Green VED rebates will tempt operators
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• by Colin Barnett In a Budget largely free of pleasant surprises, one of the Few pieces of good news was the doubling of the promised vehicle excise duty rebate for environmentally friendly goods vehicles, to 21,000.
The equipment needed to obtain the rebate on trucks of 7.5 tomes and above currently costs 23,000-3,500, so the increased rebate means many more operators can now justify the outlay within their fleets' service life.
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Two categories of vehicle qualify for the rebate: vehicles powered by gas, and diesels fitted With an approved continuously regenerating particulate trap (CRT) and running on ultra-lowsulphur diesel. (Confusingly, CRT is a registered trademark of Eminox/Johnson Matthey, but is also used by the Government as a generic term.) Approved vehicles qualify for a Certificate of Reduced Emissions, issued by Vocal Goods Vehicle Test Stations. With this certificate operators can apply for their VED rebates.
However, the requirement to use LIS diesel will soon be irrelevant, as non-ULS diesel will effectively cease to exist after late 1999.
Qualifying vehicles will be entitled to the £1,000 rebate, but they will all be subject to a minimum VED rate of 2,155 (the rate for cars and vans up to 3.5 tonnes), This means the goods vehicles which will benefit least From the rebate are those up to 12 tomes GVW, which includes most trucks working in urban locations where emission reductions are most needed.
It is therefore questionable whether the rebate is targeting the areas of maximum potential benefit. Few urban operators are likely to add another 10% or so to their capital outlay to gain an annual saving of 25 (on a 7.5tomer) or 2145 (on a 12-tanner). Another system rewarding operators of smaller environmentally friendly trucks needs to be devised to address this shortcoming.
Suppliers At the time of writing CMknows of only two suppliers of CRTs, but the number is expected to rise soon. Both of the current devices are made by established exhaust manufacturers in conjunction with specialist suppliers of catalyst technology
Eminox collaborates with Johnson Matthey; the relative newcomer to this market is Wasey, which produces the DPX soot filter in partnership with Engelhard. Both products are two-stage devices, with a catalytic converter to reduce carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon levels, followed by a filter which traps most particulates, or soot, before burning it off to produce carbon dioxide and water when temperatures inside the unit are high enough.
Provision is made for the small amount of unburned soot to be removed manually, but Wasey says that this takes only a few minutes once a year.
The Eminox CRT system costs about 23,500; the Engelhard/Wasey pairing claims to be able to reduce this by another 1500. As production and competition increase, market forces are likely to reduce these costs even further.