How does the ULEZ charge affect commercial haulage vehicles?

How does the ULEZ charge affect commercial haulage vehicles & what are researchers & engine manufacturers doing to support the industries affected by these additional charges?

On Monday 8^th April 2019 the ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) came into force in central London. The ULEZ has been implemented to improve air quality in the city & dissuade those most polluting vehicles from driving into central London.

The ULEZ charges which are applicable 24 hours a day, 7 days a week start at £12.50 for most vehicle types, including motorcycles. The charge per day for heavier vehicles, including lorries over 3.5 tonnes is £100. This amount does not take into account the congestion charge, which most of the ULEZ covers at £11.50, operating between 7.00am & 6.00pm. Therefore, the average motorist/biker in & around the ULEZ could be looking at a £24.00 daily/£120 charge weekly (based on a 5 day working week) & haulage trucks, which support our economies & deliver our food & consumables; are looking at a £111.50 charge each time they try & deliver into the ULEZ (1)

Despite everyone being in agreement that air quality & Co2 & NOx emissions have got to be reduced, the ULEZ charges have already been met with outrage from many people. Regardless of how much warning has been given for those to prepare for the implementation of the ULEZ, one of the major criticisms of the scheme is how it affects working class & the most-poor in our society.

A lot of people who rely on their cars & motorcycles to get to & from work, are now being penalised for not being financially able to upgrade their transport to the ULEZ standards. Furthermore, despite Sadiq Kahn having frozen bus fares, tube fares & some over-ground train fares in London until 2020; those having to rely on commuting in to the city, have seen an increase of 3.4% on their travel in 2018 & a further 3.1% in January 2019 (2)

One of the concerns for the ULEZ is how little support there seems to have been to allow for example the ‘white van man’ to upgrade their vans which are their livelihoods to the ULEZ standards. Regardless of the ‘Diesel Scrappage Scheme’ having been launched in February 2019, this is far too late for many micro businesses to be able to take advantage of the scheme & upgrade their vehicles by April 2019. Furthermore, the financial options for the scrappage scheme, (£3,500 to scrap pre Euro 6 vans or lease a Euro 6 van) can in many cases not support investment in another vehicle, especially at the beginning of a new financial year. In addition, ‘Scrappage and contribution towards running costs (including insurance) of an electric vehicle (£6,000) The grant payment is made up of £3,500 for scrapping eligible vehicles plus a £2,500 contribution towards running costs (including insurance) of a replacement electric vehicle(s)’ (3)

However, despite these incentives & the drive to improve air quality by penalising road users, the investment in commercial vehicle transportation does not seem to have been addressed. Regardless of opinion, commercial haulage trucks still support our construction industries, our economies by delivering our foods & raw materials, importing our goods, clothes, vehicles & the essentials of every day life. It is these vehicles which are being hardest hit by fines & penalties in low emission zones across the globe. But, rather than penalising these delivery companies & in many cases the cabs belong to the driver & are their only livelihood; what is being done to invest in the alternatives to the traditional diesel engines & who is doing what to improve the air quality where trucks & commercial haulage vehicles are concerned?

Professor Robert Morgan of The University of Brighton & Nick Owen – Technical Director, Dolphin N2, recently attended the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK – ‘How low can you go?’ seminar on 3^rd April 2019. The purpose of the seminar programme was to discuss ‘The challenge to develop low-emission commercial vehicles’ The Advanced Propulsion Centre UK put on the event to pose some very poignant questions:

“What is the best solution to enable us to decarbonise our commercial vehicles? Can we move to the electrification of lorries, consider hydrogen powertrains, or look to other technological advances to increase vehicle efficiency? Or will drones and other futuristic delivery mechanisms replace the transportation system as we know it?” (4)

Having observed the Twitter feeds from The Advanced Propulsion Centre UK last week, there were some vibrant insights into the challenges the commercial haulage truck industry is facing.

David Thackray TEVVA (eTrucks and eTruck Technologies), discussed the urgency of need for change “We are so far behind the game it’s ridiculous”. He said “Let not make perfect the enemy of good. We need to use the technology available now to reduce emissions as soon as possible” (5)

Prof Rob Morgan, Professor of Thermal Propulsion Systems at The University of Brighton (Professor Morgan has over the past 10 years alongside Ricardo Plc & partners been developing the CryoPower engine, based on the split cycle diesel engine, spearheaded by Dolphin N2) fought the case for the internal combustion engine, saying it can stay relevant. He stated “We can solve the toxic emissions with combustion engines! If you take control of the chemistry, you can take control of emissions” (5)

However, there are those who still feel that entire electrification of the commercial truck sector is the only way forward. One attendee, Colin Garner – Loughborough University spoke about the challenges this form of transportation would entail & focused on the ability & cost of current battery tech. “A battery at today’s prices to match the payload of a Mercedes Actros 44 tonne truck would cost £468,412” “Some fundamental challenges for HGV’s – tailpipe emissions and battery charging ability, as well as net decarbonization of fuel and electricity. It really all comes down to physics, legislation, chemistry and economics” (5)

So, the questions are out there. How do we decarbonize the commercial haulage & truck sector & who is investing in the ground breaking technologies which are developed & ready to be used?

Dolphin N2 Split cycle diesel engine

Dolphin N2 have been spearheading their CryoPower spilt cycle diesel engine, which has the ability to recover the exhaust gas heat as part of the compression process. As the compression process is carried out isothermally, this significantly reduces the temperature rise during compression through the use of a small jet of liquid nitrogen being added at the crucial moment. The cooled, highly compressed charge, then passes through a heat exchanger & subsequently recovers the heat within the engine, recouping energy which would otherwise be lost to the atmosphere. The Dolphin N2 CryoPower split cycle diesel engine also offers up to 90% less out emissions. (6)

The recent report on BBC South East (22.03.19) (7) brought the CryoPower technology to the attention of the general public & the publicity is caused, has influenced & opened the minds of many viewers to the possibilities of this game changing technology. “Imagine a HGV lorry which runs on diesel, but rather than pollute the atmosphere, it actually produces exhaust gases that are cleaner than the air sucked in to the engine” (7) This was the opening statement made in the report on BBC South East, a claim which is supported by the research & technology developed by Ricardo Plc, the University of Brighton & now being brought to the commercial awareness of investors, by Dolphin N2.

“CryoPower is a game-changing, commercially & environmentally attractive technology, whose time really has come. The development of the conventional heavy-duty engine is reaching the point of diminishing returns with regard to fuel efficiency and CO2; to go significantly beyond the current state of the art requires a completely new approach. CryoPower offers and promises a step-change improvement in both fuel efficiency and operating fuel cost” Simon Brewster CEO Dolphin N2.

MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Hybrid battery & spark ignition

‘The concept involves using a plug-in hybrid engine system, in which the truck would be primarily powered by batteries, but with a spark ignition engine (instead of a diesel engine). That engine, which would allow the trucks to conveniently travel the same distances as today’s conventional diesel trucks, would be a flex-fuel model that could run on pure gasoline, pure alcohol, or blends of these fuels.’

‘While the ultimate goal would be to power trucks entirely with batteries, the researchers say, this flex-fuel hybrid option could provide a way for such trucks to gain early entry into the marketplace by overcoming concerns about limited range, cost, or the need for excessive battery weight to achieve longer range.’

“We’ve been working for a number of years on ways to make engines for cars and trucks cleaner and more efficient, and we’ve been particularly interested in what you can do with spark ignition [as opposed to the compression ignition used in diesels], because it’s intrinsically much cleaner,” MIT Energy Initiative and Plasma Fusion and Science Center research scientist Daniel Cohn. (8)

These two examples of practical solutions to the polluting HGV/commercial haulage truck emissions battle have been & continue to be developed as a realistic & commercially viable alternative to traditional diesel engines. Therefore, we still have to ask the question, why are these vehicles not already on our roads? The Co2 & NOx levels in our cities are already claiming, according to scientists, thousands of lives annually due to premature deaths caused by transport pollution. If ever there was a time to be investing in vehicles which can still ensure we have food & raw materials delivered in a timely & cost efficient manner; that time is now.

Written by Katy-Jane Mason on behalf of Dolphin N2

Tags:

#cleanfuels #co2 #CommercialHaulage #cryogenics #cryopower #diesel #emissions #ULEZ

How does the ULEZ charge affect commercial haulage vehicles?