EURO-6 AND EPA10: ANY LESSONS TO LEARN?
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Ryder, with its market-leading position in the US, already has experience of the closest thing to Euro-6: US trucks running at EPA10.
So what has Ryder learned about this cleaner engine technology and how can that experience help when dealing with UK customers as they grudgingly move to Euro-6?
Sanchez takes the lead: “EPA10, like EPA07 [similar to Euro-5], has meant higher cost – which no one likes: higher cost of purchase, higher complexity of the maintenance of the vehicle, and higher cost of the maintenance of the vehicle. Clearly those are negatives, except for the air that’s cleaner.
“Looking at EPA10, there was not a big pre-buy in 09 because of what was going on in the US economy: operators were more concerned about survival. Ryder committed to a number of EPA09 vehicles at the tail end of their development; and we were able to convert some customers to longer-term leases on pre-EPA10 vehicles. So we were able to leverage our assets, and delay our customers’ exposure to EPA10.
“We now have customers running at EPA10, and the good news is that the fuel efficiency on certain types of technology seems to be better than pre-EPA10, and we’ve got some customers that want out of their pre-EPA10 vehicles. But Euro-6 appears to be more of a cost, so we’ll be working with our customers to refleet before the changeover.” He adds that Ryder will also need to invest in training to ensure it can maintain Euro-6 trucks as well as it maintains pre-Euro-6 trucks. Hunt notes that the recession has forced operators into running trucks beyond their traditional operational life spans – from four years to five, and five years to six, and so on – and they have discovered that the trucks can be run for longer without increases in downtime and maintenance costs.
This learning and change of mindset needs to be carried over into Euro-6, he asserts. Yes, a Euro-6 truck will cost more up front, but run it for longer, and you ease that cost hike across a longer operational life span.
“Our experience in the US puts us in a unique position in the UK [to serve UK customers as they move to Euro-6],” Sanchez concludes.