depots to where the grid capacity is. The value of land is set by the property you can put on it and people don’t want their offices or homes next to a sub-station or under a pylon. But trucks and buses don’t care.” ■ MotorTransport 19

Smart tachographs

A solution in searc Smart tachos are here to stay – but have they brought any benefit and what is the true cost to operators?

Louise Cole reports

S

mart tachographs became mandatory in June 2019, and although vehicle registration figures released by the SMMT seem to suggest that operators pulled spending forward to avoid them, there is little in the tacho specification itself that will make much difference to hauliers or drivers.

There are three aspects of smart tachos that set them apart from the first-generation digital devices. Technically enforcement officials can now scan vehicles fitted with smart tachos, using dedicated short-range communication (DSRC), and get a series of indicators relating to compliance, including whether the vehicle has a card in use and whether it believes itself to be in motion.

For the moment it appears that this remote enforcement scanning is not likely to be implemented by the DVSA any time soon, if ever. Enforcement policy specialist Mark Horton tells MT: “The DVSA already has effective tools to target tachograph fraud and drivers’ hours offences based on intelligence and other technological solutions. However, we are keeping a close eye on the solutions available and monitoring how the technology progresses to take advantage of the remote facility on smart tachographs.”

He says there are no plans for using smart tachograph technology in relation to the DVSA’s Earned Recognition scheme. DVSA also notes that there are very few vehicles, relatively, currently fitted with the devices.

Yet even now hauliers are concerned that enforcement officers can somehow download their data from the roadside. “It’s simply not possible,” says Aquarius IT commercial director Guy Reynolds. “It’s a myth.” He says the equipment, which could receive even broad indicators from the vehicle, is not being manufactured by any supplier in the EU.

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GPS data

The second novel aspect of smart tachos is the GPS data, captured at the start and end of the journey and every three hours in between. Previously the geographical information was limited to country.

Practically this isn’t useful to hauliers – who tend to know where their vehicles are anyway – and is purely for enforcement purposes. Given that the data is captured as co-ordinates, it would also need to be translated into usable information by tacho analysis software.

Finally, smart tachos are more secure and resistant to tampering. A DVSA spokesman says: “Tachographs and drivers’ hours can be manipulated in different ways, from the most obvious (ie driving without a card) to more sophisticated methods. We don’t have enough information from roadside encounters where vehicles are fitted with the new smart tachographs to draw any conclusions on how difficult they are to manipulate.”

It is possible this is a solution in search of a problem, given that UK enforcement figures for tacho tampering are not high. According to the DVSA: “In the year [1 April 20 MotorTransport

24.2.20

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arch of a problem?

2019 to 31 December 2019] we have identified 50 tachograph manipulations and 223 false records, which may well have been the result of a manipulated tachograph.”

There may be a wider issue of security though, albeit a long-term one. As the internet of things gathers pace and more operators start to pull all of their vehicle data into single connected platforms, theoretically they will become more vulnerable to deliberate cyber attack.

James Firth, FTA head of road freight regulation policy, says: “I’m not aware of this being an issue. However, while the tachos on their own are transmit-only, connected platforms become two-way, so we must be alive to the threat possibilities. Extra security is not exciting, but it is important. With digital security you need to run as fast as you can to stand still.”

Indexes and sequence numbers

The introduction of the new tachographs has had no appreciable cost impact on the industry, although tacho manufacturers warned of a £100 increase in cost.

All tacho cards have been backwards compatible, and Reynolds congratulates tacho manufacturers Continental and Stoneridge for their seamless work on this. However, it has not been glitch-free. Two related issues have caused problems for larger or multi-depot operators or those who remotely download data. These concern the replacement indexes and sequence numbers on the company cards (the last two digits of the serial numbers). Company cards are used for locking and unlocking data and downloading. Multiple company cards in one organisation will be numbered in sequence.

Reynolds says: “Because of the anomaly in the interpretation of the specification for GEN2 tachographs (Annex 1C), if multiple company cards are used in the same vehicle it will cause the lower sequenced company cards to become invalid over time.”

In other words, the unit will recognise a card with a higher sequence number as more recent and from then on disregard cards with a lower sequence number.

A related issue means that cards sequenced over 62 would not be recognised because a best practice statement to increase the number of potential cards to over 2,000 wasn’t carried over into the spec. Firth says that all operators with more than 62 company cards should have been contacted by the DVLA, but warns operators that are running slightly less than this number they may encounter issues if they acquire any more.

Reynolds congratulates the DVLA and DVSA for taking decisive action to manage these glitches. “At an EU level there is still no solution but the DVLA came up with the elegant solution of replacing the numbers with the letter Z. Hauliers lose nothing by this and it works – a practical and pragmatic solution.”

Jackie Dougal, marketing manager at Continental, says: “There is a time saving for operators due to the fact that smart tachos will be quicker to calibrate and install in the workshop as well if or when the enforcement ➜ 23 24.2.20

MotorTransport 21

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Smart tachographs

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authorities decide to check the vehicle.”

The company says operators getting new vehicles for the first time since the introduction may need to update their downloading software and peripheral equipment, but that Continental provides all the kit and training necessary for its customers.

Tachograph manufacturers and analysts have had to paddle hard below the waterline to accommodate smart tachos and can now look forward to the advent of the smart tacho 2 (or Generation 3 as some are calling it).

The next iteration is three years away and will incorporate digital mapping. The purpose is to capture border crossings that are currently entered manually – or, quite often, not at all.

BENEFITS OF SMART TACHOGRAPHS Operators could be forgiven for asking: “Are there any benefits?” Continental highlights time savings to operators. But mostly the operator and driver roles are as they were before.

However, if we look beyond the devices themselves to the way technology is shaping the market, things are more interesting.

Reynolds says that increasingly Aquarius is providing “hooks” for telematics companies to pull the tachograph data through into operator dashboards.

“This means the transport manager or planner can see not only the jobs and routeing but how much more driving individuals have available,” he says.

While operators have traditionally thought of the tachograph as a cost rather than a benefit, this new connectivity can turn this around. “We’re a tachograph analysis company but, while that was once solely about compliance, it is now about value add,” says Reynolds. “We can display the compensatory rest periods, the reduced rests, the remaining driving time, which allows operators to maximise use of their drivers.

“It’s a whole new world for us because we are used to telling people what they cannot do. Now the emphasis is all on showing our customers what they can do.”

And finally... we’ll see

MT–RHA

Reynolds says it is uncertain whether UK operators will be obliged to move to smart tacho 2. “Although we goldplated all EU legislation last March, we are not obliged to follow the EU proposal. However, I suspect we would install the new tachos by default. However, if we have no specific agreement with the EU post-2020 and operators run under AETR rules in Europe, then hauliers wouldn’t need to adopt the next generation as AETR has not yet adopted the smart tacho [in its rules].”

Firth says the political agreement is certainly to adopt them. “We’re likely to remain in step with the EU on these issues,” he says. “However, incorporating digital mapping is no small thing technically. So ‘we’ll see’ is the answer.”

Of course, given current calls for Scottish independence and remaining uncertainty over the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, the need to track movements across even local boundaries may remain more relevant thanAdvert–Feb2020 the government would ■ Tachograph–Half-Page Horizontal v2.pdf 1 wish.

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