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 
IN SEARCH OF,,
Page 38
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
THE
With SCR and AdBlue now well established factors in road transport, Colin Barnett reviews the supply situation of this vital liquid.
year ago the nation's truck operators were preparing for the brave new world of Euro-4 emissions:For 75% At hem this meant SCR systems— which rely AdBlue.
The first of our annual AdBlue surveys 25 January 2007) revealed varying Jegrees of readiness in roadside facilities and .ruck dealerships.Twelve months on we've repeated the exercise with the same dealers, :epresenting the leading manufacturers tround Newport,Felixstowe andTyneside.
iupply and demand While all MAN and most Scania products sold ti the UK don't need AdBlue for their FOR ,..ngines, we would expect a small demand from :oreign operators and those running other rtarques. Scania takes an enlightened view, vith two of its dealers offering 10-litre packs ind Truck East in Felixstowe saying that most of its customers are large operators with their own supply sorted out.
However all three MAN dealers took the same"don't stock ii because MANs don't use it" line. MAN UK's policy is that it will stock AdBlue when it sees a demand.
Other than MAN and Scania, the number of dealers not offering bulk supplies is down from eight to three: Iveco and Renault in South Wales, and Renault in Felixstowe.
None of the dealers who sold bulk supplies last year has increased its price, and two Daf dealers have actually reduced theirs. The Ipswich dealer, Chassis-CabTruck Centre, gives Daf operators a 6p/lit discount, apparently at the manufacturer's request. It was in Ipswich that we found the best price, 29p/lit at Iveco's NorfolkTrucks.
Many dealers told us they encourage operators to fill their own carry-out containers from the bulk tanks. We haven't bothered quoting prices for five-litre containers as hardly anyone sells them.The most popular retail pack size is 10 litres, with a few at 18 litres (within the manual handling limit of 20kg), and one at 25 litres.
Price spectrum The wooden spoon goes to Mere dealer Euro Commercials in Cardiff, which wants a Maybach-like £15 for 10 litres.The best bargain when it comes to retail packs is offered by the Volvo dealers in Newport and Washington, which charge 58p/lit— only the Felixstowe dealer spoils the story with a tag of £1.05/lit.
Overall prices have fallen in the past 12 months with bulk prices down from 39 to 37p/lit and retail packs down from 82 to 81p/lit. This trend is unlikely to continue in 2008 (see Greenchem panel), but the good news is that availability has improved significantly. •