GreenFleet 102

CV SHOW 2017

EMERGENCY FLEETS

www.greenfleet.net

FLEET FOCUS

WAITROSE’S BIO-CNG FLEET

GENEVA MOTOR SHOW

ISSUE 102

FINANCE

SALARY SACRIFICE The changes to the scheme explained

The benefits and challenges of running a HGV fleet powered by biomethane CNG, a natural gas sourced from food production waste

Lowering emissions north of the border GreenFleet Scotland takes place on 5 May. Read the preview on page 50

ROAD TEST FIAT PROFESSIONAL FIORINO CARGO 1.3 MULTIJET 2 80

ADD WORK. ADD PLAY. ADD STORIES. THE NEW BIGGER MINI COUNTRYMAN. The new MINI Countryman is our boldest, most spacious model to date, adding new dimensions in fleet technology and adaptability.

High levels of standard specification including MINI Navigation, MINI Connected and Bluetooth® are just a taste of the technological highlights. New driver assistance features such as Forward Collision Warning and Emergency Call make negotiating your commute safer than ever.

What’s more, our first true Sports Activity Vehicle (SAV) boasts optional ALL4 all-wheel drive, which keeps drivers in control whatever the conditions. We’re also proud to announce the upcoming launch of the new MINI Countryman plug-in hybrid model, offering a pure electric range of 26 miles and CO2 emissions from 49 g/km*. Perfect for fleets looking to cut those all-important fuel and tax costs.

To find out more, visit mini.co.uk/countryman WHO’S IN?

MINI Fleet & Business Sales Official Fuel Economy Figures for the new MINI Countryman range: Urban 30.1–58.9 mpg (9.4–4.8 l/100km). Extra Urban 45.6–68.9 mpg (6.2–4.1 l/100km). Combined 38.2–122.8 mpg (7.4–2.3 l/100km). CO2 Emissions 49-169 g/km. Figures are obtained in a standardised test cycle. They are intended for comparisons between vehicles and may not be representative of what a user achieves under usual driving conditions. *Figures are obtained in a standardised test cycle using a combination of battery power and petrol fuel after the battery had been fully charged. They are intended for comparisons between vehicles and may not be representative of what a user achieves under usual driving conditions. The new MINI Cooper S E Countryman is a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle that requires mains electricity for charging.

Contents

Contents GreenFleet 102 09 News

19

SMMT defends new diesel vehicles amidst negative reports; global EV market expected to grow by 25 per cent in 2017; £62 million fund to go towards low carbon technology

19 Salary sacrifice

Amid all the hype around changes to the car salary sacrifice scheme and cash or car allowance rules, one thing should be made clear – the primary reasons for employers promoting such employee benefits are unchanged, writes Paul Hollick, chairman of the ICFM

22

22 Emergency fleets

Yorkshire Ambulance Service has investigated several different alternative fuels in its mission to cut emissions, which has resulted in one of the greenest ambulance fleets in the country. Alexis Keech explains how

24 Fleet focus: Waitrose

Waitrose operates a fleet of trucks which run purely on biomethane CNG, a natural gas sourced from food production waste. GreenFleet’s Andrea Pluck catches up with Justin Laney, who manages the supermarket’s fleet, to find out more

27 CV Show 2017

The Commercial Vehicle Show will bring together all elements of the freight, logistics and road transport industries in an exhibition and seminar, where keynote speakers will discuss transport issues, challenges and solutions

27

41 Road safety

Fleet operators of all sizes need to understand their vital role in keeping Britain’s roads safe.

The newly refreshed Driving for Better Business campaign will help fleets to understand and manage their road risk, writes Simon Turner

46 Commercial vehicles

Transport for London’s LoCITY programme works to reduce the impact of commercial vehicles on the environment – while making sure London still gets the goods and services it needs. GreenFleet chats to programme manager Fergus Worthy to find out how fleet operators can get support from the scheme

50 GreenFleet Scotland

May 5th will see the latest round-up of electric, hybrid and low-emission vehicles available to test drive at the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh, as well as an impressive line up of speakers on air quality, efficient fleet management and technology

52 Expert panel: leasing

Our leasing experts take on the subject of VED changes, the proposed diesel scrappage scheme, and how they think the government should be incentivising zero and ultra-low emission vehicles

56 Geneva motor show

Traditionally the first major motor exhibition of the year, the 2017 Geneva International Motor Show showcased the latest in hybrid, electric and hydrogen fuel cell technology

58 Road test: Volkswagen Passat GTE

The Volkswagen Passat GTE promises low emissions with both performance and efficiency. Richard Gooding reports on whether this mid-sized car marriage of pace and parsimony is a happy one

60 Road test: Fiat Professional Fiorino Cargo

Recently revised, the Fiat Professional Fiorino now has a smarter appearance and cleaner Euro 6-compliant engines, but enjoys the same practicality as before. Richard Gooding delivers the verdict on the urban warrior from Italy

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60

58

GreenFleet magazine

www.greenfleet.net Volume 102 | GREENFLEET MAGAZINE

5

THE NEW INSIGNIA P11D FROM ÂŁ16,930

BiK FROM 23% | CO2 FROM 105G/KM | UP TO 70.6MPG

YOUR GUARDIAN ANGEL New Insignia Grand Sport puts driver safety first with protective features including Forward Collision Alert and Lane Assist. Automatic Crash Response and Stolen Vehicle Assistance are also there to safeguard, delivering help and assistance when it’s needed.** Guiding technology means you can be confident that your fleet is in the safest possible hands.

Fuel consumption information is official government environmental data, tested in accordance with the relevant EU directive.

New Insignia Grand Sport range fuel consumption figures mpg (litres/100km): Urban: 24.6 (11.5)-61.4 (4.6), Extra-urban: 40.4 (7.0)-78.5 (3.6), Combined: 32.8 (8.6)-70.6 (4.0). CO2 emissions: 197-105g/km.

Pre-book your New Insignia 3 Day Test Drive.

Visit vauxhallfleet.co.uk/newinsigniatestdrive Official EU-regulated test data are provided for comparison purposes and actual performance will depend on driving style, road conditions and other non-technical factors. 2017/18 tax year. General Motors UK Limited, trading as Vauxhall Motors, does not offer tax advice and recommends that all Company Car Drivers consult their own accountant with regards to their own tax position. New Insignia Elite Nav 2.0 (260PS) Turbo 4X4 auto model illustrated (P11D of £27,155) features Dark Moon Blue two-coat metallic paint (£555), VXR Styling Pack (£850) and Driving Assistance Pack Four (£595), optional at extra cost. * = Terms and conditions apply and vehicles are subject to availability. Please call 0330 587 8221 for full details. ** = Includes 12 months of OnStar services from date of first registration and a 3 month/3 GB Wi-Fi free trial period (whichever comes first) effective from the date the customer accepts the nominated network operator Wi-Fi Ts&Cs. OnStar services and 4G Wi-Fi Hotspot require activation and are subject to mobile network coverage and availability. Wi-Fi Hotspot service requires account with nominated mobile network operator. Charges apply after free trial period. The OnStar subscription packages could be different from the services included in the free trial package. Terms and conditions apply. Check vauxhall.co.uk/OnStar for details of availability, coverage and charges. Vehicles purchased without OnStar cannot have the required technology retro-fitted. Destination download only available on vehicles with factory installed navigation systems. All figures quoted correct at time of going to press (April 2017).

The Ford Transit Custom’s all-new automatic transmission gives you more torque, more control, and more convenience – just like that. If you’re looking to make work effortless, nothing else helps you go further.

To find out how Ford can help your business go further, call the Ford Business Centre on 0345 723 2323.

Model shown is a Transit Custom Limited 270 L1 H1 2.0 TDCi 130PS Automatic.

Official fuel consumption figures in mpg (l/100km) for the model shown are: urban 37.2 (7.6), extra urban 42.8 (6.6), combined 40.4 (7.0). Official C02 emission 182g/km.

The mpg figures quoted are sourced from official EU-regulated test results (EU Directive and Regulation 692/2008), are provided for comparability purposes and may not reflect your actual driving experience.

SMMT defends new diesel vehicles amidst negative reports According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, recent negative reports on diesel and the problems it causes air quality have failed to differentiate between new and old vehicles.

The SMMT has said that diesel cars are not the main source of urban NOx, stating that in London, gas heating of homes and offices is the biggest contributor, responsible for 16 per cent.

While road transport as a whole is responsible for around half of London’s NOx, diesel cars produce just 11 per cent, although concentrations will vary at different times depending on congestion.

Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said: “Euro 6 diesel cars on sale today are the cleanest in history. Not only have they drastically reduced or banished particulates, sulphur and carbon monoxide but they also emit vastly lower NOx than their older counterparts – a fact recognised by London in their exemption from the Ultra Low Emission Zone that will come into force in 2019. Some recent reports have

failed to differentiate between these much cleaner cars and vehicles of the past.

“This is unfair and dismissive of progress made. In addition to their important contribution to improving air quality, diesel cars are also a key part of action to tackle climate change while allowing millions of people, particularly those who regularly travel long distances, to do so as affordably as possible.”

READ MORE tinyurl.com/k2e29n9

Funding for real-time NOx emissions charging project The vehicle technology company Tantalum Corporation has been awarded £1 million to develop technology which can estimate NOx emissions from vehicles in real-time.

Awarded by Innovate UK, the project is expected to give local authorities the ability to charge drivers that use city roads based on their vehicles’ actual emissions.

As part of the Air Car project, the company will be working with Imperial College London to develop the accuracy of estimating NOx emissions.

Tantalum’s technology can be connected to any vehicle’s on-board computer and combine the emissions data streams with the vehicle’s location and driver behaviour to inform drivers and public authorities of the real environmental impact of individual vehicles.

As part of the project, Tantalum is trialling 1,000 vehicles to test and develop this idea.

The firm is recruiting fleets from public and commercial sectors to take part, and it will run within London and other UK cities where there are Clean Air Zones.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/ldu7oc4

AIR QUALITY

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

London council to ban cars for school run to cut emissions

Global electric vehicle market expected to grow by 25 per cent in 2017

Parents in parts of London who use a car to do the school run may be fined in a bid to improve air pollution and safety, the Standard has reported.

A fine of up to £130 in parts of London is set to be issued to parents as cars will be banned from streets near schools at morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up times.

Pupils will be expected to walk or cycle to get to school as part of the School Streets initiative by Hackney Council.

The project is set to be trialled in two schools.

News

AIR QUALITY

DIESEL EMISSIONS

According to research from Frost & Sullivan, this year the global EV market is likely to grow by 25.6 percent, with 950,000 units sold.

The ‘Global Electric Vehicle Market Outlook 2017’ suggests that 48V mild hybrids and PHEVs are likely to be key technologies adopted in the European Union (EU), while the Chinese government pushes vehicle electrification.

In addition to this, approximately 25 new electric vehicle models are likely to be launched later this year, including the Chevrolet Bolt and Tesla Model 3.

Looking at past growth, the report also noted that the global EV market

has increased at an annual growth rate of 72.1 per cent from 2011 to 2016.

The availability of incentives and subsidies in the market, significant investment by original equipment manufacturers, new entrants, and lower battery prices are factors believed to be behind the growth.

However, the lack of standardisation in charging technology, absence of a fixed business model, and short-distance range of EVs still need to be addressed, according to the mobility team.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/m6zlfys

READ MORE tinyurl.com/mnc98mf

9

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News

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

£62 million fund to go towards low carbon technology The Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) has awarded £62 million to projects to develop innovative low carbon technology in the UK. The organisation, which is a centre for low carbon propulsion development and production, will give the cash to projects led by BMW Motorsport, New Holland Agriculture, Jaguar Land Rover, Williams Advanced Engineering, Penso Consulting, Ford Motor Company and Westfield Sportscars.

This is part of a 10-year partnership to bring UK low-carbon technologies to market.

Projects cover a wide range of innovations, which will help the UK to become a global leader in low emissions technology. They

include the development of an affordable hybrid powertrain for niche vehicle applications, such as autonomous pods, as well as a project to address significant gaps in the UK electrification supply chain.

BMW Motorsport will collaborate with Delta Motorsport and WMG at the University of Warwick to design, develop and produce power dense batteries in the UK. Jaguar Land Rover plans to develop new lightweight vehicle technology, designed to enable reduced emissions while maintaining the performance of new cars and SUVs in the future.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/m24ha4k

AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

Company car drivers nervous of fully autonomous vehicles An study by Lex Autolease has found that there was only a 1.3 per cent rise in support for autonomous vehicles from company drivers last year.

The study which surveyed more than 600 company car drivers and 300 fleet decision-makers, found that although the majority of drivers embrace partial autonomous features that can improve safety, such as automatic braking systems, there is still a nervousness towards fully autonomous vehicles.

The fleet funding firm’s research shows that in 2015, a quarter of company car drivers

supported greater adoption of driverless cars that require no human input, which increased to just 26.3 per cent in 2016.

Nearly half of company car drivers surveyed in 2016 still oppose fully autonomous vehicles. Fifty-one per cent also believe that the transition towards driverless vehicles, which could see a mix of driver-controlled and autonomous vehicles on our roads, would be confusing.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/75vk3v9

LowCVP’s Andy Eastlake

ULEZ, CAZ and diesel decisions: the air quality agenda As I sit and ponder this month’s column, the Mayor of London has announced the next stage of consultation on the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), while DEFRA and the DfT will imminently publish the revised National Air Quality Plan which will have far-reaching proposals for Clean Air Zones at its centre.

Meanwhile, four select committees have taken the unprecedented step of announcing a joint inquiry into air quality. So there can really only be one focus for the fleet manager today: “What do I do about diesel?”.

Diesel remains the mainstay of the UK’s road transport fleet and still provides the most efficient engines for longer journeys and heavier loads (though other options are catching up). Fortunately, the dramatic improvement in emissions from the Euro VI requirements (from 2014) means that the trucks and buses now on sale, meet (and exceed) all the proposed emission zone targets, and can genuinely be considered part of the solution to urban pollution.

But in the van and car fleets, whilst the decisions on what and when to buy are much more difficult, the range of options is also much wider. The latest figures show that pure battery electric vehicle sales (which had been rather flat) are 30 per cent up in March (46 per cent YTD). This is the one cleaner vehicle segment which won’t have been adversely impacted by the revised VED rates introduced this month, so will continue on this upward trajectory.

Announcements are (finally) coming thick and fast in the van segment too, with both full electric and range-extended van solutions from the major OEMs and small volume manufacturers vying for your future business. In all this, though, probably the most frustrating aspect is the lack of conclusion on the test requirements for the next generation of Euro 6 vehicles. With the media (and several political leaders) denouncing certification data, what is the fleet buyer to believe? The technology to produce clean diesel cars and vans, exists and is well proven on HGVs. The targets for the fully compliant (real world driving) verified low emission vehicles, are in place. But the regulation is not in law, so it is impossible to certify a clean vehicle, even if you have produced one. This regulatory bottleneck also holds back the next generation of electrified solutions and alternative fuels together and, indeed, the scope for policy makers keen to stimulate low emission solutions.

The fleet market is rightly demanding that truly clean vehicles must be available in the market and, from where I sit, the manufacturers want to provide these, so the sooner we can sign the Euro 6 RDE regulation the sooner we can encourage the rapid uptake of the widest range of vehicles with robust, comparable evidence of real world performance.

The LowCVP is working across all its members and government departments to develop evidence and policies based on the next round of certification information which will see a step change in benefits to users and allow the markets to move forward.

I suspect we are all in for a bumpy ride over the next few months.

But, for low emission fleets, while today things may seem opaque, I can see light at the end of the tunnel and the start of a much clearer pathway based on robust evidence and coherent policy.

We must remember that amongst all the justified focus on air quality, the climate challenge has not gone away and is no less urgent; indeed, it will surely outlast the need to clean up local pollution. It is worrying that progress in the transport sector in the last few years on CO2 has slowed.

The LowCVP is working to join up air quality and climate policy and will continue to maintain a focus on both objectives.

FURTHER INFORMATION www.lowcvp.org.uk

Volume 102 | GREENFLEET MAGAZINE

11

IN A WORLD OF HYBRIDS, SOME FOLLOW, OTHERS LEAD.

THE MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER PHEV SAVE £1,000s ON YOUR COMPANY CAR FLEET

1

Compare the tax savings of running a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV as your company car against these market leaders.

OUTLANDER PHEV 4H AUTO

HONDA CR-V EX AUTO

BMW X3 XDRIVE 30D SE AUTO

AUDI Q5 S-LINE PLUS AUTO

MERCEDES E220D AMG LINE AUTO SALOON

COST OF THE CAR - P11D VALUE

£39,399

£32,625

£40,665

£40,035

£44,350

GOVERNMENT GRANT REDUCTION

£2,500

£0

£0

£0

£0

£32,625

£40,665

£40,035

£44,350

ADJUSTED FINAL PRICE

£36,899

11

CO2 EMISSIONS G/KM

41

179

156

133

129

BENEFIT IN KIND RATE

9%

34%

33%

28%

27%

VEHICLE BENEFIT CHARGE WITHOUT FUEL PROVIDED

£1,418

£4,437

£5,368

£4,484

£4,790

THE EXTRA TAX YOU PAY VS PHEV (40% TAXPAYER)

–

£3,019

£3,949

£3,066

£3,371

£2,232

£7,511

£8,351

£7,015

£7,231

–

£5,279

£6,119

£4,783

£4,999

VEHICLE BENEFIT CHARGE WITH FUEL PROVIDED THE EXTRA TAX YOU PAY VS PHEV (40% TAXPAYER)

Find out more. Search PHEV | Visit mitsubishi-cars.co.uk to find your nearest dealer Outlander PHEV range fuel consumption in mpg (ltrs/100km): Full Battery Charge: no fuel used, Depleted Battery Charge: 51.4mpg (5.5), Weighted Average: 166.1mpg (1.7), CO2 emissions: 41 g/km.

The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is a different animal. It delivers up to 166mpg2, with an electric range of up to 33 miles and a combined electric and petrol range of up to 542 miles3. And with ultra-low CO2 emissions there are significant savings that your business can make. You’ll be able to write down 100% of the cost of an Outlander in year one4, saving £1,000s in Corporation Tax5 – and you’ll save money on your associated Class 1a National Insurance Contributions6. Business users will only pay 9% Benefit in Kind taxation7 plus it’s exempt from the London Congestion Charge8 and its first year of road tax. Fully charged in just a few hours using a domestic plug socket9, a free Chargemaster Homecharge unit10 or one of over 11,000 UK-wide Charge Points, this 4WD SUV legend continues its journey onwards as the UK’s leading selling plug-in hybrid.

We call this Intelligent Motion.

Compare the corporation tax savings of a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV against a typical company car.

TYPICAL VEHICLE

OUTLANDER PHEV

PROFIT BEFORE TAX (PBT)

£100,000

£100,000

TAX RATE LIST PRICE OF VEHICLE CAPITAL ALLOWANCE CAPITAL ALLOWANCE (£)

19%

19%

£36,500

£36,89911

8%4

100%

£2,920

£36,899

TAXABLE PROFIT (ON £100,000 PBT)

£97,080

£63,101

CORPORATION TAX (NO VEHICLE PURCHASE)

£19,000

£19,000

CORPORATION TAX (WITH VEHICLE PURCHASE)

£18,445

£11,989

£555

£7,011

SAVING DUE TO CAPITAL ALLOWANCE

THE MITSUBISHI

OUTLANDER PHEV THE UK’s LEADING SELLING PLUG-IN HYBRID

FROM £32,249 - £43,499 Including £2,500 Government Plug-in Car Grant11

BUYING A PHEV WILL SAVE YOU A TOTAL OF £6,456 IN CORPORATION TAX (YEAR 1)

1. Outlander PHEV 4h compared with Honda CR-V, BMW X3, Audi Q5 and Mercedes E-Class – average gross pay saving £5,585 for a 40% taxpayer. The savings for business drivers with a company fuel card are higher.

2. Official EU MPG test figure shown as a guide for comparative purposes and is based on the vehicle being charged from mains electricity. This may not reflect real driving results. 3. Up to 33 mile EV range achieved with full battery charge. 542 miles achieved with combined full battery and petrol tank. Actual range will vary depending on driving style and road conditions.

4. Outlander PHEV qualifies as low CO2 emissions vehicle for the purpose of Capital Allowances. 8% write down allowance used for comparison. 5. Savings achieved due to lower Profits Chargeable to Corporation Tax (PCTCT). 6. Class 1a NI only payable on 9% of list price compared to 30% average for other models shown. 7. 9% BIK compared to 30% average. 9% BIK rate for the 2017/18 tax year. 8. Congestion Charge application required, subject to administrative fee. 9. Domestic plug charge: 5 hours, 16 Amp home charge point: 3.5 hours, 80% rapid charge: 25mins. 10. Offer may be withdrawn at any time. For full terms and conditions, visit Mitsubishi-cars.co.uk/chargepoint 11. Prices shown include the Government Plug-in Car Grant and VAT (at 20%), but exclude First Registration Fee. Model shown is an Outlander PHEV 4hs at £38,999 including the Government Plug-in Car Grant. On The Road prices range from £32,304 to £43,554 and include VED, First Registration Fee and the Government Plug-in Car Grant. Metallic/ pearlescent paint extra. Prices correct at time of going to print. For more information about the Government Plug-in Car Grant please visit www.gov.uk/plug-in-car-van-grants. The Government Plug-in Car Grant is subject to change at any time, without prior notice.

Scotland’s Premier Low Emission Vehicle Event Friday 5 May 2017 Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh

Register for FREE at events.greenfleet.net/scotland

Commercial Vehicle News

FREIGHT TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION

LOW EMISSION ZONES

ULEZ plan is “troubling news” for small businesses The Freight Transport Association has stated that plans for an Ultra Low Emission Zone will impose unnecessary costs on small businesses in London.

Plans for an ULEZ outlined by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is believed to “severely disadvantage small businesses working in the capital’s centre,” the Freight Transport Association (FTA) has said.

The zone is set to be implemented in 2019.

Natalie Chapman, FTA’s head of Policy for London and the South East, commented: “The impact will be especially hard for van users, as by 2019 there will only be two and a

half years’ worth of compliant vehicles in the fleet – and no second-hand compliant vehicles available for purchase at all.”

“We are calling for businesses based in the affected area to have access to a sunset clause, such as has been offered to private residents, allowing them greater time to comply with the change required without the need for unnecessary and potentially crippling additional charges for new vehicles.”

READ MORE tinyurl.com/k9qtj8x

INDUSTRIAL VEHICLES

Amazon to replace forklift batteries with hydrogen fuel cells The e-retail firm is set to replace forklift batteries in 11 warehouse with the alternative power source, hydrogen fuel cells (HFC) Amazon is investing millions in the technology, acquiring the right to buy up to 23 percent of hydrogen fuel cell maker, Plug Power The company is set to spend $70 million this year on hydrogen fuelling infrastructure, the

actual fuel, and fuel cells for the forklifts and for backup power.

The change will allow the forklifts to work around the clock without the need to be charged.

Operators will just need to refill them with hydrogen fuel when it runs out.

READ MORE

Back to basics with FTA’s Logistics Carbon Reduction Scheme There is increasing appetite for companies to be able to record, report and reduce carbon emissions from their supply chains. This often includes transport, which can represent a significant percentage of overall emissions.

Christopher Snelling, Head of national and regional policy, FTA

Increasingly, there are calls for reporting the carbon efficiency of transporting goods. This can be particularly challenging – traditionally, freight traffic has been measured and reported in tonnes but this has changed as low-density high-volume goods have increased. Businesses also use a diverse range of units to quantify logistics, such as pallets, cases, cages and drops.

While these issues should be investigated, FTA’s message is to get back to the basics of carbon footprinting – record, report, reduce. After all, unless you measure it you can’t manage it.

Operators of commercial vehicles, whether HGVs or vans, should be encouraged to start the process by working out their carbon emissions using litres of fuel rather than getting bogged down in the technicalities, which can be explored later.

One way of getting started is to join FTA’s Logistics Carbon Reduction Scheme (LCRS), a voluntary initiative to reduce carbon emissions, sponsored by Bridgestone.

The scheme provides an easy starting point for carbon reduction, whether you have one or 1,000 vehicles. We request simple fuel and business activity data which provides your carbon footprint and the opportunity to promote your green credentials to others. The scheme is free and open to any company with commercial vehicles.

Importantly, the scheme also provides essential evidence of the logistics sectors’ desire to improve fuel efficiency and contribute to national climate change targets. By joining, you can not only influence government agenda but also get to grips with carbon reporting.

The Department for Transport has recently supported the work of the LCRS in its Freight Carbon Review.

The scheme also develops to meet industry’s needs – the LCRS is currently tracking the extent to which members can invest in Euro VI/6 vehicles to demonstrate efforts for tackling air quality.

Over 125 companies have joined the scheme since it began in 2010 and it now represents over 87,000 commercial vehicles.

Members include large retailers such as John Lewis Partnership and Asda as well as third party logistics providers such as DHL and Wincanton. Smaller hauliers, waste companies and local authorities also take part. Results show that LCRS members are outperforming industry when it comes to carbon reduction.

We also celebrate the success of LCRS members who adopt decarbonisation measures through our LCRS Awards. This could be anything from implementing a comprehensive telematics programme and putting drivers through training for utilising alternative fuels or collaborating with competitors.

Howdens Joinery scooped the LCRS Leadership in Carbon Reduction Award sponsored by Bridgestone at the FTA Multimodal Awards this year. This proved it’s not only logistics operators who can make huge strides in carbon reduction.

FURTHER INFORMATION www.fta.co.uk/lcrs

tinyurl.com/kukrho5 Volume 102 | GREENFLEET MAGAZINE

15

“

“

Providing high quality vehicles and service solutions to the logistics industry

Aquila Truck Centres are committed to raising the standards of excellence for service to transport operators throughout the UK. With 4 dealerships and 1 authorised repairer, we are able to offer award winning Iveco commercial service.

24 Hour Workshops throughout the week “We know how important it is to maintain a vehicle throughout its operating life, making sure that it performs as you would expect, achieving the highest resale value when the time comes”

with overnight servicing available at weekends*

2 Years Nationwide Parts & Labour Warranty on genuine Iveco parts fitted in our workshop

Fixed Price Servicing Contracts available on HGV’s, trailers, vans & cranes*

24 Hour Breakdown Cover Available on the new Iveco range throughout the UK & Europe

2017 is seeing big changes at Aquila We have recently opened a dedicated Iveco Daily van centre in our Worcester depot, with an extensive range of Iveco Daily stock & demonstrators, we are geared up to handle all commercial van operators in the Worcestershire area.

(Conveniently located 1 mile from junction 6 of the M5) At Aquila we are investing in people, increasing service and allowing our customers to focus on their core business, giving peace of mind & simplicity.

Aquila are a leading Iveco franchise dealer in the UK, we have dedicated time and resource to get things right. We offer transport solutions for all types of fleets ranging from 3.5 Tonne to 44 Tonne,

Another reason to choose Aquila.

Registered Office: Aquila Truck Centres (Italia) Ltd Chimney Road, Great Bridge, Tipton. DY4 7BY

Branches At: Avonmouth: Gloucester: Swindon: Worcester:

Tel: 0117 916 2240 Tel: 01452 314900 Tel: 01793 422366 Tel: 01905 753213

www.aquilaitalia.com – Registered No: 8480919 – VAT No: GB 161 2652 30

ELECTRIC VANS

£3 million cash pot for greener buses in Scotland

Harrods to add electric van to its fleet

Bus operators, local authorities and regional transport partnership’s across Scotland can apply for a share of £3 million to go towards low carbon emission buses.

The Scottish Green Bus Fund, now in its seventh year, aims to help support the introduction of new low carbon vehicles across the country.

The Scottish government has already invested £14.8m over the previous six rounds.

Transport minister Humza

Commercial Vehicle News

BUSES

Yousaf said: “I am pleased to announce funding for this latest round of the Green Bus Fund, which has already seen the introduction of more than 300 low emission buses to the Scottish fleet and I look forward to seeing even more on our roads.”

The application deadline for the Green Bus Fund is 30 June.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/mzm5t96

ELECTRIC VANS

Harrods is set to add an all-electric Nissan e-NV200 to its delivery fleet, which has a range of up to 106 miles on a single charge.

This means it is capable of making up to 50 deliveries per week, covering an average distance of 150 miles in the London area, only needing one charge a week.

It has an average running cost of as little as two pence per mile and will have a positive effect on the air quality in the city.

The Nissan e-NV200 has

been specially adapted to fit Harrods’ delivery needs.

The loadspace of the van has been fully refrigerated and shelving units have been added to allow for fresh groceries to be transported.

The exterior has also been wrapped in the traditional green and gold Harrods livery to make it recognisable as it travels around the city.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/n3w74zo

HGVs

Deutsche Post Iveco wins expands electric award for natural van production gas-powered vehicles The production capacity of Deutsche Post’s self-developed StreetScooter electric van will double from 10,000 to as many as 20,000 by the end of the year, the company has announced.

This is due to strong customer demand from the company’s own operations in Germany, as well as the rest of Europe.

The company will commission another production location

in North Rhine-Westphalia to build the extra vehicles.

The company is now also selling the StreetScooter to third parties, with at least half of this year’s annual production planned for external prospective buyers of the vehicles.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/kuj9yhf

Iveco has received the NGV Global Industry Champion Award for its dedication to developing vehicles powered by natural gas.

The prize, which is sponsored NGV Global, was awarded in Rotterdam (Netherlands) at the NGV Global Conference 2017.

The award recognises Iveco’s commitment to the natural gas sector and for its efforts in developing the compressed

natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) markets.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/k4t5c27 Volume 102 | GREENFLEET MAGAZINE

17

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Amid all the hype around changes to the car salary sacrifice scheme and cash or car allowance rules, one thing should be made clear – the primary reasons for employers promoting such employee benefits are unchanged, writes Paul Hollick, chairman of the ICFM Therefore, while businesses must consider the impact of the changes taking into consideration employer position on CO2 limits and available cars – there are many cars that are largely unaffected, others will perhaps become more attractive, such as ultra-low emission vehicles, and some will become less attractive. But that doesn’t mean the destruction of choice lists; it just requires careful consideration of the impact on available vehicles.

ICFM’s understanding is that the cost of the “average” car chosen through a salary scheme has not significantly changed.

Similarly, employers offering a car or cash option should examine the new rules closely and, potentially adjust policy accordingly. That could include reviewing allowance levels, but it depends on the value of allowances available versus the car choice lists.

That is why education is key.

From company directors to fleet decision-makers and drivers it is vital that fact and fiction are separated and the myths surrounding car salary sacrifice scheme rules from April 6, 2017 are dismissed.

The s changeean m do not ruction t the des e lists; it c of choi ires careful u just reqderation of consi vailable the a les One of the vehic funding options

Good value Where vehicle choice is available employees should be able to find cars that represent “good value” and while the new rules may signal a change of selection patterns and different vehicles becoming popular, many employers may well find that, when they look at the impact, a healthy vehicle choice remains. Indeed

Written by Paul Hollick, chairman of the ICFM

Changes to salary sacrifice scheme and cash or car allowance were announced in last year’s Autumn Statement and rubber stamped in the recent 2017 Budget for inclusion in the 2017 Finance Bill. The Institute of Car Fleet Management (ICFM) is aware of some employers taking a knee-jerk reaction to the chances that amounted to abandoning schemes.

But, it should be remembered that car salary sacrifice schemes – however the tax changes are viewed – continue to offer the benefits to both employers and employees that they were developed to achieve.

Those benefits include being low-cost, or cost-free, for employers to introduce. They promote low-emission vehicles, thereby helping to strengthen an employer’s ‘green’ agenda. Benefits also include reducing an organisation’s costs, and promoting staff recruitment and retention.

In short, car salary sacrifice schemes still work to the benefit of both employers and employees, especially if cars are carefully selected with the focus on plug-in and low emission vehicles.

Salary Sacrifice Scheme

In focus: salary sacrifice schemes

ICFM is not in a position to say whether car salary sacrifice schemes are right or wrong for each business – that is a decision that each !

Volume 102 | GREENFLEET MAGAZINE

19

April 25 - 27th NEC BIRMINGHAM

WIDEN YOUR HORIZONS The Commercial Vehicle Show 2017 Our industry never stands still and innovation, powered by technology, continues to challenge, reshape and redefine every aspect of commercial vehicle operations and the supply chain that supports it.

That’s just one of the many reasons why a visit to the Commercial Vehicle Show 2017 is a must for anyone who doesn’t want to be left behind. See you at the NEC Birmingham, Tuesday 25th – Thursday 27th April 2017.

@TheCVShow

Get your FREE ticket Register today www.cvshow.com

Salary Sacrifice Scheme

Alison Argall from Tusker delivered a seminar at the recent inaugural ICFM Masterclass on salary sacrifice scheme changes

! employer must take depending on their own individual circumstances.

However, ICFM’s view in today’s market place is that best practice dictates that employers take a balanced approach to vehicle funding and provision and salary sacrifice should be one of the funding options on the table along with outright purchase, contract hire, finance leasing, flexi-lease and a myriad of other options.

To that extent, if organisations have not already undertaken a detailed analysis of fleet funding and the option to include, exclude or abandon a car salary sacrifice then they should do so immediately.

What’s been announced?

To recap on what’s been announced, here is a brief history lesson. Budgets and Autumn Statements for a number of years included warnings that the popularity of salary sacrifice schemes impacted on the government’s tax and National Insurance revenues.

In the 2015 Autumn Statement, then Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said: “The government remains concerned about the growth of salary sacrifice arrangements and is considering what action, if any, is necessary. The government will gather further evidence, including from employers, on salary sacrifice arrangements to inform its approach.”

Twelve months later, following a consultation, Osborne’s replacement Philip Hammond announced in the 2016 Autumn Statement how salary sacrifice schemes would be reformed – and in respect of cars he bowed to fleet industry pressure and gave some concessions.

What the government had seen was that salary sacrifice schemes had widened significantly to include such items as white goods, concierge services and even double glazing, according to the consultation document.

Effectively car salary sacrifice schemes had been caught up in the crossfire so the new regulations, from April 6, mean employees opting for a salary sacrifice arrangement or taking a company car in lieu of a cash alternative will pay tax on the higher of the existing company car benefit value and the salary sacrificed or cash allowance forgone.

Car arrangements in place before April 6 are protected until April 2021.

Ultra-low emission cars – those with CO2 emissions of 75g/km or less – are exempt from the regulation.

Even then not all cars are impacted – cars with higher CO2 emissions but low whole life costs could still be attractive while factors such as fuel type, insurance cost, manufacturer discounts and drivers’ tax rate must be taken into account. The ICFM’s view therefore is that employers and employees can still enjoy financial and other benefits associated with car salary sacrifice arrangements.

A masterclass on the issue The ICFM held its inaugural Masterclass and chose the changes to car salary sacrifice scheme and cash or car allowance rules

The ICFM held its inaugural Masterclass and chose the car salary sacrifice scheme changes as a topic, as research among fleet decision-makers had highlighted this as a big challenge this year as the subject because its research among fleet decision-makers highlighted that the regulatory changes and company car tax along with cash or car allowance issues was the biggest challenge this year.

The Masterclass was well received and highlighted the changes, the impact of them and dispelled the myths and speculation around the practical considerations of salary sacrifice/ cash allowance schemes that have circulated since the new legislation was announced.

The speakers were Alison Argall, business development director sales at Tusker; Claire Evans, head of fleet consultancy Zenith; and Dan Rees, associate director, Deloitte Car and Mobility Consulting.

They heard Ms Argall say: “Tusker is passionate about providing this tangible and valued employee benefit and welcomes the opportunity to factually position the continued benefits to both employee and employer post consultation.”

Evans added: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to use our extensive experience to provide attendees with real examples and insight on how to structure and market salary sacrifice schemes, ensuring they continue to be a great addition to any benefits package post the April 2017 legislation changes.”

Meanwhile Rees commented: “Salary sacrifice for cars continues to provide employees with a neatly packaged fully maintained and ‘hassle free’ car, with no requirement for deposits or credit checks. Employees will need to continue to do their own diligence on the cost comparison elements between a salary sacrifice car and a private alternative.”

The ICFM believes that any disadvantages associated with the car salary sacrifice changes are, in real terms, minimal.

Salary sacrifice schemes have been very popular across the public sector and NHS Employers, which describes itself as ‘the voice of employers in the NHS’, said in response to the government’s consultation document on proposed salary sacrifice/cash allowance tax changes: “Salary sacrifice schemes are incredibly important to employers in the NHS as they allow them to add choice, flexibility and value to their reward offer on a cost neutral basis.”

The organisation also highlighted that “once the tax and NI advantages are removed, the resource required to administer salary sacrifice arrangements will no longer be affordable for employers”.

The fact is that the tax and National Insurance advantages of car salary sacrifice schemes have not been removed as a result of the government’s changes – although vehicle choice may need refining – and so, ICFM believes, the solution will continue to be an attractive option for many employers and employees.

It should also be remembered that any move away from car salary sacrifice schemes could result in employees driving their own cars on business – the so-called ‘grey fleet’ – which is acknowledged to comprise vehicles that are older than company cars and therefore have higher emissions, are less fuel efficient and are not equipped with the latest safety features. " FURTHER INFORMATION www.icfm.com

Volume 102 | GREENFLEET MAGAZINE

21

Emergency Fleets Written by Alexis Keech, Environmental and Sustainability manager for Yorkshire Ambulance Service

Creating a green blue-light fleet Yorkshire Ambulance Service has investigated several different alternative fuels in its mission to cut emissions, which has resulted in one of the greenest ambulance fleets in the country. Alexis Keech explains how The challenge for all fleet managers and sustainability managers is trying to anticipate the future and future-proof their fleets.

With more fuel-efficient diesel vehicles coming on the market, continuing to purchase these can sometimes be the easy option. However, carbon footprints and air pollution are higher on the agenda and fleet managers are being increasingly challenged to change the norm.

We have a perfect opportunity to embrace, shape and change the refuelling infrastructure, while still ensuring it meets our organisation’s needs.

Legislation laid down in the Climate Change Act has forced vehicle manufacturers to focus on emissions with a target of reducing them to 80 per cent of their 1990 levels. It is anticipated that in 2040 there will be no new diesel or petrol vehicles sold and that by 2050, diesel and petrol vehicles will be banned.

In line with the Climate Change Act and the Carbon Budget, the NHS as a whole has been challenged to reduce its carbon emissions by 10 per cent by 2015, and 35 per cent by 2020 until an 80 per cent reduction is in place by 2050.

Taking on the challenge For Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust (YAS), developing a sustainable fleet presents a particular challenge. As an emergency service, our vehicles are vital to ensuring we provide a high quality, responsive service to our patients.

Demand for emergency ambulances is increasing year-on-year so when faced with the question of how to reduce our carbon emissions, reducing our fleet is not an option.

Vehicles remain in our fleet for at least seven years which means that there are only three buying rounds remaining before 2050 to create a vehicle that is reliable and can withstand the challenges that our emergency ambulance and non-emergency patient transport service vehicles require.

Over the past few years, YAS has been at the cutting edge of ambulance design to reduce the impact of our vehicles in relation to air pollution and carbon emissions. We have been working hard to cut fuel use to achieve cost savings and reduce our carbon footprint. The vehicle type is essential to ensure fuel efficiency.

Reducing emissions YAS embarked on a carbon reduction programme in 2009 and has been at the

22

cutting edge of ambulance design to reduce the impact of our vehicles in relation to both air pollution and carbon emissions.

We have assessed and consolidated our fleet to ensure that the correct number of vehicles are used for the correct purpose.

Our vehicles are serviced up to six times a year to ensure that they are always running to the best of their capability. Our staff assess the inflation of their tyres as part of their daily vehicle assessment.

This ensures the optimum efficiency for the vehicle as under-inflated or over-inflated tyres can affect fuel efficiency by three per cent. We have also implemented ‘greener’ tyres across the fleet.

We carried out an assessment of fuel usage and have actively encouraged staff to prioritise bunkered fuel use on our ambulance stations, which has reduced the miles travelled to local refuelling stations. This has delivered savings in excess of £300,000.

In partnership with Leeds University and Manchester University, as well as ambulance converters, we designed an incorporated aerodynamic light bar, which actually improved the efficiency of vehicles over the standard design by 1mpg. We also changed our vehicle specification from a box body ambulance to a van conversion which increased fuel efficiency by five per cent.

Trialling vehicles We have run trials with a variety of different electric and hybrid vehicles to see how these could be integrated into our fleet. Assessment of a range for electric vehicles identified several challenges including charging infrastructure and driver training

We en have behard g workin el use to fu to cut ieve cost ach reduce d n a s saving carbon our t footprin

on electric vehicles. To date we have not incorporated any electric vehicles into our fleet as there has been range anxiety and range issues with vehicles that we have trialled.

YAS obtained funding from the Department for Transport for disruptive technology to reduce NOx emissions from our RRVs in 2016.

It was identified that during a normal working shift, the vehicles could be stationary for 65 per cent of the time with their engines idling to keep essential equipment functioning. In 2011, in order to combat the issues of idling, YAS installed a methanol fuel cell on a vehicle to eliminate the issue within the fleet. This technology proved too expensive for the fleet.

YAS has recently introduced 109 newly-designed ambulances into our fleet, fitted with solar panels and lithium ion batteries. Through a redesign and light-weighting project, these vehicles are now some of the most efficient diesel ambulances in the country.

The solar panel trickle charges the batteries with natural daylight and artificial light meaning that the batteries can always be fully charged and there is no need for engines to be run to keep the batteries charged to support all the life-saving devices required in the vehicles. This also means that there are no tailpipe emissions, so no diesel fumes, NOx or carbon emissions.

We have 109 DCAs in the YAS fleet which have had solar panels fitted on their roof in the factory. The charge will then feed into new lightweight lithium batteries that we have fitted in these vehicles.

YAS will have electric hydrogen vans in the fleet from June 2017. These have been financed by the Office of Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) through its hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV) Fleet Support Scheme. YAS will be using the ITM

to so more staff can use them. As Leeds is set to have a clean air zone implemented in 2018, we will be looking to locate this vehicle and similar vehicles in the city centre.

Other cities are likely to follow suit and more chargeable clean air zones (up to 32) will be implemented across the country.

The YAS driver trainers will have vehicle specific familiarisation training carried out by Arcola Energy prior to the vehicles being delivered and this will then be passed down through the normal training protocols.

Training on how to operate the self-service refuelling station will be given directly to the drivers by ITM Power. Drivers will be trained

Electric, hydrogen, CNG Our Patient Transport Service (PTS) vehicles travel between 150 and 200 miles a day.

Our A&E vehicles travel between 200 and 600 miles a day. At present the EV battery technology is not advanced enough for our daily mileage needs. Also the recharging downtime is limiting for an active service.

Hydrogen has the capability of filling this gap with a refuelling time of around three minutes for 2-3kg of hydrogen.

CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) and LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) could also bridge this gap but initial investigations carried out showed that if we fitted CNG or LPG tanks to our ambulances we could get the range, but due to the weight, we couldn’t actually transport patients.

Due to CNG and LPG being a carbon based fuel, even though it is cleaner running than diesel, we are looking to back hydrogen and electricity due to their capacity to run on renewables and be generated from clean sources.

In line with the Climate Change Act and the Carbon Budget, the NHS as a whole has been challenged to reduce its carbon emissions by 10 per cent by 2015, and 35 per cent by 2020 until an 80 per cent reduction is in place by 2050

Future plans In the future, we are hoping to build a prototype hydrogen electric ambulance that will have zero emissions. The next generation of electric vehicles with a longer range will have the capacity to fit into our fleet duty cycle for some of our vehicles.

We are in the process of assessing mileage and travel range as well as the type of technology that is most applicable to our fleet. We are looking to work with hospitals to implement charging points for EVs. We need to ensure that the public infrastructure is in place before we can commit to new ‘green’ vehicles as our vehicles need access to refuelling across the region.

We were part of a successful bid from OLEV for hydrogen vehicles. Our hydrogen vehicles will be used as ambulance fleet manoeuvre support vehicles to test the boundaries of the technology. As there is at present only one hydrogen refuelling station in the region, the electric capacity of the Kangoo vehicles will provide a fail-safe back-up for the vehicles if the hydrogen runs out.

The support vehicles travel a maximum distance of up to 250 miles a day which is the capacity of the Kangoo hydrogen electric conversion (100 miles on electric and 150 miles on hydrogen). As more hydrogen refuelling stations are installed across the region we will move the vehicles around

how to refuel the vehicles at the hydrogen refuelling station as well as the safety aspects associated with the technology. As these vehicles are an electric hybrid, drivers will be trained how to plug in and recharge the battery within the vehicle as well as where to recharge if required. Regeneration technology means there is the capacity to recharge the electric batteries whilst driving the vehicles.

Dual fuel technology We are part of a successful bid from Innovate UK with ULEMco to implement an innovative hydrogen dual-fuel technology hybrid system to one of our non-emergency PTS vehicles.

Our vehicle will be converted and on the road by Summer 2017. This vehicle will have up to an 80 per cent reduction in tailpipe emissions.

We have worked with Leeds City Council, York City Council, Bradford City Council, East Riding of Yorkshire Council and the local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) to ensure that a sustainable low to zero emission refuelling infrastructure is in place for the future. We are also working with a variety of organisations including Zero Carbon Yorkshire to look at the infrastructure across the region and see where there is the need to implement and install alternative refuelling technologies.

Challenges for greener fleets Driving the new generation of vehicles is in principle exactly the same as driving any other vehicle on the road but the refuelling and recharging process is different. Staff training will be essential for future fleet drivers as the skills required to drive new fuelled vehicles will be very different for example, electric vehicle drivers will need to understand the eco driving mode that can enable them to increase the miles they travel.

At present there are very few specialist mechanics in the UK who maintain and service hydrogen vehicles. We will

have an agreement in place with Arcola Symbio (hydrogen vehicle converters) and Renault for the maintenance programme.

We are looking to get our YAS mechanics trained up to maintain hydrogen vehicles in the longer term. There is also the challenge for electric vehicles with a shortage of mechanics to service the vehicles.

There needs to be a training programme to accommodate the requirements for servicing the next generation of vehicles.

The grid infrastructure is likely to be a challenge as the new generation of electric vehicles will require electricity for recharging and in some cases with rapid recharging

Emergency Fleets

Power hydrogen refuelling station located in Sheffield, which is solely wind powered, ensuring that the hydrogen generated is entirely a green fuel. This is one of the most northerly English hydrogen stations at present.

The World Health Organisation classified diesel fuel as carcinogenic in 2012. The vast majority of ambulance service vehicles in the UK are run on diesel. YAS wants to be at the cutting edge of new fuel technology and vehicles in order to trial vehicles and ensure that they can cut emissions and reach their targets of reducing carbon emissions across the region as well as work to preserve the health of the patients they serve.

there may not be the capacity in the local grid to supply the electricity. Grid upgrades can be expensive. To be a truly green fleet, fleet managers will have to engage with their estates teams to look at getting green electricity suppliers to provide their energy or look to get solar/wind installed.

Vehicle to grid (V-2-G) is set to have an impact on resolving a lot of the energy requirements for the grid load. This is where a vehicle will be used as a battery to charge the grid between set hours and then can be recharged when the demand on the grid is less (i.e. middle of the night).

The next generation of refuelling infrastructure is a challenge in many parts of the country. At present there is patchy public electric vehicle recharging locations, there are only 13 hydrogen refuelling stations and there are only a few CNG stations across the UK. Workshops that store hydrogen vehicles will be limited by the amount of air surrounding the vehicles in order to minimise the explosion potential from leaked gas. At present there are no standards in place.

Yorkshire missed out on the electric vehicle infrastructure funding through the Plugged in Places grants a few years ago so there is very little publicly-accessible electric vehicle infrastructure across the region. It is essential that local councils engage with the fleet users, like ourselves, who do not return to base regularly and will rely on recharging and refuelling infrastructure to ensure that we can continue to drive our vehicles throughout the day.

There are many challenges ahead and fleet managers must be aware and work towards eliminating the issues before they become a problem in order to carry on the day-to-day. !

FURTHER INFORMATION www.yas.nhs.uk

Volume 102 | GREENFLEET MAGAZINE

23

Fleet Focus: Waitrose Written by Andrea Pluck

Operating a commercial biomethane-CNG fleet Waitrose operates a fleet of trucks which run purely on biomethane CNG, a natural gas sourced from food production waste. Greenfleet’s Andrea Pluck catches up with Justin Laney, who manages the supermarket’s fleet, to find out more Since January 2016, Waitrose had been using two Scania-built CNG lorries for distribution purposes, which had a range of 350 miles. In January this year, the company bought in ten more of the natural-gas fuelled vehicles, but this time, adapted to achieve a new range of 500 miles.

Justin Laney is general manager of central transport for the John Lewis Partnership, the company that owns Waitrose. He explains: “We currently have 55 gas trucks in total, which are both duel fuel and dedicated gas.

“Nearly all the gas we use is biomethane CNG and those trucks basically use the same routes that the diesel trucks have,” he added.

The fleet is being used to make deliveries to stores in the midlands and north of England.

Waitrose was assisted by CNG Fuels, a provider of compressed natural gas for commercial vehicles,

in a bid to create a fleet of Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) that not only emit less Carbon Dioxide (CO2), but match the range of the diesel trucks that they usually use.

The gas is known to be one of the most cost-effective and lowest carbon alternatives to diesel for HGVs and is about 40 per cent cheaper for fleet operators to use in comparison to diesel. It also has a reduction of up to 83 per cent in carbon emissions, on a “well-to-wheel basis”.

The reason for rolling out naturally-fuelled vehicles, Laney explains, was the combination of lower emissions, a sustainable fuel supply chain, and a good business case. “It’s a very clean burning gas, so the trucks run quiet and the drivers like it,” he said.

“Although we use them for long-distance journeys they would be good to use in inner-city operations.”

Written by

e Waitros in boughtof the re ten mo as fuelled -g natural s, but this e vehicl dapted to time, a e a new achiev of 500 range les mi

24

Extending the range Waitrose worked with

Agility Fuel Solutions to extend the range of the trucks by 150 miles.

This was achieved by using twin carbon fibre tanks that store gas at 250 bar of pressure. They were mounted onto the sides of the trucks, between the front and rear axle and in total hold about 209kg of CNG when they are full.

The reason behind the extension was to overcome concerns about the distance that CNG-powered lorries can cover before refuelling, as well as making it easier for fleet operators to switch to gas.

The 26-inch diameter fuel tanks are already in use in the US and were adapted and certified for the European market by Agility Fuel Solutions. This means this is the first time that these tanks are being used in Europe.

Refuelling The new trucks top up on gas at Waitrose’s Leyland Station, which is operated by CNG Fuels.

Benefits of bio-CNG The fuel is one of the cleanest and most cost-effective alternatives to diesel and the CNG engines meet the latest Euro 6 quality standards.

In addition to this, refuelling is just as quick as diesel and takes approximately three to five minutes to complete. Also, drivers prefer filling gas to diesel as the process is cleaner.

Although Waitrose’s CNG trucks costs 50 per cent more than the ones that run on diesel, the extra costs should be repaid within two to three years because of fuel savings.

For example, savings should amount to between £15,000 to £20,000 a year, depending on the mileage of the vehicles.

This generates a lifetime saving of between £75,000 to £100,000 and a saving of more than 100 tonnes of CO2 per truck, per year, in comparison to the diesel model.

The CNG trucks are also ideal for urban areas because they are 50 per cent quieter than diesel. This means they cause less noise pollution and can unload goods without causing disruption.

CNG challenges and advice According to Laney, Waitrose were faced with many challenges when developing the CNG vehicles.

He said these ranged from technical issues to sourcing the right tanks and “a lot of regulatory and certification stages to go through.”

Laney went on to say that he had to get the tanks certified and approved to assure safety, whilst making sure the right infrastructure was in place to supply biomethane locally.

Laney’s advice to other fleet managers considering CNG is to have a trial of one of the gas vehicles.

He said: “Companies like Scania, Iveco and CNG fuels would be happy to talk about demonstration vehicles, so speak to one of them to try one of the vehicles and see what you think. “It’s also important to make sure the right infrastructure is in place to supply biomethane locally.”

Laney continued: “The main thing now, is that after several years, we are finally at a point where a biomethane-fuelled truck is running at the same capacity as our standard diesel truck. “It’s quite a milestone that could see us looking at replacing more diesel trucks.” He concluded: “With Europe’s most advanced CNG trucks, we will be able to make deliveries to our stores without having to refuel away from base.

“Using biomethane will deliver significant environmental and operational benefits to our business. “It’s much cleaner and quieter than diesel, and we can run five gas trucks for the same emissions as one diesel lorry.” !

FURTHER INFORMATION www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk

How does biomethane CNG differ from conventional CNG?

Fleet Focus: Waitrose

It is the first UK station that is connected to the high-pressure grid, and is the highest capacity station in the country.

It is capable of providing biomethane for over 500 trucks a day and they also dispense more of the gas into transport than any other UK facility.

Laney went on to say that although there are other filling stations, they don’t dispense biomethane CNG. He commented: “We’ve recently won government funding in support of the new fleet and we aim to build another station and have 43 trucks there.”

Conventional CNG and biomethane CNG are the same, but the sources are different: natural gas is a non-renewable fossil fuel; biomethane is a renewable fuel sourced from waste food production.

Both biomethane and natural gas are transported through the UK’s gas grid in the same way as electricity from solar, wind, gas and coal goes into the National Grid.

Biomethane CNG is the cleanest and most cost-effective alternative to diesel. It is 35-40 per cent cheaper than diesel for fleet operators, and offers a 70 per cent reduction in carbon emissions, on a well-to-wheel basis (the lifetime carbon footprint of the gas from source to its use in the vehicle) when sourced from a waste feedstock.

CNG engines meet the latest Euro 6 quality standards, and are up to 50 per cent quieter than their diesel counterparts, making them ideal for use in urban areas.

Volume 102 | GREENFLEET MAGAZINE

25

We’ll look after your fleet, you look after your customers.

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CV Show 2017

Who’s at the Commercial Vehicle Show?

The Commercial Vehicle Show will bring together all elements of the freight, logistics and road transport industries in an exhibition and seminar, where keynote speakers will discuss transport issues, challenges and solutions Registrations of new light commercial vehicle registrations reached a record 375,687 last year, making it the fourth consecutive year of growth.

The HGV market grew too, with registrations rising 5.3 per cent to 46,231 units – making 2016 the third consecutive year of growth.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT commented: “This is a positive sign for both the sector and the economy as a whole.

HGVs are essential for transporting vital goods around the country and their demand provides a barometer for the UK economy, so these results are certainly welcome. Looking ahead, we must ensure business uncertainty is minimised so this success can continue.”

The CV Show, which takes place at the NEC, Birmingham from 25-27 April, will bring together all elements of the freight,

with a total The transport solution. s a h x a On show M Ded, l u will be a mix a h r e of models been ovew 1.9-litre from the n a l e h s e i wit d o company’s b r tu LF, CF and Euro 6 e, which XF ranges. engin 162bhp What’s more, s e c u prod 60Nm of DAF Trucks’ in-house finance and 3 que division, PACCAR tor

logistics and road transport industries in a business-focused exhibition.

What’s more, in partnership with Road Transport Media, the 2017 event will see a dedicated seminar area, where keynote speakers from across the industry will be on hand to talk about industry issues, opportunities, challenges and the latest technological developments.

Heavy goods vehicles DAF will be promoting its Transport Efficiency initiative, which encompasses a range of product enhancements such as Silent Mode and Predictive Cruise Control. This is supported by the company’s range of customer support services, namely, DAFaid, DAF MultiSupport R&M packages, DAF Parts and PACCAR Financial – all combining to provide operators

Financial will promote DAF First Choice, the quality-approved used vehicle programme.

Prior to going on sale in the spring, the new generation Isuzu D-Max will have its public reveal at the Show.

The D-Max has been extensively overhauled, with a brand new 1.9-litre Euro 6 turbo diesel engine, which produces 162bhp and 360Nm of torque. The engine builds upon D-Max’s workhorse character and retains the 3.5 tonne towing capacity and 1-tonne payload whilst providing a quieter, more refined and economical driving experience.

As per previous D-Max models, Shift-On-The-Fly 4x4 is a key feature of the new truck. The rotary dial allows the driver to select four-wheel drive on the move as well as low range gears. New Hill Descent Control and Hill Start Assist are fitted across the range.

MAN will be using the show for the UK public debut of its new van – the TGE – alongside its range of heavy trucks.

The MAN TGE will fill the requirement for a light commercial vehicle with a gross weight rating between 3 tonnes and 5.5 tonnes !

Volume 102 | GREENFLEET MAGAZINE

27

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CV Show 2017

! and will be ideal for everyday light transport tasks in the transport and haulage sector.

Urban transport Cartwright will have its biggest ever stand at this year’s show, and will be unveiling a number of new products that reflect its diverse offering to the marketplace.

The Cartwright stand will include products with a strong focus on urban transport, including a 13.6-metre refrigerated trailer, designed to comply with PIEK low-noise standards. It has been fitted with a low-noise fridge system and includes a tail lift and pneumatic shutter operation.

In addition, a 13.6-metre 52-pallet Double Deck Wedge Trailer will be on display, featuring Cartwright’s 4-ram direct drive hydraulic full length lifting deck.

An 11-metre tandem-axle Streetwise Urban Delivery Concept trailer will also be shown, with twin temperature refrigeration, side unloading through doors on both sides and multi-function ramps for pavement or road-level unloading.

Refrigeration Perpetual V2G, a supplier of battery-based power systems, will be present to display its range of products for delivery vehicles.

The company has recently teamed with Fraikin, to begin trials of a zero-emission temperature-controlled vehicle system.

Perpetual V2G’s technology can power refrigeration units fitted to 3.5-tonne light commercial vehicles, and Fraikin

is making a demonstrator available for fleets to trial nationwide.

As the first system of its kind in Europe, it has been designed to future-proof LCV fleets against ever-tightening environmental legislation, by lowering emissions and sound pollution levels, while also reducing running costs.

The new technology can be charged via the mains or by harvesting wasted power through the vehicle’s alternator – one of the unique aspects of the design. For optimum efficiency, Euro 6 engine alternators operate intermittently, preventing them from providing the consistent charge lithium-ion batteries require to remain operational.

Meanwhile, Thermo King and Frigoblock will show visitors a portfolio of diesel, hybrid and all-electric applications to suit

all refrigeration requirements from trucks and trailers to home delivery vans.

The show will see the UK premiere of the new Thermo King SLXi platform of trailer refrigeration units and the new Hybrid Drive Trailer concept.

The Thermo King SXLi range provides optimised performance and fuel savings of 10 to 20 per cent, compared with its predecessor. It’s the industry’s first fully telematics-enabled refrigerated trailer unit, delivering full visibility of the unit and load condition with the TK BlueBox communication device and Bluetooth as standard.

The Hybrid Drive Trailer concept offers additional fuel and operational savings, as well as low emission and noise levels enabling transport companies access to inner city areas and restricted zones. "

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To find out more about AMC visit our stand at the Commercial Vehicle Show, NEC Birmingham, April 25th-27th, Hall 5, stand 5F90 - or contact us: 01926 818500 | amc@al-ko.co.uk | www.al-ko.co.uk

30

DEDICATED TO PROMOTING A CLEANER ENVIRONMENT | www.greenfleet.net

Plug-in bus Lancashire-based coachbuilders, Mellor Coachcraft, will be showing off the Orion E, a fully-electric 16-seat bus which has taken two years to develop.

The Orion E is unique as it has single-step entry and a completely flat, low-floor saloon which offers flexible seating configuration and space for up to four wheelchairs with passenger access through either a rapid sliding side entry door or the double doors at the rear.

The vehicle achieves its unique layout by having an electric front-wheel drive system, allowing Mellor Coachcraft the freedom to develop the passenger area without the intrusion of a prop-shaft and rear differential.

The vehicle is fitted with independent trailing arm suspension which helps to provide a large floor space that can be configured to suit customer needs.

The British coachbuilder, part of the Woodall Nicholson Group, has partnered

Electric deliveries One of the smallest electric vans ever created will be making its UK debut at this year’s Show.

The VW e-load Up is based on VW’s smallest passenger car, yet despite its diminutive proportions it has a load capacity of almost 1,000-litres and a 360kg payload, making it the ideal vehicle for urban deliveries in areas where both space and emissions are restricted.

Aimed at service technicians, food delivery companies and couriers, the e-load Up has a turning circle of just 9.8m (smaller than a London Taxi) and is only 3.6 metres long.

The front seats of the van are separated from the cargo area by a mesh partition, with loading through the tailgate and two rear side doors, derived from those of the passenger car.

Power comes from an AC electric motor developing 60kW (the equivalent of 82bhp) and 210Nm of torque, with drive to the front wheels through a single speed gearbox. The van has a range of up to 99 miles on a single charge from its lithium-ion battery pack.

The e-load Up will be sharing stand space with a much bigger electric van – the VW eCrafter, which was first shown at the Hanover IAA Commercial Vehicle show last September.

The company has said it has no immediate plans to market the smaller van in the UK, but is interested to gauge public reaction to it at the show as a potential future addition to its portfolio. The eCrafter, meanwhile, is set to appear in multiple markets across Europe.

Meanwhile, Toyota will be using the show to demonstrate what its LCV line-up is capable of.

As well as some exciting converter news that will be revealed in detail at the show, the brand will be giving the new Proace Verso VIP passenger vehicle its public debut.

The company’s recently-appointed LCV boss, Gareth Matthews, will be in attendance, along with representatives from Toyota’s 22-strong LCV-specialist dealer network. Toyota’s LCV dealers have benefitted from dedicated training for over 900 staff over the past twelve months as the brand looks to consolidate its position in the specialist LCV market, fronted by the Proace panel van and Hilux pick-up.

The CV Show caters for every operator’s requirements and is purposely designed to be a one-stop shop for anyone involved in associated industries with a renowned European electric vehicle integrator and drive train manufacturer to co-develop the electrical system and driveline.

Power electronics are provided by global electric vehicle component suppliers. The result is a bus with an estimated 100-mile range and a recharging time of as little as 100 minutes, using industry-standard Lithium-Ion battery packs. The Orion E has been subject to lengthy testing, passing the latest stringent European regulations for every aspect of the design and build.

Everything in between It is not just the trucks and vans that will draw the crowds to CV Show 2017. As the largest and most comprehensive road freight transport, distribution and logistics event staged in Britain, the CV Show caters for every operator’s requirements and is purposely designed to be a one-stop shop for anyone involved in associated industries.

Ancillary suppliers will offer products such as handling equipment, insurance, logistics, tyres, telematics, training providers, fuels, lubricants, and much more.

Pick-up accessory specialist Truckman will be showing the latest additions to its range of secure hardtops and accessories, such as the newly launched range of the high-capacity Truckman Classic hardtop and the solid sided cab high Truckman RS. Another of Truckman’s commercial hardtops on display will be the high-capacity, all-round gull-wing side access Truckman Utility. Popular with field-based engineers and utility customers, the Utility can be kitted out to operate in off-road situations, such as carrying out railway track maintenance, and gives technicians unrivalled organised storage and access to tools and equipment.

CV Show 2017

! Hubbard Products and Dearman will exhibit their high performance, zero-emission transport refrigeration unit that they developed in partnership.

Using the liquid nitrogen (LN2)-powered Dearman Engine, the system has zero-emissions and is whisper-quiet in operation, while being cost competitive.

A transport refrigeration unit (TRU) powered by a secondary diesel engine can emit up to six times as much nitrogen oxide (NOx) and almost 30 times as much particulate matter (PM) as a Euro 6 heavy goods vehicle engine. However, the Hubbard-Dearman TRU eliminates emissions of NOx and particulate matter, providing a significant improvement in air quality, while also reducing carbon footprint and noise.

The Dearman system has been undergoing an extensive commercial trial with Sainsbury’s since June 2016, with further international deployments expected to begin later this year.

Fuelling haulage As well as showing its full range of lubricant products, Total UK will be promoting its range of added value services, such as Anac and Visio Stock. Total Anac is a driveline diagnostic system that can make a claimed saving of

up to £10 for every £1 spent on oil analysis, but more importantly says it helps fleets by reducing their operating and maintenance costs, improving reliability and adding efficiency.

Total’s Automated Stock Management System works by installing a permanent measuring device in a customer’s lubricant storage tank and the ASMS automatically monitors the level of lubricant in the tanks via a GPRS communication system and alerts Total when levels are critically low. This reduces the risk of stock-outs and unplanned downtime. Remote monitoring also reduces administration costs and errors associated with manual stock check and re-ordering process, along with reduced risks of tank over spills with the subsequent cost of clean-up and lost product.

Cameras Brigade Electronics will be launching a new 3G enabled digital recording system at the show.

The new mobile digital recording system (MDR) allows operators to remotely access footage and other vehicle information such as speed and location in real time. The standard MDR has been one of Brigade’s "

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the only 3G solution currently available in the fleet marketplace that delivers integrated driver behaviour monitoring and proactive claims management.

Intelligent Telematics’ IT1000 and IT2000 3G devices use sophisticated camera technology, so that HD footage of any collision, near miss or harsh driving incident is captured and transmitted within minutes of it happening, direct from the scene.

Training FORS, the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme, is taking its FORS Professional brand to the show, to promote the range of training it offers and delivers to its members.

The FORS Professional training package supports the scheme’s three core principles of best practice – safety, efficiency and environmental protection

Fleet management BT Fleet, a provider of outsourced fleet management services, will be using the show to demonstrate how it uses innovation and technology to help fleets keep their management costs down.

Delivered through a nationwide network of 64 owned garages and 42 mobile engineers, the company manages "

Volume 102 | GREENFLEET MAGAZINE

CV Show 2017

! most sought-after products in recent years but now the company can offer a fully managed and hosted 3G solution. The new service allows operators remote access and live streaming of footage from up to eight vehicle mounted cameras. Immediate access to data is invaluable; in the event of an incident, to refute claims, assess which party is culpable and reassure drivers in the event of an emergency.

The managed service includes a 3G SIM card and access to Brigade’s hosted server. By hosting the service, Brigade is able to identify any SIM or network issues through remote diagnostics, saving the customer valuable time and resource. Customers have the choice to access footage via the Brigade dashboard or by downloading the app on their phones.

Meanwhile, Intelligent Telematics will be using the Show to demonstrate its 3G vehicle camera system, which it says is

– bringing together the full suite of FORS training materials and opportunities.

The training provides educational tools for operators, including specific training for drivers and transport managers – and for transport companies regardless of size and make-up. Fully funded for FORS members, FORS Professional offers training courses and eLearning as well as toolkits, guides and other materials to ensure fleets have the best possible access to education and best practice.

What’s more, FORS has launched a take-away pack called Toolbox Talks to help operators teach their teams.

The ‘Talks’ are a take-away resource that provides valuable information and support material to help operators to promote their companies’ safety, efficiency and environmental culture.

FORS Toolbox Talks focus on drivers to help meet the requirements of FORS Bronze requirements.

For companies that register with FORS on its stand by the end of the CV Show, the scheme is offering a 50 per cent discount on the first year of membership.

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Fast-fit services Kwik Fit will promote two new services at the show – ‘Mobile7’ and a Fleet Web Booking tyre facility, both designed to minimise fleet and driver inconvenience and maximise vehicle uptime.

Kwik Fit has 1.4 million vehicles on its tyre management service and Fleet Web Booking enables drivers of those company vans and cars to make an appointment at a centre of their choice or use Mobile via smartphone, laptop, PC or tablet.

The database will check tyre stock availability, centre fitment slots available that are convenient to a driver’s location and offer the option of Kwik Fit Mobile fitment.

The company is also providing fleet and retail customers with a seven-day a week mobile tyre fitting service following the launch of ‘Mobile7’ inside the M25, from 8.30am to 8.30pm, seven days a week.

Following the successful launch of ‘Mobile7’ in the London area, Kwik Fit is now

considering rolling the expanded service out to other metropolitan areas during 2017.

Software Jaama, the fleet industry asset management software system provider, will be showing new functionality introduced to Key2, its web-based vehicle, driver and workshop management solution.

As an Associate member of the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme (FORS) and a partner to the Freight Transport Association’s Van Excellence scheme, Jaama is firmly focused on helping fleets achieve compliance best practice through implementation of Key2.

Jaama has introduced vehicle inspection sheets within the Workshop touchscreen module. This allows technicians to view their work allocation and record their time against each vehicle work item.

In addition, a technician is able to complete a vehicle service/inspection checklist, which is fully customisable. Each check on the list has three options – completed, requires attention or not applicable – and if a technician’s work on a vehicle service or inspection is interrupted, the sophisticated technology will return to the appropriate page on resumption.

On completion, checklist sheets are stored against the Key2 Workshop job sheet.

A further development by Jaama is its new ‘My Vehicle App’, which allows Key2 to be operated remotely by drivers and operators.

Chevin Fleet Solutions meanwhile will be demonstrating its FleetWave software, which is designed to help busy

organisations retain optimal control over costs, compliance and workload in every aspect of fleet and asset management.

The software works by bringing together a wide variety of internal and external data (from job card and vehicle defect information to real-time supplier parts availability) into a single, secure system.

CV Show 2017

! more than 120,000 vehicles on behalf of its customers.

BT Fleet’s customers include G4S, Post Office, St John Ambulance, E.ON, the AA and Environment Agency.

Visitors to BT Fleet’s stand will have an opportunity to gain an insight into how, as part of the BT Ventures group of businesses, BT Fleet claims to deliver innovation through technology to help its customers turn operational challenge into a competitive advantage.

Testing, testing Millbrook Group, the independent vehicle testing and validation services provider, will be using the show to promote its new Technology Park, which will open this summer.

The company has recently broken ground on the latest phase of its Technology Park, which has been supported by £1.2m of funding from the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership (SEMLEP). It adds new workshop facilities for the development and testing of commercial vehicles.

The new development, due for completion in July 2017, will feature three large workshops with wide bays and tall access points, particularly suitable for buses, trucks and off-highway vehicles. Each workshop is 170m2 and includes dedicated office space.

Tenants can rent the workshops on a short or long-term basis. Designed to provide the ideal setting for automotive suppliers and engineering companies, the Technology Park is located at the heart of Millbrook Proving Ground, giving tenants access to Millbrook’s extensive testing facilities and expertise.

The test tracks include a constant speed circuit, city and urban simulation routes, "

A top-tier manufacturer of diesel engines and commercial vehicles Isuzu focuses on proper pick-ups which means it is much better at meeting customers’ specific pick-up needs. Isuzu is also not distracted by the world of passenger vehicles like all other manufacturers.

Every new Isuzu D-Max will tow 3.5 tonnes and for total peace of mind comes with five year/125,000-mile warranty and with the new model five years’ roadside assistance in the UK and Europe. Off-road, the Isuzu D-Max performs better than ever with a switchable 4 x 4 system, electronic stability control and a traction control system with ABS. Body options include the single cab, double cab and an extended cab that offers a side access panel. The Isuzu D-Max range is carefully crafted to offer you unrivalled pick-up capability and choice.

This year Isuzu will be launching

the New Generation D-Max at the 2017 CV show and will have all main body styles/ variants for show visitors to view. The helpful Isuzu CV show team will answer all your questions on the new range.

Come and see New Generation D-Max for yourself in Hall five at the 2017 CV show. For more information about what Isuzu could do for your business, visit the company website.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 03303 335122 info@isuzu.co.uk www.isuzu.co.uk

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Security LCV security specialist Van Guard is new to the CV Show this year, with a number of anti-theft deterrents to offer fleet buyers.

The company’s roof systems will be on display – including the ULTI Bar (voted the best van roof bar by tradesmen) and the award winning ULTI Rack.

Van Guard will also be showing its brand-new range of aluminium internal racking, as well as its popular lined pipe carriers – the only ones in the market – which prevent marks to plastic conduit in transport.

HaloRail – the latest safety rail for Tippers – will be on show along with Gentili’s G2000 Harrier ladder load; creating a light weight solution to ladder stowage as well as demonstrating the ULTI Bar’s versatility.

The Jimmy Beam Down Light (JBDL) will also be demonstrated at the show. It is a lighting system where several lights are fitted in-line, along the edges of the vehicle and/or trailer. They offer a footprint or margin of light along and adjacent to the sides of the vehicle, helping the driver to see better in fading light conditions – especially as more and more out-of-hours deliveries are taking place.

At the same time, the system offers vulnerable road users a visual suggested ‘keep

clear’, similar in concept to the yellow lines seen on tube and railway station platforms.

Previously, the JBDL system could only be fitted to the underside edge of a vehicle or trailer, but the new system, which makes its debut at the show, consists of a side marker with integrated downlight.

The haulage industry The RHA’s stand will host Goodyear Dunlop’s racing bug game, following the success of last year’s joint venture.

Commercial activities for the show include analysis demonstrations, while the RHA’s new shop catalogue with more products than ever will be ready in time for the show. There will also be the opportunity to speak to the Association’s training and compliance teams.

Legal Services and FR8 insurance experts will be on hand to answer any questions from hauliers. Information on the RHA’s other exclusive business partner services will be available ranging from vehicle inspections, rescue and recovery, health and safety services and the relaunch of the RHA Fuelcard.

In addition, the RHA’s active policy team will be present at the show to provide members with the latest campaigning achievements and its ongoing work with government and beyond as the Association continues to lobby for the haulage industry and everyone associated with it.

CV Show 2017

! a mile straight, truck slopes, and different surfaces for structural durability, allowing testing to be undertaken in a controlled environment across a wide range of scenarios, gradients and surfaces to suit customers’ exact requirements.

Bright, young talent The 2017 CV Show, in association with the Manufacturing Institute, is pleased to "

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CV Show 2017

! once again host The Make It Challenge.

Over three days, a total of 80 Year 9 students from eight local schools will be split into teams of four and each will be given a series of tasks. Each team will become a company, taking on job roles from managing director to finance and sales and marketing.

Following a tour of the show their challenge will be to come up with ideas for a new, innovative truck or van. Their designs,

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including branding, will take into account style, space and efficiency. The theme of this year’s challenge will be safety – a big issue for the operators of both trucks and vans. Each day will culminate with the teams pitching their fully-costed ideas to a panel of ‘Dragons’ who will perform the difficult job of judging the winning team, runner-up and outstanding individual. The Make It Challenge has now become an integral

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part of the CV Show. The road transport industry is crucial to our economy and it is essential that we attract bright young people to work in the sector – and what better way of highlighting the diverse career opportunities available than the CV Show. " FURTHER INFORMATION www.cvshow.com

The DVSA recently revealed that 88.5% of LCVs stopped at the roadside were overloaded.

With plans to pull over more LCV’s on the roadside and to potentially enforce HGVlike legislation on the LCV market, isn’t about time you checked your minibus or van’s laden weights, especially the individual axle weights? SvTech has discovered many more vans have overloaded rear axles than previously thought. Any overload could invalidate your insurance.

SvTech can help with uprating your LCV to give you more payload, keeping you safe and legal. Most makes and models catered for. Call us to discuss your needs and try using our free Load Distribution program – www.svtech.co.uk/lda If you need to Downplate your LCV for LEZ purposes, we can help with that too.

SvTech Ltd, Chandler House, Talbot Rd, Leyland, Lancs PR25 2ZF 01772 621800 www.svtech.co.uk

Volume 102 | GREENFLEET MAGAZINE

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Industry Comment Advertisement Feature

Streamlining fleet operations: how to access ‘insider’ information?

Fleet and operations managers are under constant pressure to streamline processes and to squeeze even more value from their vehicles. The question is, how do they do this?

Some organisations are like well-oiled machines with issues proactively managed, allowing them to run finely tuned fleets with reduced business risk. Largely, this is because they’ve adopted new technology-driven ways of managing their fleets.

The question is: how do they access real-time insights to run their organisations with the kind of clockwork precision that allows them to streamline processes and consequently cut costs? As you might expect, most fleet managers use telematics, particularly those with enterprise-sized fleets. But that’s an incredibly broad term and the market is undergoing some striking innovations, not least because of the speed and connectivity empowered by the Internet of Things (IoT). In fact, over 6.4 billion devices are already connected and the IoT is growing at 23 per cent per year with many of the most powerful benefits coming to transport and related industries.

So, if you’re looking for ways to streamline your operation you must look at solutions that allow you to acquire insights that help you to know everything about how your fleet is operating, without needing to be present. Leading fleet and operations managers do this by deploying end-to-end systems to gain ‘insider level’ information.

A connected approach End-to-end connected intelligence is key Given that the point of streamlining fleet operations is to cut costs and deliver a more efficient, resource-optimised organisation back to the business, only a connected, end-to-end approach will do. Why? Because silos of information don’t deliver powerful transformation. Only by monitoring everything from vehicle locations and their ‘health’ to when those resources need more investment (changing driver behaviour or undertaking vehicle maintenance) will you truly get inside how to best streamline operations.

Consider a telematics solution that monitors every aspect of every vehicle and driver’s day. Doing so allows you to draw macro level conclusions and spot emerging performance trends. However, it also allows you to take preventative action so that you can keep ‘resources’ working at optimal levels. For example, being able to remotely diagnose vehicle faults as they occur is important in its own right, but when combined with other vehicle information such as driver behaviour you can begin to shift from a reactive to a proactive stance.

Getting your hands on the right intelligence is just the start of the challenge. As with many service industries these days, time-to-insight is key – and that demands the bringing together of the broadest possible suite of telematics data with the ability to act on the insights it holds. Fleet and operations managers who have created market-leading organisations invest in precisely this powerful combination. This is where the O2 Smart Vehicle solution comes into its own.

Geo-technical Engineering company, Van Elle, uses O2 Smart Vehicle because of the strength of its on-board diagnostics together with a real-time understanding of the whereabouts of drivers, their behaviour and its impact on vehicle health and maintenance costs. Viewed through a single dashboard, which enables rapid access to insights, Van Elle has been able to make far more rapid decisions, maximise the utilisation of its fleet and better plan for the future, while eliminating previously unidentified costs.

Onboard powerful operational It’s not simply that the depth and speed of insights provided by O2 Smart Vehicle helps you tighten processes and streamline fleet operation. Calculations show that a company with a fleet of 1,000 vehicles doing 20k miles per year can save up to £1 million by using our solution. Why? Well a lot of that comes down

Darryll Finch

Having worked in fleet telematics for over 20 years, Darryll is excited by all its innovations, none as much as the impact of the IoT. He’s product owner for O2 Smart Vehicle with responsibility for its future roadmap. to its ability to generate ‘insider’ information.

The fact that we collect data across nine key areas and the O2 Smart Tracking diagnostic codes database contains 6,000 vehicle engine codes means that we can monitor the health of each vehicle down to the finest detail.

This makes it possible to identify issues before they become expensive problems that remove your assets and people from the road, and lead to potential loss of revenue.

Why act now? Your competitors are embracing end-to-end, real-time telematics – today. With it, they have far deeper and more timely knowledge to shift from a reactive to proactive management stance, cutting costs and keeping their fleet healthier and more able to support revenue generation.

In so doing they are able to transform their organisations from the ground up, increasing productivity and differentiating on enhanced customer satisfaction.

These facts make now the perfect time to discover O2 Smart Vehicle and the powerful difference it could make to fleet management and your organisation as a whole. !

FURTHER INFORMATION O2smartvehicle@o2.com

40

DEDICATED TO PROMOTING A CLEANER ENVIRONMENT | www.greenfleet.net

Improving how you manage work-related road risk might not sound like an obvious candidate for helping your organisation improve its green credentials but it might make a bigger difference than you would think.

When it comes to fleet safety and risk management there are generally five types of organisation. Those that manage the issue well and enthusiastically, aiming for best practice. There are those that know there’s a risk but simply do the minimum to tick a box. Then there are those that know there’s a risk but don’t have the time, resources or experience to manage it as well as they might. This is followed by those who aren’t even aware of a risk that needs managing, and those who don’t know and don’t care.

The first type of company manages their work-related road risk effectively, and also often find they make substantial reductions in various areas of their fleet costs, making themselves more efficient and more profitable.

Construction firm Skanska and information management specialists Iron Mountain are two such organisations that have seen great business benefits from better management of drivers and vehicles. They have lowered their fleet costs, not just from reducing avoidable vehicle damage, but also finding that better managed, safer drivers, also tend to use considerably less fuel.

Any manager falling into the last category is unlikely to be reading this article which means the rest of you probably fall in the middle – and are exactly the people we hope

will be interested in the Driving for Better Business (DfBB) campaign.

ys Highwa ’s England cer ffi Traffic O has Service h over wit to deal incidents 40,000 year every

Driving for Better Business DfBB draws on the experience of companies like Skanska and Iron Mountain, as well as a host of other employers, both large and small, sharing their stories and, more importantly, their results with others to inspire them to manage their work-related road risk more effectively.

It is a campaign that brings together the private sector with government and road safety professionals to promote effective management of at-work drivers from a valuable business perspective.

While the campaign has been around for some time, which is why we have so many well-known business champions, we are refreshing the campaign to herald the significant support we are now receiving from Highways England. Formerly the Highways Agency, Highways England is now a government-owned company responsible for operating and maintaining the Strategic Road Network consisting of England’s motorways and major trunk roads.

Their involvement is easy to understand.

They have been given £15 billion by the government to invest in improving the Strategic Road Network, making it safer and easing congestion. Safer roads is one thing however – fleet operators, and also

Written by Simon Turner, campaign director of Driving for Better Business

Fleet operators of all sizes, including those businesses that only make occasional trips, need to understand their vital role in keeping Britain’s roads safe. The newly refreshed Driving for Better Business campaign will help fleets to understand and manage their road risk, writes Simon Turner

Road Safety

A new dawn for the Driving for Better Business campaign

small businesses with a few people who go out to see clients, and who traditionally don’t see themselves as fleet operators or business drivers, also need to step up to the plate and ensure that they and their drivers aren’t contributing to the problem.

Incidents on the road Highways England’s Traffic Officer Service, patrolling the motorways in their Black and Yellow incident response vehicles, has to deal with over 40,000 incidents every year.

Common incidents include rear-end shunts in heavy traffic, tyre failures, even something as basic as running out of fuel – and happen all too frequently. Many of these incidents are the result of a simple lack of concentration or attention, and many more are the result of poor vehicle maintenance or a failure to check the vehicle properly.

Some of these incidents involve business drivers, some don’t, but the one thing they all have in common is the disruption they cause to many hundreds if not thousands more who get held up in the subsequent long delays, and these delays definitely do have an impact on business.

Safety while driving for work Fleet safety often ends up some way down the list of priorities at many companies. !

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Road Safety

" Sometimes this is due to a lack of awareness regarding the actual risks and the legal obligations to manage it effectively.

Sometimes it’s because the operational requirements of running the business, making sales, meeting payroll, and so on, appear to get in the way.

Whatever your reason for not managing this risk effectively at the moment, Driving for Better Business may be able to provide some assistance.

The campaign is about two things: First, engaging organisations of all sizes and showing them it is a good business decision to start doing so. Second, providing a range of free resources that make it easy to get started.

Our new campaign consists of live events for senior managers and fleet decision makers, webinars for those that can’t attend a live event, guest blogs and articles from our business champions and leading experts in the fleet risk management industry.

Some of our top business champions will be attending our events to share their stories in person, giving delegates the opportunity to quiz them directly on the challenges they have faced in the past, what actions they took, and the benefits they saw.

What many delegates like about these sessions is that this isn’t about some big fleet with a big budget that is doing everything right – our champions share their stories with refreshing honesty. Some of their early challenges will be the same as those you may face yourself. Many of them still face challenges today – just different ones to those faced five or 10 years ago – and they’re happy to discuss how they’re dealing with them.

Managing the risk The main objective of the campaign is to encourage employers to manage their work-related road risk more effectively by doing some relatively simple compliance activities.

The first is to perform a risk assessment of their driving activities. We have a free online gap analysis and benchmarking tool which companies can use at www.fleetsafetybenchmarking.net The second activity is to create a new safe driving policy if you don’t already have one, and to review and update it if you do.

Third, we want to encourage all organisations to start measuring their collisions, vehicle damage and associated costs including insurance premiums and mileage.

We will be sharing a range of ideas and advice about how to reduce these costs but if you don’t measure them, you can’t improve them.

These three essential activities are about getting the basics right and building a strong foundation from which to start making real improvements and cost savings. We can also share stories of fleets that have implemented driver training programmes, installed vehicle telematics and started using advanced fleet management tools to further reduce costs.

can pursue is to ensure their vehicles are fitted with Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) although different manufacturers sometimes call it different things.

AEB uses a series of camera and radar sensors which can identify if the car is about to be involved in a collision. If the driver fails to react, the car will perform its own emergency stop. Research performed

by EuroNCAP in 2015 found that AEB reduces rear-end shunts by 38 per cent.

Any fleet that is measuring crashes and crash costs should immediately see the potential impact of this research. AEB eliminates many of the smaller incidents but it also reduces the severity of those that still occur.

This means that the cost savings on rear-end at-fault crashes can be as much as 50-60 per cent.

DfBB really wants fleets and employers to demand their vehicle suppliers offer cars fitted with AEB as standard at no extra cost. Encourage drivers, including grey fleet drivers, to specify AEB and other safety systems on their new cars wherever possible, maybe providing incentives to do so.

And try not to ban optional extras when they are safety related. There may be additional costs but these could be more than offset by the savings from reduced collisions and lower fuel use. Your business will not only be safer, it will be greener too. !

FURTHER INFORMATION

Alison Moriarty, fleet risk and compliance manager at Skanska, says: “Implementing telematics into our commercial fleet has resulted in a reduction in both the number of collisions and the size of our insurance premium.

“Less expected was that one of our first contracts to use telematics has also shown a 10 per cent reduction in fuel usage between January 2016 and March 2017. However, while telematics can deliver great benefits, it is important to remember that managing and acting upon the data is essential to maximise these savings.”

Rory Morgan, national logistics manager at Iron Mountain, says: “Since 2008, our vehicle incidents have been reduced by 74 per cent, while own damage and third party costs have been reduced by 60 per cent, lowering annual costs by over £200k. Insurance premiums have also been reduced in three of the last four years. On top of these cost reductions, we have seen significant fuel savings as defensive driving correlates to fuel-efficient driving.”

www.drivingforbetterbusiness.com

DfBB draws on the experience of companies like Skanska and Iron Mountain, as well as other employers, sharing their stories and, more importantly, their results with others to inspire them to manage their work-related road risk more effectively

What you buy The Campaign is also focused on encouraging fleets to change their purchasing strategy. One of the most effective strategies any employer

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What Driving for Better Business campaign champions say

DEDICATED TO PROMOTING A CLEANER ENVIRONMENT | www.greenfleet.net

David Richards

xoxoxoxo

FURTHER INFORMATION xxx

David Richards has spent the last thirteen years working in road safety training, both for fleet drivers as well as members of the public. As a result of personal experience, he is passionate about road safety and is keen to share ideas that aim to eliminate road death and serious injury from the roads.

The Health and Safety Executive’s own website states: “The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 requires employers to take appropriate steps to ensure the health and safety of their employees and others who may be affected by their activities when at work. This includes the time when they are driving or riding at work, whether this is in a company or hired vehicle, or in the employee’s own vehicle.

“There will always be risks associated with driving. Although these cannot be completely controlled, an employer has a responsibility to take all reasonable steps to manage these risks and do everything reasonably practicable to protect people from harm in the same way as they would in the workplace.”

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 builds on this, requiring “every employer to carry out

an assessment of the risks to the health and safety of their employees, or themselves, while they are at work, and to other people who may be affected by their work activities. This includes any driving activity on the road.

“The regulations require the risk assessment to be reviewed periodically to ensure it remains valid. Employers should consider the risks to employees on the road in the same way as for those in a workplace.”

Employees also have responsibilities too, such as not knowingly doing anything that may put themselves or others, including members of the public, at risk.

They also have the responsibility for checking the roadworthiness and ensuring the proper operation of the vehicle they drive. This includes hire cars and private vehicles, regardless of ownership.

For clarity, health and safety law does not apply to drivers commuting to work, unless the employee is travelling from their home to a location that is not their usual place of work.

Does H&S legislation cover business drivers using their own private cars?

100 per cent yes; ‘grey fleet’ drivers are included. It’s clear that the ownership or type of vehicle is not relevant, it’s the activity of ‘driving for work’ that is important.

In addition, the driver has responsibilities such as a full, current and valid driving licence, appropriate insurance, valid Vehicle Tax, valid MOT (if appropriate), a valid V5 ownership document and evidence of servicing in line with manufacturer’s recommendations.

How does a fleet identify its higher risk drivers?

It’s well-established that drivers who have crashes are generally at higher risk exposure than other drivers. As a result, many organisations use accident management information to identify those drivers who need additional training.

Saying that, if crash details are not known, the number of points on a licence can also be a good guide to a driver’s risk exposure but the number of points doesn’t give the whole story either. At DriveTech, we believe the best way to identify high risk drivers is a formal assessment – either online or on-road.

Written by Advertisement Feature

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Industry Comment ADVERTORIAL

Managing 800 WORDthe EDIT risk of HEADLINE at-work drivers HERE– tick the AS TIGHT box or business AS POSS benefit?

Online is quick, inexpensive and available 24/7, while on-road takes more time, needs more organising and is more expensive, but it is face-to-face.

Online driver training or in-car training?

Online training is particularly good for gaining knowledge and new skills, and is available 24/7. On-road training can additionally challenge a driver’s beliefs on what is safe, and provide practical instruction in a real-world environment.

Even low risk exposure drivers can improve their Highway Code knowledge which is as an output of an online assessment.

Are you ‘selling’ the benefits of driver training to your employees?

Our experience shows that most drivers think they are above average drivers, and therefore are often initially reluctant to engage with occupational road risk programmes.

It’s absolutely vital that the organisation answers the ‘what’s in it for me?’ question and this also needs to be aligned with their culture. Bearing in mind the phrase, ‘the top sets the tone’, active sponsorship of the programme by the leadership team is mandatory and they themselves must practice what they preach. Driving is a life skill and reducing the risk for family and passengers is often a great incentive.

Are you getting measureable business benefits?

Our experience is that many fleets adopt a risk management programme for compliance purposes, not business ROI. If fleets do take a long-term, more strategic view, as opposed to a tactical ‘risk the box’ approach, real benefits can be gained either in a reduction in accidents per million miles, fuel consumption or fleet running costs.

We encourage organisations to ‘measure what you want to manage’ so the risk management programmes can be seen to have a direct benefit to the bottom line. !

FURTHER INFORMATION www.drivetech.co.uk

Volume 102 | GREENFLEET MAGAZINE

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Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll keep your fleet working for you From 24-hour breakdown cover to accident assistance, mobile tyre fitting to telematics that help optimise vehicle performance, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll keep your fleet on the road.

Talk to us today about Business Breakdown Cover Call 0800 294 2994 Or visit theAA.com/business

can do this is by becoming more risk xoxoxoxo aware and to focus on implementing changes to avoid needless downtime.

Recent changes to legislation saw the fixed FURTHER INFORMATION penalty for being caught using a mobile xxx or hand-held device while driving phone increase from £100 to £200* and six points on an offender’s licence on 1 March 2017.

New research for the AA shows that drivers consider texting while driving (71 per cent) to be more than twice as risky as drink-driving (29 per cent)**. And with the majority of fleet and SME motorists not driving as their primary job, it is vital that fleet managers make their staff aware of the changes to legislation immediately.

Stuart Thomas, head of fleet and SME services at the AA, said: “The AA has always focused on promoting responsible driving.

Research undertaken by the AA shows a call or text is proven to cause distraction reducing the ability to concentrate.

“With motoring legislation changing regularly, it can be difficult for motorists to keep up to date with changes. Because of this, confusion can arise, which is why fleet managers must alert their team to the updates without delay.”

Thomas continued: “Penalties incurred by drivers will not just impact them personally, but can have huge ramifications for businesses. This can include issues such as lack of availability of insurance providers and increasing premiums, through to downtime from staff attending compulsory training, possible court attendance and even loss of revenue.”

Driver awareness The most effective way of reducing the risk to businesses is through educating staff.

Training will help motorists become better drivers through encouraging responsible practices and raising awareness of the impact that distraction from mobile phone use can have.

The Operational Fleet Insight Report, produced by the AA in conjunction with BT Fleet, recently revealed that 58 per cent of drivers would be interested in training in order to improve their driving skills. This positive attitude towards education should be viewed encouragingly by fleet managers and

as part of a wider safe driving strategy.

Improving driver behaviour is one of the most effective ways in reducing accidents.

By investing in driver training, businesses can lessen risks at the same time as protecting their staff against harm. Plus, by placing an emphasis on driver safety, fleet managers can enjoy a closer working relationship with their team. By adopting a softer approach and using data from telematics, managers can assess skills and knowledge gaps in order to provide further training, rather than penalising staff.

Risk mitigation Although it’s important to have accident management policies in place, it’s critical to ensure that risk is minimised to help lessen the chances of an accident occurring in the first place. Educating company employees is not just about driver training that covers behind the wheel knowledge, it should also encompass vehicle checks to give drivers a more well-rounded direction on how to get the best performance from their cars.

Thomas added: “We are calling for fleet managers to take a joined-up approach and actively realise the link between risk mitigation and accident management. By investing in tools, training and techniques, companies can create a safer working environment for their staff and safeguard their business through efficient and effective working strategies.”

Ensuring companies are fully up to date on changes to legislation is arguably the easiest way of ensuring compliance and protecting both the company, its staff and third parties from harm.

Preventative measures Minimising the chances of preventable accidents should be the first step a fleet manager should take when evaluating their business. Here, maintenance is key, with vehicles that are regularly serviced less likely to be involved in an accident. For example, 16.9 per cent of callouts to the AA are for wheel and tyre issues. By making regular checks on tyre tread depth and pressure, drivers can help reduce the chance of an accident or breakdown relating to wheels and tyres. This results in a lower level of vehicle and staff downtime and reducing overall costs.

Stuart Thomas

Written by Advertisement Feature

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Industry Comment ADVERTORIAL

Prevention 800 WORDisEDIT better HEADLINE than cure: the HERE AA urges AS TIGHT AS managers to be POSS risk aware

Stuart Thomas, head of fleet and SME – The AA Thomas added: “We are dedicated to providing our fleet and SME customers with the best service possible and do this by becoming their partners rather than just another supplier. The AA prides itself on its customer service. Building relationships with clients allows us to become more aware of the specific needs that fleet and SMEs require. Our team is in the prime position to advise fleet managers on the topics and issues they need to be aware of and to help support driving for work policies.”

The AA is honoured to have been independently named as the UK’s Most Trusted Brand, as well as being a Which?

Recommended Provider for ten consecutive years. Recently, the AA Fleet and SME division was awarded the Fleet News Award for Customer Service and was highly commended for Fleet Supplier of the Year 2017. !

*The fixed penalty increases from £100 and 3 points to £200 and 6 points from 1 March 2017. ** Populus interviewed 17,575 AA members between 17-24 December in an on-line poll.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0800 551188 Stuart.Thomas@theAA.com

Volume 102 | GREENFLEET MAGAZINE

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Commercial Vehicles

The alternative route for commercials

Transport for London’s LoCITY programme works to reduce the impact of commercial vehicles on the environment – while making sure London still gets the goods and services it needs. GreenFleet chats to programme manager Fergus Worthy to find out how HGV and van fleet operators can get support from the scheme What is LoCITY and what has it delivered so far?

LoCITY is TfL’s low-emission commercial vehicle programme. It is reducing emissions from vans and HGVs by helping fleets switch from diesel to alternative fuels. We know there is no ‘silver bullet’ to replace diesel, so we are looking at all the options out there, such as plug-in vehicles, hydrogen and biomethane.

We’re helping fleets prepare for London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone, but many organisations are ready to take the next step and start introducing alternative fuels into their fleet.

The programme is shaped and delivered by our four industry-led working groups.

The groups meet quarterly and are attended by senior fleet decision makers, vehicle manufacturers, central and local government, infrastructure providers and trade associations. They are working to overcome the barriers to fleet adoption of alternative fuels and are driving real

46

change in the commercial vehicle market.

The LoCITY website is the best place to find out more about the programme outputs (www.LoCITY.org.uk). There are video case studies, a tool to help fleets find the right vehicle for their needs, and a map with all the places to refuel and recharge in London.

How do you get fleets interested in alternative fuels?

What we’ve learned so far is there are two key areas. The first is to give fleet decision makers and drivers hands-on experience of the vehicles. With electric vehicles for example, a lot of driver resistance goes away once they try the vehicles for themselves and find that they are quiet, easy to drive, don’t need AdBlue and so on. Similarly with some of the other technologies, getting fleet managers to test the vehicles helps overcome misconceptions such as the vehicles not being powerful enough to do the job, or

being difficult or dangerous to refuel. The second is that fleets want to hear what it’s like to run an alternatively fuelled vehicle from other organisations already using them. Fleets don’t always trust claims from manufacturers and dealers about vehicle suitability, range, and running costs. Other organisations are more likely to give them the full story – good points and bad – so fleets can really feel they are making an informed decision.

We’ve already had some success in these areas. LoCITY’s Annual Conference in 2016 at the Guildhall had a wide range of vehicles exhibited outside, and at our working groups we have presentations from fleets using different technologies to help share best practice. A couple of months ago we supported the hugely successful Commercial GreenFleet and LoCITY event at The Stoop in Twickenham. Electric vans were available for test drives, and fleets could also get under the bonnet of the latest gas trucks on the market.

What are the plans for 2017?

At the moment we’re involved in some really interesting work with Cenex and LowCVP to understand the whole life costs and emissions outcomes for alternative fuels for different vehicle types and duty cycles. This is well understood for electric cars and light vans, but until now this hasn’t been extended to include HGVs, or fuels like biomethane, hydrogen and HVO. By the summer we’ll have a tool on the LoCITY website where fleets can enter information about their current fleet and requirements for a new vehicle, and get advice on which fuel would work best for them operationally, financially and environmentally.

It’s not a detailed fleet review so we don’t expect fleets to make a purchase decision just based on this tool. Instead we hope it will get organisations

TfL’s LoCITY ion iss low emal vehicle rci commegramme pro switch s t e e fl helps diesel to from ative altern s fuel

What else is TfL doing to improve air quality?

The most important measure will be the Ultra Low Emission Zone. This could be introduced as early as April 2019, subject to current consultation. It will cover the same area as the Congestion Charge. There are also proposals to extend to the North/South circular roads for all vehicles, and cover all of London for HGVs and coaches. Again, this is subject to a further consultation which we expect to take place in the autumn. Before all of that, the Emissions Surcharge or T-Charge will be in place from 23 October this year. The most polluting vehicles will incur an additional charge of £10 to drive into the congestion charge zone, so the total daily payment will be £21.50.

It’s important to say that it’s not just fleets and private motorists that are being required to clean up. From January next year, all newly licenced taxis will be zero emissions capable, and the same will be required of new private hire vehicles in 2020. The Mayor is also spending more than £300m transforming London’s bus fleet by phasing out pure double-deck diesel buses and has committed to purchase only hybrid or zero-emission double-decker buses from 2018.

What alternatives to diesel vehicles are available to fleets?

The range of alternatively-fuelled commercial vehicles on the market has grown massively since we launched LoCITY just over a year ago. We’ve had plug-in vehicles on the market in the small van segment for several years but we’re now seeing larger pure electric vans from several manufacturers coming to the market, as well as plug-in and extended range drivetrains. There’s also been an expansion in the availability of gas vehicles; run on biomethane these vehicles

Commercial Vehicles

thinking differently about alternative fuels, and help them understand where they can work for them. It will be free to use and should work for all fleet sizes and types.

I explained earlier about the importance of giving fleets hands-on experience of the vehicles. To help do that we’ll be organising a series of events or roadshows around London over the next 12 months. We need to look at which fuels are right for what type of organisation and duty cycle.

We’ll be announcing more details about these very soon. And we’re very pleased to announce that this year LoCITY’s Annual Conference will be held in collaboration with Freight in the City on 7 November at Alexandra Palace. The focus this year is very much on low emissions and alternative fuels so it promises to be a great event.

Finally, it’s not all about tailpipe emissions.

As Euro VI vehicles come into the fleet, tailpipe pollutant emissions will decrease substantially.

That makes the relative contribution of emissions from auxiliary engines to power things like transport refrigeration units higher. There are a number of promising technologies being developed that offer a low emission alternative to power these units from diesel and we’ll be looking at how we can encourage more use of these by fleets.

TfL supported the hugely successful Commercial GreenFleet and LoCITY event at The Stoop in Twickenham

can offer substantial greenhouse gas savings.

It can be confusing for fleets to keep up-to-date with new products from the different manufacturers and smaller players in the market. We have a Commercial Vehicle Finder tool on the LoCITY website which keeps all this information in one place and helps fleets identify which technology might work for them.

What are the challenges to fleet adoption of alternative fuels?

Knowledge around infrastructure is probably the main one. Increased availability of vehicles and infrastructure need to happen in parallel; for fuels like gas and hydrogen infrastructure providers often face bigger investments with longer payback periods than fleets acquiring new vehicles. We have good provision of standard electric chargepoints in London and are working to roll out 300 rapid chargepoints by the end of 2020 to support commercial fleets and taxis.

Other fuels such as biomethane are best used with depot-based refuelling so fleets can run these vehicles without waiting for a public network to be available.

The second one is probably deciding which technology to invest in. There is no single technology to replace diesel in all applications; fleets need to select the right option for the specific vehicle and duty cycle. Understandably fleets don’t want to end up backing the wrong technology.

Finally, driver acceptance – some drivers may worry that an EV won’t have enough charge for their route, or that it will be slow to drive. Through LoCITY we are working to bust some of these common myths and provide impartial information about how these vehicles work and how to get the best out of them. This also comes down to how the vehicles are rolled out into the fleet; trial

them first, selecting those drivers that you know will help get a positive experience from the vehicles before deploying them more widely and use these drivers to act as champions to support others along the way.

What support is available to help fleets switch to alternative fuels?

In London, qualifying vehicles can get a 100 per cent discount on the Congestion Charge. People often think this is only for cars but any vehicle registered with a fuel type of electric can qualify. And of course, as long as the vehicle meets Euro VI/6 standards there won’t be any charges for entering the Ultra Low Emission Zone either.

Nationwide, the biggest incentive is the plug-in van grant, which has recently been extended to cover HGVs as well. This gives up to £20,000 off the price of an electric N2 or N3 vehicle. It’s a great incentive and more qualifying vehicles will be coming on the market in the next year or so.

One area I think will really help stimulate the market are the weight derogations for alternative fuels. From May, HGVs using alternative fuels are expected to get an increased weight allowance – up to one tonne – to compensate for any loss of payload caused by the heavier drivetrain.

And we also understand the Department for Transport will consult on a weight derogation for driver licences for alternatively-fuelled vans – this could be a real game-changer for the 3.5t van segment.

To use the vehicles finder tool or for a map of refuelling and recharging points in London visit the LoCITY website’s resources page. !

FURTHER INFORMATION www.locity.org.uk

Volume 102 | GREENFLEET MAGAZINE

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Industry Comment Advertisement Feature

The role that charging infrastructure plays in the electric vehicle industry For this month’s column I thought I would look into the role that charging infrastructure plays in the electric vehicle industry. Just how important are publicly accessible chargers?

What challenges do we need to overcome? How can range anxiety be overcome and where can charging equipment be developed as the EV uptake continues to grow?

How important is the public charging infrastructure for the uptake of EVs? The public charging infrastructure is massively important to the uptake of EVs. Quite simply if there are no chargers, then electric vehicles cannot fully fulfil their potential.

I believe the UK has taken huge strides in recent years in growing the current infrastructure that is available to the public, however, there is still a lot of work to be done.

We have the Go Ultra Low City scheme, which will see a dramatic rise in available charging stations, and in Scotland, the work carried out

by Transport Scotland is continuing to grow the coverage of available charging stations.

However, with that being said, there are still ‘’blank zones’’ where there is no charging coverage for a significant distance throughout the country, which will need to be addressed to ease concerns over range anxiety for EV drivers. It’s vital that any EV driver that sets off on a journey has no anxieties over the availability of charging stations, the same as anyone who drives a combustion engine vehicle has no concerns about the amount of petrol stations there are.v What are the current challenges facing the users of the charging networks – and how can they be overcome?

There are a couple of challenges facing the charging users, in my opinion, one of the issues is the numerous back offices and their reluctance to offer a transparent network.

There are EV drivers in this country who will have a wallet full of RFID cards for various networks just so they have security that when they get to the charger they can actually use it. When you compare this with countries across Europe, particularly in the Netherlands, they will allow you to charge a vehicle from a single card because the networks have an

48

agreement to allow roaming on each other’s networks. There’s no reason why this cannot be implemented in the UK, and I believe this will be close to reality with Chargemasters recent acquisition of Elektromotive and the Charge Your Car back office. One of the other challenges is charger coverage, again, we need to ensure an infrastructure exists which allows EV drivers to commute with as little disturbance to their journey as possible.

What needs to be done to overcome ‘range anxiety’?

Education, education, education. I believe taking the time to offer some advice to people with range anxiety would go a long way to settling their concerns. When I’ve spoken with potential EV owners, a number of them have expressed concerns over both vehicle range and charging infrastructure. When the time is taken to show these people the vast coverage of chargers available to them and just how far the vehicles can travel on a single charge it soon changes their mind.

We live in a world where a sat nav can direct you to the nearest restaurant yet cannot tell you where the nearest EVCP is. This could be something that in the future could help with range anxiety. Vehicle batteries are also developing in new ways, allowing faster charging and longer ranges. It’s now at a point that people cannot ignore electric vehicles as a viable alternative to combustion engines.

How can you see the charging infrastructure developing in the future?

We’re seeing the continual development in the technology behind the charge points to try and reduce charge times. It all started with a 3kw charger and now we have 50kw rapid chargers stationed throughout the UK offering low charge times, and in some areas, there are 125kW Tesla superchargers. We also see a wireless charging system has been unveiled in the US that has the potential to match the power output of plug-powered fast-chargers and is capable of charging electric cars on the go. The 20kW wireless charging system, which is already around three times faster than some plug-in alternatives, has been developed over the past three years by the government-backed Oak Ridge National

DEDICATED TO PROMOTING A CLEANER ENVIRONMENT | www.greenfleet.net

Gary Stirling

Gary is responsible for all electric vehicle charge point installations carried out at Everwarm, which to date exceed over 5,000 across the domestic and commercial sector. Having worked alongside multiple charge point and vehicle manufacturers, Gary has a depth of knowledge of the electric vehicle industry.

Laboratory (ORNL) with Toyota, Cisco Systems, Clemson University and Evatran. I recently met with the CEO of EV Box who showed me the EV Box fully customisable back office, which can be tailored to suit the needs of each client as well as being designed to suit each specific building it is powered from, working with the building demands to allow maximum power to the charging points. Charging and electric vehicles are getting smarter and it’s another step towards mass EV uptake. !

FURTHER INFORMATION For more information about our services contact electrical operations manager, Gary Stirling. gary.stirling@everwarmgroup.com

Last month saw harsher new penalties introduced for drivers who use a handheld mobile phone behind the wheel. The changes to the law now mean offenders are issued with a £200 fine and six penalty points; an increase from the minimum £100 fine and three points issued previously.

The government hopes that harsher penalties will deter drivers from using their devices at the wheel – however in a survey conducted before the law was changed, Trakm8 uncovered that only 16 per cent of drivers agreed that the introduction of heavier punishments would deter them from using their phone.

Around one in four accidents in the UK are now attributed to distracted driving and over 200 people have been killed in the last 10 years as a result of distraction from a mobile device. It may also be surprising to learn that, with the implementation of new legislation, over half a million people are now at risk of losing their licence completely if caught using a phone at the wheel just once. These figures mean businesses must ensure that strict mobile phone policies are put in place and that decisive action is made to end mobile phone use at the wheel.

Education Successfully reducing mobile phone use at the wheel will, of course, require legislative changes and initiatives that ensure these harsher punishments are enforced.

However, more severe punishments will need to be combined with driver education, campaigning, and advances in modern technology if they are to make a full impact.

Much like the ‘wear a seatbelt’ campaigns of the seventies, the use of broadcast advertising still plays a highly important role in changing public perceptions of road safety, with campaigns from the likes of Brake projecting themselves as some of the most poignant and memorable adverts of recent times. Road safety is promoted in schools for children of all ages and the government’s THINK campaign publishes a plentiful resource to both parents and

Colin Ferguson

Advertisement Feature

Businesses must ensure that strict mobile phone policies are put in place and that decisive action is made to end mobile phone use at the wheel, writes Colin Ferguson, managing director of fleet and optimsation at Trakm8

Industry Comment ADVERTORIAL

Technology and education must work alongside new changes to mobile phone laws teachers. Unfortunately, education is only one piece of the puzzle and not all drivers, whether it is during their adolescence or adult life, will have access to the same levels of education. This is where technology manufacturers and developers must play their part in ensuring the safety of drivers.

Technology: the ‘addiction’ The majority of smartphone owners will admit that using their device is addictive.

This ‘addiction’ has now reached a point whereby mobile phone use while driving has become perceived, in some people’s minds, as an acceptable behaviour. This urge to reach for a device clearly overpowers a driver’s conscience surrounding the dangers of mobile phone use at the wheel but for as long as mobile phone features are still easily accessible while moving, distraction will inevitably take place.

Traffic and navigation app, Waze, relies on drivers or other “Wazers” to provide realtime traffic and incident updates in order for other drivers to be alerted or re-routed. The app, which is owned by Google, allows users to communicate to the device using voice commands, rather than having to touch the screen. While still a mild distraction, this is a useful addition to the app as it allows drivers to keep their eyes on the road ahead and hands firmly on the wheel. However, other apps are not so smart. Scrolling through contacts, text messaging apps and social media are still fully functional while behind the wheel, which is something that must be addressed by OEMs, app developers and manufacturers in order to increase the safety of roads on a worldwide scale.

What can be done?

While most app developers and smartphone manufacturers have not addressed the dangers of using their products while driving any further than written disclaimers, there is a piece of technology that businesses can use to prevent smartphone use among drivers of company-owned vehicles.

CellControl from Trakm8 is an in-cab device

Colin Ferguson is the managing director of fleet and optimisation at Trakm8 – a leading provider of telematics, dash cam and route optimisation solutions. which prevents fleet drivers from using their mobile phone while using a company-owned vehicle. Besides preventing illegal smartphone distractions, CellControl aims to save lives, reduce injuries and increase staff safety.

Fleet managers and businesses use a combination of software, a smartphone app, and a discrete in-cab device to block driver access to specific applications such as phone calls, social media, text messaging and music, while the vehicle is moving.

If drivers attempt to access restricted applications or unlock their device while driving, breaches are logged on the CellControl software and available to fleet managers in downloadable reports.

Phone calls to emergency services are exempt from the restriction and calls of this nature can be made at any time.

The in-cab device is solar powered therefore can be installed in vehicles of all types and sizes. It requires no installation time or costs and enables fleet managers to allow access to specific apps, such as sat navs, but restrict apps which could prove to be a danger to drivers. !

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0330 333 4124 info@trakm8.com

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GreenFleet Scotland

GreenFleet Scotland returns to Edinburgh May 5th will see the latest round-up of electric, hybrid and low-emission vehicles available to test drive at the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh, as well as an impressive line up of speakers on air quality, efficient fleet management and technology

The number of pollution zones in Scotland has risen. There are now 38 zones where safety standards for air quality are regularly broken, which is five more than last year, according to figures from charity Friends of the Earth (FoE) Scotland.

Air pollution causes more than 2,500 early deaths in Scotland each year, the environmental charity says. The two key pollutants causing this are nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter.

For some time, the Scottish government has been determined to improve air quality.

In 2015 it released its strategy, Cleaner Air for Scotland (CAFS). It sets out how the Scottish Government will deliver its commitment to further improve air quality to protect human health and fulfil Scotland’s legal responsibilities.

The strategy’s aims will be carried out in collaboration with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Transport Scotland and local authorities.

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ultra-low emission vehicles, as well as putting in place the first low emission zone by 2018.

The problem The strategy acknowledges that the problem of poor air quality has been caused by an increase in diesel vehicles over the last decade, as well as an increase in the total number of vehicles overall since 2004. It also cites the disparity between laboratory and real-world emissions as a reason, as well as the limited integration of air quality policies with other legislation related to climate change and planning.

The strategy proposes various solutions to address the problem. These include greening Scotland’s bus fleet, encouraging alternative ways of travel, investigating the viability of hydrogen as an alternative fuel, and addressing the emissions of freight. It also encourages the uptake of electric and

DEDICATED TO PROMOTING A CLEANER ENVIRONMENT | www.greenfleet.net

GreenFleet Scotland Against this back drop, GreenFleet Scotland returns to the Royal Highland Centre on 5 May to allow fleet and transport managers to find out how they can play their part in lowering transport emissions.

There will be a range of electric, hybrid, low-emission and hydrogen vehicles available to test drive, as well as a seminar programme with key industry speakers.

The first seminar, sponsored by LDV, will tackle the issue of air quality and the role of cleaner transport.

Stephen Thompson from Transport Scotland will give an update on the government’s clean air strategy, while Eleanor Pratt from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency will talk about the agency’s

GreenFleet Scotland

involvement in reducing air pollution.

Glen Davies, chair of the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme (FORS) will discuss how the scheme is growing as more fleet operators want to prove their environmental credentials.

Will Garrett from Edinburgh City Council will discuss how the Council is successfully tackling air pollution, as reports show air quality in Edinburgh is improving.

A spokesperson from electric van maker LDV will give a presentation on its range of vehicles, such as the zero emission EV80, as well as the practicalities of running an electric fleet.

Efficient fleet management The second seminar session of the day, sponsored by Route Monkey, will focus on making fleet operations more efficient.

Toby Poston from the BVRLA will discuss how the leasing and rental sector is helping fleets operate greener and leaner, while Gordon Manson, Abigail Betney and Laura Anderson from the Energy Saving Trust will share some tips on effective fleet management.

Scott Blyth from Clackmannanshire Council will discuss how they have managed to reduce overall numbers in fleet by introducing telematics and improving vehicle productivity. They are also moving forward with their pool fleet to reduce grey fleet mileage and have managed to introduce four new electric vehicles.

Route Monkey meanwhile will explain how scheduling and routing software can help fleets cut cuts, emissions, and improve productivity.

Test drives Delegates will be able to get behind the wheels of today’s low-emission, electric and hybrid vehicles. Nissan will be present with the UK’s best-selling electric vehicle, the LEAF, which can travel up to 155 miles on one charge. The e-NV200 van, with its range of up to 106 miles, will also be available, as will the fifth-generation Micra.

Kia will be showcasing its range of electric and hybrid vehicles, including the Optima PHEV, which has CO2 emissions of 37g/km and 176.6 mpg, and the Niro Hybrid, which is a small SUV with CO2 emissions as low as 88g/km. The Soul EV is Kia’s pure electric vehicle and has a claimed range of 132 miles.

The hydrogen-fuelled Toyota Mirai will be available to test drive on the day, as will the Prius Plug-in hybrid, Lexus RC 300h and Lexus RX 450h.

Also available to drive on the day is the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, which can deliver 148mpg and CO2 emissions of just 44g/km.

The impressively futuristic BMW i8 and i3 will no doubt be test track sell-outs, as will Mini’s offering of low and ultra-low emission vehicles.

What’s more, Tesla will attract the crowds with its new Model X, an SUV with an impressive 351-mile range.

Charging providers eVolt, ABB and Chargemaster will be present on the day to answer any charging queries or concerns.

Meanwhile, leasing and mobility specialists Alphabet will be exhibiting at the event, sharing details of how the company is driving up electric vehicle use through contract hire, tailored rental services, and its car sharing scheme AlphaCity.

Road Safety Scotland, which is part of Transport Scotland, will also be on hand to discuss the safety aspects of fleet management. !

FURTHER INFORMATION www.events.greenfleet.net

Volume 102 | GREENFLEET MAGAZINE

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Our leasing experts take on the subject of VED changes, the proposed diesel scrappage scheme, and how they think the government should be incentivising zero and ultra-low emission vehicles

Shaun Sadlier, head of consulting, Arval Shaun Sadlier leads the Arval Consultancy Team which supports the company’s car and van customers to identify and implement bespoke strategies which meet their fleet objectives. He has 28 years of industry experience, and has been with Arval since January 2000, most recently spending 12 years as an international business manager

James Birch, marketing & PR director, Free2Move Lease James Birch has worked for 20 years in the motor industry in various roles for a number of manufacturers, but mainly in B2B and fleet. He worked for seven years with PSA Peugeot Citroen, previously as head of Citroen Contract Motoring, and now marketing & PR director for the new Free2Move Lease business in the UK

Now we are in April, drivers of new cars registered from this point will need to pay the new rates for VED car tax.

Whereas previously car tax was calculated purely from a vehicle’s CO2 emissions, the new rates are based on cars that fit into three groups: zero-emission, standard and premium. Tax is calculated on both CO2 emissions and price.

Zero emission vehicles will continue to benefit from having no road tax to pay.

Other vehicles will pay a flat charge of £140, but alternative fuel vehicles, such as hybrids, bi-ethanol and liquid petroleum gas powered vehicles, will receive a £10 reduction, bringing it down to £130.

The ‘premium’ group refers to vehicles with a list price of £40,000 or more. These vehicles will have to pay the standard rate plus an

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Chris Chandler, principal consultant, Lex Autolease

Matthew Walters, head of consultancy services, LeasePlan

A fleet management consultant for 20 years, pushing the agenda for cleaner vehicles has been at the heart of Chris’ time in the industry. At Lex Autolease, Chris set up the plug-in vehicle proposition which saw the Lex Autolease plug-in fleet increase to over 6,000 vehicles, and the introduction of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle

Matthew has been with LeasePlan since 2005 and heads up their consultancy services team. Working with LeasePlan’s diverse portfolio of customers, Matthew and his team deliver thought leadership and structured fleet solutions that are in synergy with their clients long-term business strategy

additional rate of £310 from the second year for five years, after which time it reverts back to just the standard rate. This is the case even if the vehicle has zero emissions.

The first year rate for all vehicles, however, is directly linked to the car’s CO2 emissions, with cars split into bands similar to the current system.

Matthew Walters from LeasePlan explains why the government changed the current system: “The new system has been developed to account for reductions in CO2 emissions. Under the existing system, no cars emitting under 100 gCO2/km pay any VED throughout their life. But, nowadays, more and more cars fall into this bracket.

So, the government would be at risk of losing out on important tax revenues.”

With only zero-emission electric or

DEDICATED TO PROMOTING A CLEANER ENVIRONMENT | www.greenfleet.net

hydrogen vehicles benefiting from no tax, Chris Chandler from Lex Autolease believes that this system “will remove the VED benefit of choosing low emitting vehicles.”

He says: “The irony is that our fleet customers, who typically choose low-emitting vehicles, are likely to be the hardest hit, seeing their VED costs increase under the new scheme.”

Shaun Sadlier from Arval believes that the changes will bring a new level of complexity which businesses must understand and act on. He says: “We are regularly working with our customers to help review their vehicle policies and ensure that they are setting CO2 targets, or limits, which encourage or mandate drivers to choose lower CO2 emitting vehicles.

This will allow them to reduce the impact of the new VED rates now they are in force.”

Icon made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com

Expert Panel: Leasing

EXPERT PANEL LEASING

says: “PSA has reacted to these changes by launching Free2Move which has a number of sub-companies dedicated to new mobility solutions, including car sharing and flexible solutions. Free2Move Lease will have a critical part in forming and developing these services as new digital and connected solutions.”

Diesel scrappage In a bid to clean up air pollution, there have been reports that the government is drawing up plans for a diesel scrappage scheme. This would offer cashback or a discount on low emission cars if people trade in their old polluting diesel vehicles.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has also urged the government to introduce a diesel scrappage ‘fund’. This would see £3,500 go to van and minibus drivers to change their polluting vehicles for cleaner ones, £2,000 credit scheme to help low-income London families scrap their polluting cars, and £1,000 to help replace London’s oldest taxis.

“One of the biggest culprits of poor urban air quality is known to be old technology diesel vehicles, both cars and commercial vehicles,” says Chris Chandler from Lex Autolease.

“The older vehicles produce a significantly disproportionate amount of tailpipe emissions compared to the latest Euro 6 engines which have DPFs and NOx treatment systems, so it is no surprise that older vehicles are

In a bid toair p clean u , there n pollutio n reports e have begovernment that theawing up a is dr crappage diesel s eme sch

being targeted.” He adds: “The scrappage scheme is a good idea in principle but it will need to be carefully constructed to prevent fraudulent use of the scheme and ensure that it genuinely replaces inefficient vehicles with efficient ones, affordably.”

James Birch from Free2Move Lease echoes this thought: “A scrappage scheme could be a good idea if it targets the right vehicles for the right reasons. If not managed correctly, I fear that people may mistake this for a ‘swap diesel for petrol’ scheme which would clearly not be the objective.”

He adds: “Today’s diesel engines still have a very important part to play in our ability to offer the best vehicle to optimise fuel economy, performance and lower emissions.”

Shaun Sadlier from Arval agrees that diesel is still firmly in the picture: “Diesel still has an important role to play for many fleets despite calls for a scrappage scheme. There are no confirmed details available about a scrappage scheme but it is likely that it would only be aimed at the very oldest, most polluting diesel vehicles on our roads.”

Looking at the future of diesel, Matthew Walters from LeasePlan adds: “The years before 2021 should see the implementation of the EU’s new Euro 7 emission standards, which will surely impose new requirements on the manufacturers of diesel cars. And European politicians are also working on a new regime of vehicle tests, so that ‘real world’ NO2 !

Volume 102 | GREENFLEET MAGAZINE

Expert Panel: Leasing

A growing expense?

The cost of car ownership is predicted to increase. The fall in the value of Stirling has lead some manufacturers to up the price of their vehicles. Add to this possible import tariffs that Brexit might bring, and the cost could increase further for imported cars.

Running costs are also predicted to rise. Insurance costs are going up, according to the latest Car Insurance Price Index from Confused.com, with the average premium at the end of last year 14 per cent higher than the previous year.

What’s more, filling up an average car is now £11 more expensive than a year ago, according to the RAC. These factors, in addition to the increase in VED that some vehicles will command, and car ownership may no longer seem as such an appealing option. But will this drive more people to leasing options?

“A vehicle’s running costs, whether taxation, depreciation or maintenance, all need to be considered when weighing up the benefits of car ownership versus leasing or other emerging mobility alternatives,” says Matthew Walters from LeasePlan.

“The mobility landscape is changing rapidly as the traditional buy-to-drive model is being supplemented by on-demand ‘mobility as a service’ solutions. We believe that shift creates significant additional opportunities,” Matthew adds.

Shaun Sadlier from Arval says: “In a rapidly changing political and economic environment, we expect contract hire to continue to be an important and desirable funding option for businesses of all sizes. It provides important benefits, in particular a level of certainty in changing times, allowing businesses to budget effectively.”

“Historically a large proportion of SME’s have purchased their vehicles outright rather than leasing them. However, this renewed focus on costs is prompting many to consider vehicle leasing as a way of mitigating financial risk and protecting themselves from unexpected costs.”

Chris Chandler from Lex Autolease believes there are plenty of options available to keep people mobile. He says: “Contract hire is still the main method of choice for fleet operators, blending cost effectiveness, risk management and operational management to deliver a strong corporate offering.”

“In the retail sector, an increasing trend in “use not ownership” has seen a steady increase in personal contract hire/purchase which enables individuals to benefit from the latest vehicle technologies, fuel efficiency and clean technologies at a fixed monthly cost and with all maintenance and RV risks minimised.”

James Birch from Free2Move Lease meanwhile, believes that rather than cost increases, which will filter down to rentals, it is the change to the driver and company needs and attitudes which will drive people towards short-term and flexible rental. He

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Expert Panel: Leasing

Expert final thoughts Shaun Sadlier It is essential that the government invests in the charging infrastructure at a speed necessary to meet demand.

Manufacturers also have a key role to play in introducing attractive ULEV models at an affordable price. In doing so, consumers and businesses will naturally gravitate to more efficient vehicles. We recently heard that street lights in Kensington and Chelsea have been converted into charge points for electric vehicles. It is this kind of practical advance which will also support ULEV uptake.

James Birch A diesel scrappage scheme could be a good idea if it targets the right vehicles for the right reasons.

If not managed correctly, I fear that people may mistake this for a ‘swap diesel for petrol’ scheme which would clearly not be the objective.

Todays diesel engines, such as PSA’s award-winning BlueHDi engines, still have a very important part to play in our ability to offer the best vehicle to optimise fuel economy, performance and lower emissions.

Chris Chandler For the mass adoption of ULEVs, I think there also needs to be more “in life” benefits to owning running a plug-in vehicle.

In countries where electric vehicle uptake has been highest, benefits such as free parking and charging, the ability to use bus/taxi and high-occupancy vehicle lanes have been highly successful. These in life benefits also ensure there are incentives for buyers of second hand vehicles. At present most of the incentives are front-end loaded to the first buyer of the vehicle. To reach mass market acceptance the second user needs consideration.

Matthew Walters Proposed policies to clean up new diesels and scrap old ones will actually be good for diesel motorists. They will help bring about vehicles that aren’t just cleaner, but are also as clean as their manufacturers say they are. There will be less of the confusion that hovers above the marketplace now. But there’s also no point pretending that it is all straightforward and good news. The persistence of the diesel surcharge proves otherwise. And it is likely be joined by other policies that are either punitive to diesel.

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! emissions can be more accurately recorded.

In many ways, proposed policies, such as this, will actually be good for diesel motorists. They will help bring about vehicles that aren’t just cleaner, but are also as clean as their manufacturers say they are. There will be less of the confusion that hovers above the marketplace now.

“But there’s also no point pretending that it is all straightforward and good news. The persistence of the diesel surcharge proves otherwise. And it is likely be joined by other policies that are either punitive to diesel cars or at least encourage the uptake of alternatively-fuelled vehicles. Fleet managers should be preparing themselves for these possibilities.”

Green incentives The UK is under scrutiny over air pollution levels, and so efforts to clean up transport are being ramped up further.

The looming low-emission zones, tax incentives, more vehicle choice and a growing charging infrastructure has helped grow the low and zero emission vehicle market.

Figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show that there has been a 31 per cent increase in the registrations of alternatively fuelled vehicles this March compared to last March.

Whilst things are moving in the right direction, the overall market share is small. So what do our panelists think the government should do to further incentives the purchase of electric vehicles and ULEVs? Chris Chandler from Lex Autolease says: “For the mass adoption of ULEVs I think there also needs to be more “in life” benefits to owning and running a plug-in vehicle. In countries where electric vehicle uptake has been highest, benefits such as free parking and charging, the ability to use bus/ taxi and high occupancy vehicle lanes have been highly successful.”

Chris also highlights the lack of incentive for used-car buyers: “At present most of

the incentives are front end loaded to the first buyer of the vehicle. To reach mass market acceptance the second user needs consideration. This will not only make them more attractive in the used market, but this would also bolster residual values making new leases for ULEVs cheaper too.”

Matthew Walters from LeasePlan agrees that life should be made easier for EV drivers: “There are a number of incentives the government could consider to encourage an uptake of eco-friendly vehicles, including free parking in cities, free-use of charging points, permission to use bus lanes and no congestion charges. In July 2016, Milton Keynes became the first city to launch a green-vehicle permit, giving electric cars free parking – part of the government’s plan to tempt drivers into buying green vehicles.”

Shaun Sadlier from Arval believes that the infrastructure and vehicle costs still need to be improved. He says: “As we see more and more drivers consider choosing ULEVs, it is essential that the government invests in the charging infrastructure at a speed necessary to meet demand. It is only in doing this that plug-in vehicles will become a practical choice for a broad cross-section of drivers.”

He adds: “Of course responsibility doesn’t sit with the government alone. As they have done in previous years, the manufacturers have a key role to play in introducing attractive ULEV models at an affordable price. In doing so, consumers and businesses will naturally gravitate to cleaner and more efficient vehicles.”

James Birch from Free2Move Lease believes that collaboration and sharing information is crucial to drive the industry forward.

He explains: “I am not convinced of the effectiveness of short term incentives and actions. The main benefits are gained through working closely with vehicle manufacturers, fleet associations and larger fleet users to fully understand the challenges and shared common objectives. Today’s drivers and all of the above stakeholders are now fully aligned with the importance of achieving environmental objectives.” "

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Driving a more efficient future for fleet management With cost control a continual priority on the business agenda and increasing pressure to reduce harmful vehicle emissions, we look at how you can make your fleet more financially and environmentally efficient One of the most pressing issues facing fleet managers, vehicle owners and drivers today is the need to reduce emissions. This was a key target of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, in which lower tax bands for ultra-low emission vehicles and a new zero-emission range based scale for the very cleanest cars (to be introduced in 2020) along with further investment in electric vehicle charging infrastructure were announced.

For fleet managers, reducing emissions is not just about creating a cleaner, greener environment for tomorrow, it’s about reducing vehicle running costs and making the fleet run more efficiently today.

With an eye on the incentives on offer through reduced emissions and the potential penalties ahead for those that fail to act, what can you do now and in the near future to make your fleet as efficient as possible?

Immediate efficiency focus One of the highest costs of running a fleet and one where emissions are most relevant is fuel. Inefficient fuel use can have a serious impact on a business’ bottom line and can ramp up levels of CO2 emissions.

While we have seen a freeze on fuel duty for seven consecutive years, rising oil prices and the depreciation of Sterling has meant prices at the pump have continued to increase. Therefore, the most straightforward way of tackling fuel costs in the short-term is to ensure drivers are filling up at the cheapest fuel outlets and driving efficiently.

Driver behaviour has a significant impact on fuel efficiency and educating and encouraging more efficient practices, such as less aggressive acceleration and braking is key, whether they are driving traditionally fuelled or latest technology plug in vehicles. Telematics systems can play a vital role in achieving this ambition.

Telematic systems Telematic devices monitor the whereabouts, speed and diagnostics of a vehicle, with the data shared on a central management system. GPS tracking is fundamental to telematics, enabling users to plot fuel and time efficiencies through assisted route planning and dynamic routing. These can ensure drivers avoid traffic jams or other incidents that reduce fuel efficiency.

Telematics can also encourage more efficient driving practices. By analysing how employees drive, companies can educate their drivers about more efficient driving techniques.

This includes identifying inefficient practices such as keeping the engine running during frequent stops, which may highlight the need for stop/start technologies when procuring fleet vehicles in the future.

Some of the latest systems can also evaluate the drive cycle and hence whether a plug-in vehicle may be suitable for the driver, or for those already using PHEVs ensure the electric mode is being fully utilised.

Planning your next move In the short to medium-term, incorporating electric or plug in hybrid vehicles into your fleet can improve efficiencies. For businesses where significant urban driving is the norm, switching to electric vehicles can result in both lower fuel and tax costs and importantly also remove harmful particulate and NOx emissions.

With the Government’s continued focus on emissions and urban air quality its commitment to invest in electric vehicle technology and the infrastructure that supports it, are making the uptake of this vehicle class more attractive.

Advances in the technology itself have extended the battery range of the latest fully-electric models to over 200 miles from a single charge. The government predicts that rapid charging points, which

can provide up to an 80 per cent charge in 30 minutes or less, will outnumber traditional fuel stations by 2020.

Looking to the future Building a fleet for the medium and long-term means keeping an eye on legislative and technological developments.

However, it’s important not to get carried away by vehicle technology that offers little added value to your fleet.

At Lex Autolease, our fleet consultants take a comprehensive approach to supporting your fleet management needs. By assessing how far your existing fleet meets your organisation’s requirements, we can help you consider which technologies can bridge any gaps, and undertake a thorough cost/benefit analysis of any solution. We combine this with our industry insight and awareness of the direction and impact of upcoming legislation, for example stricter emissions targets for vehicle manufacturers, the changing corporate tax bands and restrictions on diesel vehicles. It allows us to help you make fleet management decisions with efficiency in mind, both now and in the future. !

Throughout the year, Lex Autolease will publish insights focusing on key issues facing fleets. For more information, see below.

FURTHER INFORMATION www.lexautolease.co.uk

Volume 102 | GREENFLEET MAGAZINE

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Geneva Motor Show

A fondue of show-stoppers!

Written by Richard Gooding

Traditionally the first major motor exhibition of the year, the 2017 edition of the Geneva International Motor Show showcased the latest in hybrid, electric and hydrogen fuel cell technology The 2017 Geneva International Motor Show packed the halls of the Palexpo exhibition centre from 9-19 March, with over 690,000 visitors seeing the latest motorised stars from around the world. Over 175 models debuted at 87th running of the show in the Swiss capital. Here are the GreenFleet picks from the 2017 Geneva car catwalk.

HYBRID VEHICLES Hyundai Ioniq Plug-in Hybrid One year on from the Ioniq brand’s unveiling at the 2016 Geneva show, the production version of the plug-in Hyundai was unveiled.

The last of the trio of EV, hybrid and plug-in hybrid Ioniq variants to be launched, the Ioniq Plug-in Hybrid marries a 103bhp 1.6-litre GDI four-cylinder direct-injection petrol engine to a 45kW (60bhp) electric motor which is powered by a 8.9kWh lithium-ion polymer battery. The South Korean company quotes an all-electric driving range of up to 38 miles (63km), while

Hyundai Ioniq Plug -in

emissions are quoted at 26g/km. Fuel economy is stated to be 257mpg on the NEDC cycle.

As with the EV version of the Ioniq, the plug-in hybrid model features a ‘Sport’ mode which adjusts the steering feel and changes the gearbox parameters. Hyundai’s sustainability strategy will launch 14 ‘eco’ cars by 2020.

This includes five hybrid vehicles, four plug-in hybrid vehicles, four electric vehicles and one fuel-cell electric vehicle.

Kia Niro and Optima Sportswagon Plug-in Hybrids Hyundai’s South Korean compatriot Kia announced a twin-prong attack on the PHEV

Over ls de 175 mo at the d debute rch 87th a 9-19 Mnternational I Geneva Show which Motor cted over attra 000 690, visitors

500h Lexus LS Hybrid

Jaguar i-Pace

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market with a pair of plug-in hybrids based on the Niro crossover and the Optima Sportswagon models launched last year.

Arriving in Q3 2017, the Niro Plug-in Hybrid features the same technology as the Ioniq Plug-in Hybrid, namely a 103bhp 1.6-litre GDI petrol engine, a 45kW electric motor and an 8.9kWh lithium-ion battery. As its shared tech suggests, the figures are very similar to the Ioniq’s: sub-30g/km CO2 emissions, and a 34-mile (55km) all-electric driving range.

The Optima Sportswagon Plug-in Hybrid meanwhile features a 153bhp 2.0 GDI petrol engine along with a 50kW electric motor and 11.26kWh lithium-ion polymer battery. As with the Niro, full production figures weren’t available, but Kia’s engineers are aiming for a 38-mile all-electric driving range, CO2 emissions of 34g/km and a combined NEDC cycle fuel economy figure of 188mpg.

DEDICATED TO PROMOTING A CLEANER ENVIRONMENT | www.greenfleet.net

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FE Hyundai oncept lC Fuel Cel Volvo XC 60

Lexus LS 500h Lexus used Geneva to launch the hybrid version of its new IS luxury saloon. Equipped with the Japanese company’s new ‘Lexus Multi Stage Hybrid System’ for improved performance, the LS 500h features a 3.5-litre dual VVT-i V6 engine with two electric motors which together delivers 354bhp/264kW. Both two and four-wheel drive versions will be available, and the lithium-ion battery is 20 per cent smaller than that in the current LS 600h. The new Multi Stage Hybrid System amplies the power from the V6 engine and the hybrid battery to allow greater drive power to be generated when accelerating from rest: 0-62mph takes 5.4 seconds, while the LS 500h can run up to 87mph with the petrol engine shut down.

Audi Q8 Sport Concept Geneva saw the debut of the Q8 Sport Concept, a 48-volt, 470bhp SUV concept car. The bright orange four-wheel drive car is powered by a 3.0-litre TFSI V6 engine with mild hybrid technology, and Audi promises ‘eight-cylinder performance with the consumption of a four-cylinder’. Using the same Electrically Powered Compressor technology as the SQ7 TDI, the Q8 Sport Concept gets to 62mph from rest in 4.7 seconds, while also featuring a 745-mile driving range. CO2 emissions are said to be improved by 25 per cent when compared to the SQ7 TDI, and the 0.9kWh lithium-ion battery powers the car in stop-start traffic with the combustion engine turned off.

ELECTRIC VEHICLES Bentley EXP 12 Speed 6e concept British car maker Bentley unveiled its EXP 12 Speed 6e all-electric concept sports car in Switzerland. Gauging public reaction to help shape its future, any production model of two-seater is expected to feature rapid inductive charging as well as connected on-board concierge services.

Honda NeuV concept Japanese firm Honda pulled the covers off its NeuV electric concept car at the Palexpo.

Pronounced ‘new-vee’, the NeuV (New Electric Urban Vehicle) is an automated ride-sharing car when the owner is not using it. It also learns the driver’s emotions using an AI assistant, and has a ‘Kick n Go’ electric scooter in the boot. Honda also revealed details its ‘Electric Vision’, which aims to have electrified powertrains in two-thirds of its European cars by 2025. It also displayed the European version of its Clarity Fuel Cell model.

Jaguar i-Pace concept After an initial unveiling in 2016, Jaguar showcased its i-Pace concept SUV in Geneva.

An all-electric SUV, the Swiss show car was

finished in ‘Photon Red’, and previews the company’s first-ever electric vehicle. Range is said to be a Tesla-rivalling 310 miles (500km) from its 90kWh lithium-ion battery, with an 80 per cent charge achieved in just 90 minutes using 50kW DC charging infrastructure.

Renault Zoe e-Sport concept French manufacturer Renault unveiled a true EV surprise in Switzerland: a two-seater racing-focused version of its Zoe electric car.

With its twin electric motors, power is up to a phenomenal 460bhp (340kW), with massive torque of 640Nm/472lb ft. The benchmark 0-60mph sprint is dispatched in just 3.2 seconds, while 130mph comes up in under 10 seconds. Four driving modes also allow drivers to choose between performance and range, but sadly there are no plans to produce the car, but it may make appearances at Formula E events later this year.

Toyota i-TRIL Concept The i-TRIL EV concept was given its world debut on the Toyota stand. Featuring a one-plus-two seating layout and ‘active lean’ technology seen on the company’s i-Road concept (the rear wheels stay perpendicular to the road while the front wheels and the body lean thanks to a hinge between the rear axle and the cabin), the i-TRIL weights just 600kg and is said forecast to achieve 185 miles (300km) between charges.

HYDROGEN FUEL CELL VEHICLES Hyundai FE Concept Hyundai’s current hydrogen-powered car, the ix35 Fuel Cell is getting on a bit, so the company used Geneva to preview its successor. Just like the hydrogen ix35 (which was the first mass-produced hydrogen-powered vehicle), the FE Fuel Cell Concept is once again an SUV. The slippery body features a rear foil and vents which help with aerodynamic efficiency, and wraps Hyundai’s fourth-generation hydrogen fuel cell technology. The fuel cell stack itself has a 30 per cent larger power density, boosting range to almost 500 miles (800km). Portable battery packs also feature. An FE Fuel Cell Concept-inspired model is scheduled to arrive next year.

CONVENTIONALLY-FUELLED VEHICLES SEAT Ibiza The fifth-generation of SEAT’s small car debuted at Geneva, and it’s a significant model for the Volkswagen Group. The Spanish car is the first vehicle to use the new modular MQB platform in its smallest ‘A0’ size ahead of the new Volkswagen Polo, Audi A1 and Škoda Fabia. Benefits include new technology options, increased interior space, plus a more ‘rewarding’

While the Geneva show is primarily about new metal, other industry suppliers also showcase their new products.

Tyre brand Falken used the show to launch a summer tyre with optimsed rolling resistance. The new ECORUN A-A is stated to offer fuel-saving features as well as enhanced braking performance in wet conditions.

Made from ultra-refined natural ‘Pure Rubber’, the compound has less heat build-up and rolling resistance and therefore a longer life. Designed for use with hybrid vehicles, Falken has an exclusive deal with Toyota for the replacement market. The new tyre will be available in 195/65R15 19H size for Prius III hybrids, initially in Germany.

Geneva Motor Show

Vauxhal l Insign Grand Sp ia ort

Hybrid tyre launched by Falken

driving experience, according to the Spanish car maker. More parts of the car have been made using Hot-Forming technology, therefore reducing weight and improving fuel economy.

Engines are all Euro 6-compliant, with TSI petrol engines powering the bulk of the new models in the new range, with a new 1.5 TSI EVO model due with active cylinder management which shuts down two cylinders under part-throttle speeds. A brace of 1.6-litre TDI diesels will also feature.

Vauxhall Insignia Grand Sport Replacing the fleet-friendly Insignia, the Vauxhall Insignia Grand Sport may get a new name, but it sticks with the old car’s five-door ‘fastback’ hatch and Sports Tourer estate formats. Styling draws heavily on the outgoing car but, in keeping with its new name, features a more sporting look overall.

Starting at £17,115, the new range includes a new 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol model and tops off with the £26,455 2.0-litre 4x4 petrol version. Of interest to GreenFleet readers, the 105g/km 1.6-litre Turbo D ecoTEC has 107bhp and a starting price of £18,485.

Volvo XC60 Volvo used the Swiss show as a springboard to launch a new version of its XC60 SUV. Taking styling cues from the well-received XC90, the smaller car takes 30 per cent of Volvo’s global sales. The T8 Twin Engine petrol plug-in hybrid powertrain sits at the top of the range, its 407bhp output giving the car a 0-62mph time of just 5.3 seconds, as well as emissions of just 49g/km. D4 and D5 diesel versions have emissions of 136 and 144g/km respectively, while the T5 and T6 petrol engines are rated at between 167-176g/km. As you’d expect from a Volvo, safety is high on the XC60’s agenda, with new Steer Assist technology featuring on the new car along with a raft of other systems: Volvo claims the new XC60 is one of the safest cars ever made. !

Volume 102 | GREENFLEET MAGAZINE

57

Road Test

ROAD TEST

Volkswagen Passat GTE

Written by Richard Gooding

The Volkswagen Passat GTE promises low emissions with both performance and efficiency.

Richard Gooding reports on whether this mid-sized car marriage of pace and parsimony is a happy one

The lling best-se brid in hy In hybrid mode, the car plug-in en, the seamlessly shuffles the d e Sw agen sources of power as to w s k l o V how it thinks is the best 40g/km GTE arrived way to use it. Volkswagen t a s s st Pa a l quotes 31 miles of pure K U in the ar electric range, and once the ye 9.9kWh battery is depleted,

What is it?

Recalling a name associated with sports Audis of the 1970s and Vauxhalls of the 1980s, the Passat GTE is the plug-in hybrid version of Volkswagen’s large family car.

First announced in 2014 with the arrival of the current Passat, the GTE is the only petrol-powered model in the big VW’s line-up. On sale on mainland Europe since 2015 – and Sweden’s best-selling plug-in hybrid in March – the 40g/km plug-in version of the German family contender only arrived in the UK in August 2016.

How does it drive?

Like the Golf GTE which shares the electrified Passat’s ethos, the large Volkswagen is easily identified from its diesel siblings. Blue ‘GTE’ badges, callipers, and exterior trim signify the hybrid-powered model, along with C-shaped daytime running lights, and a subtle pop-out charging flap in the front grille. On start-up, the first thing you notice is that the lack of a diesel soundtrack and for a car of this size, at first, that’s a little unusual.

The Passat GTE is powered by a turbocharged 154bhp 1.4-litre petrol engine mated to a 83kW/112bhp electric motor, for a combined system output of 215bhp and 400Nm/295lb ft of torque.

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the car will automatically switch into hybrid mode.

Power is transferred by a six-speed DSG gearbox, and, as with other Volkswagen Group cars, it’s all done very smoothly.

A Tiptronic mode can be used for sportier shifting, and is augmented by the steering wheel-mounted paddles. Normal ‘D’ Drive mode changes gear like an automatic, while ‘B’ mode uses regenerative ‘engine’ braking and changes up and down the box automatically. It can be jerky in stop-start traffic, though, as the car surges forward with a little too much verve after being at rest.

Of course, the Passat GTE’s supposed trump card is it offers performance as well as efficiency. The spirited performance certainly bares the first element of that equation out, the saloon dispatching the 0-62mph dash in 7.4 seconds. Four driving modes offer more tunability. Full-electric ‘E-Mode’ is the default setting in which the car starts, switching into ‘Hybrid’ once there is no remaining battery charge. The car then uses the petrol and electric motors and required and also replenishes the battery under deceleration.

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Choose ‘Battery Charge’ to conserve battery power for electric running in urban areas, but beware that fuel economy can suffer as more charge is put back into the battery. If full ‘GTI’-type performance is needed, the ‘GTE’ mode uses both the petrol and electric motors together to deliver a more sporting-focused drive. It’s effective, too, as the engine becomes more vocal, the steering becomes stiffer, and the gearbox ratios are altered to give a faster pace. A ‘Sport’ mode in the driving mode menu also does a similar thing, without the theoretical fuel economy deficit when the car is displaying its ‘GTE’ personality.

Whichever mode is chosen, though, the Passat GTE is very smooth to drive and largely enjoys the same refined demeanour as its diesel siblings. The suspension is firm but largely comfortable and it’s a well-appointed and enjoyable machine to drive, even if agility suffers a little thanks to a 110kg weight penalty over the equivalent diesel.

Charging time is 4 hours and 15 minutes from a domestic mains supply, which drops to just over two-and-a-half hours from a 3.6kW wallbox.

The Passat GTE comes with both a 16A AC cable for wallbox/public network charging, as well as a 10A mains cable for home charging.

How economical is it?

Volkswagen quotes an official fuel economy value of 166mpg for the Passat GTE, which like many plug-in hybrid values, seems a little on the unrealistic side. However, as we found with

ENGINE:

154bhp/116kW 1,395cc, four-cylinder petrol with 112bhp/83kW electric motor

CO2 /NOx:

40g/km / 0.003g/km

MPG (combined): GF MPG: VED:

Road Test

Volkswagen Passat GTE

166 105.6

£130 (GTE), £440 (GTE Advance)

BIK:

9%

PRICE (OTR): Passat GTE is available in both saloon and estate models, and in two trims: GTE and GTE Advance

Passat GTE has a well-equipped interior with lots of technology Four driving modes include ‘GTE’ performance and all-electric ‘E’ modes

the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, systematic and consistent use of charging – either at home or on the public networks – pays dividends as relatively high values can be achieved. While our ‘real-world’ average of 105.6mpg over a 488-mile test still takes some believing, it’s worth noting that the plug-in Passat can deliver economy as low as 35.1mpg when the 1.4-litre TSI engine is solely being used, with values as high as 277mpg over short distances when both electric and petrol powertrains are employed in conjunction with a gentle right foot. Volkswagen quotes a total NEDC cycle driving range of over 664 miles.

Myriad displays inform of what’s going on when, and ‘E-Mode’ brings charge and consumption meters, while ‘GTE’ mode makes the rev counter even larger when the Active Info Display digital dash option is fitted.

There’s also the usual ‘e-manager’, power flow diagram, charging time setting, potential range and even a potential regenerative braking distance display, to eke out more economy.

What does it cost?

Similar to the just-revised Golf GTE, VW has created a two-model range for the Passat GTE. The entry level ‘GTE’ saloon costs £37,015 ‘On The Road’ (OTR) excluding the government’s Plug-in Car Grant (PiCG) of £2,500 for vehicles which emit less than 50g/km of CO2 and have an electric-only range of between 10 to 69 miles. The Passat Estate GTE attracts a £1,600 premium over its

1.4-litre TSI engine is mated to an electric motor Charging flap is very subtly hidden in the front grille

four-door counterpart. When it comes to the higher-specification ‘GTE Advance’ models, prices kick-off at £40,670 OTR minus PiCG for the saloon, rising to £42,270 for the estate.

Passat GTE models are well-equipped, with 18-inch alloy wheels, automatic LED head and tail lights, auto-dimming rear view mirror, front and rear parking sensors, heated ‘ergoComfort’ front seats, multifunction steering wheel, ‘3Zone’ automatic air conditioning, and 6.5-inch colour DAB/CD/ Bluetooth Discover Navigation touchscreen infotainment system as standard. VW’s ‘Car-Net Security & Service’ connectivity package is also thrown in, and includes a three-year subscription for ‘e-remote’ mobile services.

GTE Advance cars gain LED projector headlights and daytime running lights, leather seats, a panoramic sunroof, as well as Volkswagen’s ‘Car-Net App-Connect’ smartphone connection package. A three-year subscription to the ‘Car-Net Guide and Inform Plus’ system is also included and provides access to a range of internet-based services. Volkswagen’s ‘Active Info Display’ is standard on the GTE Advance: 12.3-inch high-resolution TFT digital dash panel which replaces traditional instrument dials, the system has customisable menus and is very crisp. Top-rung cars also gain ‘Area View’, which gives a 360-degree exterior view of the car via the central touchscreen, which is upgraded to the eight-inch Discover Navigation Pro system.

£37,015 (including VAT excluding PiCG), £43,190 as tested (excluding PiCG)

How much does it cost to tax?

Before the realigned VED band structure was introduced on 1 April, the Passat GTE slotted into Band A – £0 – the lowest rate available, but with the new system, the first-year rate of £10 applies for both the entry-level ‘GTE’ and higher-specification ‘GTE Advance’ models.

With the 2017 rate changes, from year two it’s not quite so clear cut. The ‘GTE’ will attract a £340 ‘standard rate’ thanks to its sub-£40,000 list price. Meanwhile, the higher £40,000-plus price of ‘GTE Advance’ cars means they will be charged a massive £440 annual ‘premium rate’ cost. After five years, this higher cost will revert to the lower £130 standard rate. The new ‘premium rate’ of VED applies to all cars with a list price £40,000 and upwards, regardless of emissions.

Why does my fleet need one?

Traditionally, the mid-size saloon sector has favoured diesel engines, but the Passat GTE bucks that trend (even though the rest of the range conforms to that tradition).

Yes, it’s expensive, but what the GTE does is offer a variety of driving configurations to suit an individual’s needs. Because of the hybrid powertrain, range anxiety simply doesn’t exist and if your average day’s driving takes in a distance less than 30 miles, the pull of constant zero-emissions motoring may well be strong. There’s also the lure of the full-fat ‘GTE’ performance mode.

But, just as with other plug-in hybrids, if your average driving pattern consists of longer journeys, you’ll see few of the Passat GTE’s electrified benefits and will be better off with a diesel model. The introduction of the new VED rates, has eroded some of the low emission tax benefits, too. But, technologically, the Passat GTE is a plug-in hybrid triumph which may prove enticing enough for those who desire a low emission, beautifully-built and spacious electrified car with very few drawbacks. !

FURTHER INFORMATION www.volkswagen.co.uk

59

Road Test

At 1,046mm, the loadspace of the Fiat Professional Fiorino can swallow a Euro pallet

Written Writtenby

by Richard Richard Gooding Gooding

Fiat Professional Fiorinioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cab features good connectivity and technology options

ROAD TEST

Fiat Professional Fiorino Cargo SX 1.3 Multijet 2 80 Recently revised, the Fiat Professional Fiorino now has a smarter appearance and cleaner Euro 6-compliant engines, but enjoys the same practicality as before. Richard Gooding delivers the verdict on the urban warrior from Italy

60

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How practical is it?

Very, for a small commercial. The Fiat Professional Fiorino has a maximum volume of 2.8m3, which can be accessed by a sliding door on the nearside of the van, while at 1,046mm, the load bay is wide enough to take a Euro pallet. The asymmetric rear doors have 180-degree openings and all feature well-thought out vertical handles to ease loading. Maximum payload capacity is 660kg with the driver on board, while a 9.95-metre steering angle helps thread the little load carrier though congested streets.

The interior features a number of storage cubbies perfect for urban deliveries, while a panelled bulkhead is a £150 option.

How clean is it?

With CO2 emissions from 100g/km when fitted with Fiat’s robotised gearbox and £200 Eco pack with stop/start, the cleanest version of the Fiorino range is the ‘EcoJet’ variant of the 1.3 Multijet 2 80.

The engine of our test van was rated at 115g/km, which is still much cleaner than the 161g/km 1.4-litre ‘Fire’ 75 petrol engine.

And while a non-diesel, potentially more NOx-friendly version of a light commercial at this end of the market is somewhat of a unusual move, the Renault Kangoo Z.E. offers more of an environmentally-friendly option for those with an eco conscience.

Fuel economy of 74.3mpg is quoted for the 1.3 MultiJet 2 80 – we achieved 58.1mpg.

Fiat Professional Fiorino Cargo SX 1.3 Multijet 2 80 GROSS PAYLOAD: LOAD VOLUME: ENGINE:

610-660kg (including driver) 2.5-2.8m

3

1,248cc four-cylinder diesel

CO2:

115g/km

MPG (combined):

74.3

GF MPG:

58.1

VED:

£230

PRICE (ex-VAT and OTR charges):

£12,765

Road Test

What is it?

The smallest light commercial in Fiat Professional’s range, the current Fiorino is the third-generation of a van which has been around since 1977. First based on the Fiat 127 and then the Fiat Uno, the small car-based commercial gained a new ‘Fiat Small’ platform in 2008. Jointly-developed with the PSA Group, the Fiorino has light commercial siblings from Citroën (Nemo) and Peugeot (Bipper) which share both its Fiat Grande Punto-derived chassis and rounded-corner bodywork. All of the trio also offer passenger-carrying versions, too, and are built by Tofaş in Bursa in Turkey.

Revised in mid-2016, electric and CNG Natural Power gas versions of the Fiorino are also available, but sadly not in the UK.

Gross payload of the Fiat Professional Fiorino is 610-660kg including the driver

How does it drive?

As may be expected due to its car-derived underpinnings, the Fiorino is very car-like to drive. All the controls have a nice well-weighted feel, and the five-speed manual gearbox shifts positively. The spritely small-capacity Multijet 2 80 engine is a good match for the little Fiat Professional commercial, and its 200Nm/147lb ft of torque makes it easy to zip into tight gaps around congested urban areas. With little body roll, light power steering and a sub-4.0-metre length, the Fiorino is enjoyable to drive, although the ride is a little on the firm side. It’s refined, though: only under acceleration does the diesel engine make itself vocal – the rest of time you could be forgiven that there was a petrol engine sitting under the Fiorino’s stubby nose.

In the cabin, only the cheap-feeling and looking plastics hint at the fact the Fiorino is a light commercial. The five-inch colour touchscreen infotainment system works well enough, but in truth is a little small, but a USB port enables smartphones to tablets to be charged on the move. The seats are comfortable, and the Florino’s driving position is generally good. The view out of the windscreen is almost panoramic, though, as with most vans, rear visibility is greatly reduced, so £150 rear parking sensors are one essential option. For security, the cab and the load bay can be locked separately.

An alarm is a £150 option, though.

five-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Bluetooth connectivity, as well as deadlocks for additional security.

Our SX test van was also fitted with air conditioning (£500), cruise control (100), front fog lights (£80), rear parking sensors (£150) and a USB charger (£25) among other selected options. Practicality can also be enhanced by an offside sliding rear door 2 (£230), while safety can be improved a panelled bulkhead (£150), while our test vehicle was also fitted with £425 15-inch gunmetal-coloured, diamond-effect alloy wheels, which did lift the slightly front-heavy looks of the overall shape.

As for competition, the related Citroën Nemo starts at £12,465 for the HDi 80 manual X model, while the third triplet in the Fiat Professional/ Citroën/Peugeot baby van cot, the Peugeot Bipper, is priced from £12,395 for the HDi 80 manual S (both excluding VAT and ‘OTR’ charges). Both the Citroën and Peugeot model ranges offer just the one engine option, though, a PSA Group-sourced Euro 6-rated 1.3-litre HDi diesel, with emissions of 115g/km.

With CO ns from emissiokm, the 100g/ ersion of tv cleanes rino is the the Fio ltijet 2 80 1.3 Mu oJet’ ‘Ec

What does it cost?

The entry-level Fiat Professional Fiorino powered by the 75bhp 1.4-litre ‘Fire’ engine has a basic price of £11,415 minus VAT and other ‘On The Road (OTR)’ charges. The midrange SX version on test retails at £12,765 excluding VAT and OTR charges, and is both cleaner and a little more powerful. The extra cost gains cosmetic improvements such as the ‘Ultrashine Silver’ finish to the front grille and bumper, as well as practical touches like electric windows, electrically-adjustable and heated door mirrors, a sliding side door, steering wheel-mounted radio controls, a

Why does my fleet need one?

Fiat Professional claims that the Fiorino is the leader in the market sector, and its certainly well-regarded in its home country, with Italia Post’s fleet numbering 3,000. Cheeky in character, and enjoyable and easy to drive around town, the Fiorino offers peppy performance and a payload which should accommodate most small van drivers’ needs. An updated cosmetic exterior appearance as well as a broader engine range are just two benefits the Italian light commercial enjoys over its Citroën and Peugeot cousins. A number of lower-emitting variants increase offer an additional advantage, and with a larger loadspace, the Fiorino is also more practical than some car-based van rivals, too. !

FURTHER INFORMATION www.fiatprofessional.co.uk

Volume 102 | GREENFLEET MAGAZINE

61

Product Finder

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