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Tax edge for diesel vans

28th October 1977
Page 32
Page 32, 28th October 1977 — Tax edge for diesel vans
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

FERENT rates of road tax freight vehicles up to 11/2 s unladen weight which our diesel engines in ference to petrol engines advocated in the latest ort of the Advisory Council Energy Conservation.

he introduction of erential rates would, says report, give impetus to a posed campaign to 'flight the cost advantages iesel vans for various kinds iperations.

it COSt Ile diesel van" says the, art, "has a better fuel 'ormance of 30 to 40 per t in urban use; the ntenance costs are also er. The first cost of the el van is, however, higher the case of vehicles up to tons gross weight (or PA unladen weight) by about 1/£400 at current prices." it the report points out . a suitable light diesel me is not, at present, luced in sufficient ntity in this country, igh such engines are luced in France and nany. -ging steps to be taken to d up production of dieselered light vans of 31/2 tons s weight or less, the report ts out that around a half of freight vehicle mileage is 3y light vans of under 31/2 and that substantial fuel igs could be made if, say, a of the one million light now powered by petrol les were, on replacement, .red by diesel engines.

!ial adviser

e report, dealing with t and medium term iderations for freight port, was compiled by a 1 but well-qualified nittee under the -manship of Harold rn, special adviser to the 'man of the National ht Corporation. ealistic report, it comes firmly against the idea that policy decisions about freight transport would be likely to lead to significant savings of energy in the short term. Indeed, the committee, accepting Department of the Environment estimates that freight transport movements are likely to grow by 30 per cent over the next 10 years or so, say boldly, that, at best, "it must be* expected that there will be some increase in the total energy requirements for freight transport over the next 10/20 years." That is not to say that freight transport managers can do nothing to contribute to energy savings. The committee see technical improvements in vehicle, engine and traction equipment design leading to an improvement in the fuel consumption of heavier diesel-engined lorries of up to 15 per cent, within the comparatively near future. Such vehicles would not be fully operational for at least 10 to 15 years, however. Although an increase to 38 tons on five-axles would yield fuel economies of 10/20 per cent in comparison with a 32ton vehicle and there would be no greater damage to roads, the report says that, in the case of bridges, damage is influenced by gross vehicle weight rather than by the axle -load. _ The report argues it is unlikely that there will be significant energy savings in the short or medium term from any switch of freight traffic between modes of transport. In the medium to longer term, however, there could be energy savings in a road to rail switch, given changes in the general pattern of freight movement and distribution arrangements. But this would require the. rail operations to have a good energy productivity and it is stressed that, at present, rail energy consumption figures are adversely affected by the high tare weight of the wagons plus the weight of the locomotive. "Thus, the payload of a coal train rarely exceeds 60 per cent of the gross weight of the train and this is about the highest ratio encountered. For wagonload trains, the payload may be as low as 30 per cent of the gross train weight . . . With the increasing importance of energy conservation, a fresh effort to reduce tare weights might be productive."

Expenditure up

In 1966, the total consumption of hydro carbon oils in UK freight operations was 6 million tons. This had increased to 8 million tons by 1976. In 1974 — no later estimate is available — users' expenditure on inland freight transport was estimated at £8,050 million of which £7,750 million was on road freight. Expressed in ton miles per gallon — a more meaningful term than the alternative megajoules per payload ton kilometre — container haulage is within the range Of 49-126; movement of semifinished goods and finished good,s and finished goods, 35132 and for bulk chemical/oil tanker movements, 56-115. In some essential road transport operations with poor loads and/or empty mileage involved, the ton miles per gallon are below 20. In the 10 years between 1964 and 1974, the volume of freight traffic carried by all modes of transport increased by 17 per cent if measured in ton miles, but measured in tons carried, it declined by three per cent. Traffic carried by road, in terms of ton miles, grew proportionately in this period. Professional road hauliers' carryings increased by nearly 60 per cent in terms of ton miles, compared with an increase of only 11 per cent for own-account fleets.

The report brings outsthe many difficulties in comparing relative fuel economies between transport modes. There were no figures directly comparable between road and rail freight, for example. The "overhead" energy consumption in the construction of vehicles, tracks and buildings and for the maintenance of this capital stock awaits further investigation.

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