LowCVP’s Andy Eastlake discusses the progress towards cleaner air and the CVRAS accreditation for retrofits, though there is some criticism of the lack of options for coach operators
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Andy Eastlake, Managing Director of LowCVP, spoke about the air quality challenges facing the industry, along with his organisation’s new accreditation for coach and bus retrofits.
“One of the first myths we want to bust is that things are getting worse,” he noted. “They are not. Air quality is improving, though not as fast as we would like, and it is still not as good as we want it to be. We need to accelerate the improvement and take the last step.”
A graph Andy displayed showed how various pollutants have declined over time, though ammonia is on the increase. While part of this may be due to diesel emissions control systems – AdBlue injection – but is mostly a result of farming industry fertilisers.
However, when it comes to greenhouse gas impact, the picture is less positive, as Andy explained: “Of all the primary greenhouse gas producers in the UK, the transport sector transport is the only one which is getting worse. It is now the biggest single contributor to UK greenhouse gas.
“Public transport can really make a difference. If you can get 80 people onto a double-decker bus in lieu of 80 cars, you’ve made massive inroads into improving air quality, reducing carbon and reducing congestion. We’re trying to create movement from assessing vehicles on a vehicle kilometre basis to a passenger kilometre basis.”
Ultra-low emission alternatives
Andy called the bus industry one of the most advanced, forward thinking, progressed and progressive within the UK transport sector. He also highlighted a focus on particulate emissions from tyres and brakes, which plays into the hands of mass transit. Coaches and buses will presumably create less of this on a per-passenger kilometre basis.
“There’s a good focus about maintaining technology neutrality,” Andy said. “There’s a lot of push towards electric vehicles, but we see the opportunities for clean diesel, gas, electric, hybrid and other technologies. We need to focus on the objectives of low carbon and emissions, and let the engineers do their thing.
“Further funding is on the way from the ultra-low emission bus scheme. The Government has put more money into clean buses than any other sector. There has been well over £250m of funding to support progress towards lower emissions. Buses are also the only sector where you have almost every available solution operating in commercial daily service. There is no reason why we can’t find the solution for every application.
“An ultra-low emission coach is not yet clearly defined, which is something we are working on.”
Clean diesel
Euro VI does what it needs to do in terms of reducing emissions, Andy said, and advised against operators buying new Euro V vehicles.
“Euro VI is now the required standard for a Clean Air Zone (CAZ),” he said. “All CAZs across the UK are the same thing – the standards are the same. A Euro VI vehicle or certified retrofit is compatible with every CAZ around the country.
“Low emission buses are now dominating the market. Last year, over 60% of buses sold in the UK were low emission categorised. We have the fastest growing and most buoyant low-emission category of vehicles anywhere in the UK. This is realised by the government and seen as an industrial and operational success.”
The retrofit option
Andy highlighted that the bus industry is the only transport sector with funding available for retrofitting, as well as new purchases.
“Retrofits are important, and we know that fleet turnover is such that it is a challenge to create a Euro VI fleet,” Andy explained. “It cannot be done overnight. Operators have a lot of value left in their Euro IV and Euro V vehicles, particularly with coaches.”
LowCVP has examined the retrofit market, and found that there is a wide variety of potential options, such as retrofitting aftertreatment, electrifying ancillaries or converting vehicles to a full electric drive, Andy explained. However, he noted that there has not been a robust way of validating those options.
“We’ve put together, with the Energy Savings Trust, a Clean Vehicle Retrofitting Accreditation Scheme (CVRAS),” he said. “It is technology neutral, but absolutely robust.
“Any vehicle type has to go through a robust test procedure. The company is accredited to give operators confidence that they will be there in the long term to deal with warranties. Technology is accredited to ensure it performs over a specific cycle. Fitment is then carried out by an approved installer, and then we have a process of monitoring whether the system is delivering in the real world. The effect of this is we can evidence that retrofits are delivering to the same level as Euro VI OEM products.
“If any of you are in the market for retrofitting, don’t believe everything you read. There are all sorts of claims, snake oils and devices out there. Look for CVRAS – if it’s not on that list, it doesn’t meet our requirements and wont be allowed into a CAZ without charge.”
What about the coach sector?
At the end of Andy’s presentation, Karl Moseley from coach dealer Moseley’s asked: “What is the position currently with CVRAS-accredited Euro V retrofit systems for the coach sector? It seems we don’t have a consensus or a workable way forward for the high number of variable models in the sector with low volume.
“We need to find a way forward both for the equity value in those coaches and for those who are prepared to invest. There is a willingness to move forward, but no workable solution. What are we going to do about that?”
Andy responded: “I know systems are being worked on, but there are a number of bottlenecks. One is facility space to test and one is identifying market demand.
“What we’re trying to do is first of all make sure the systems work – we have a bespoke coach test cycle as it’s really important the system works on a motorway as well as in a city. Any system for a bus won’t have approval extended to a coach without testing it on a coach cycle.
“We are then looking at extending that coach accreditation to more applications and weights –a light touch approach to extending coach approvals. I would expect coach systems to be on the CVRAS website in the next week or two. Most of the work on buses has been done, so coach is the next focus.”
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