1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202 
Four legs good
Page 9
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Brian Weatherley considers the row between truck manufacturers over who has the best kit for Euro-4 and Euro-5 and asks: "Am I bovvered?"
I've been feeling a little like Lord Palmerston lately. While pondering the interminable SCR vs EGR debate, I was reminded of the late Prime Minister's famous quote about the legendary Schleswig-Holstein question: Only three people understood it," declared the noble lord. "The first was Albert, the Prince consort and he is dead; the second was a German professor, and he is in an asylum: and the third was myself—and I have forgotten it."
Actually there was probably a fourth... who couldn't be arsed.
Likewise, after all the sniping between the various manufacturers, I'm sure there are thousands of UK operators who remain none the wiser as to the answer to the best route to Euro-4 and Euro-5.
Of course, with an annual market of 55,000 trucks above 3.5 tonnes to play for, we shouldn't be surprised by the intensity of the debate. But we are missing robust, independent data on what's at the heart of the matter: fuel consumption.
Next month Commercial Motor plans to provide some definitive answers with a 1,000-mile Euro-4 tractor shoot-out. But don't be surprised if the gap between the first and the last is no bigger than a fag paper... which would actually be good news in itself.
Ironically for Furo-6 and the US equivalent EPA (due in 2012 and 2010 respectively), the truck manufacturers are already talking about combining both technologies to meet the even tougher emissions targets. I can't wait to see how they explain that one. But if the world's diesel engine designers do adopt a combined EGR/SCR approach, prepared to hear the automotive equivalent of the famous chorus from the sheep in George Orwell's Animal Farm: "Four legs good... two legs better."
• Don't forget to visit Brian Weatherley's very own Biglorryblog at WWW.bizbuzzmedia.cam or www.tnn.co.uk