New rules for green fundin
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by Colin Barnett • Powershift, the Governmentsponsored Energy Savings Trust initiative, has revised the way it provides funding to operators of alternative fuelled vehicles. The previous fiat-rate grant represented 50% of the difference between the cost of a petrol or diesel vehicle and its "green" equivalent (which Powershift calls a clean fuel vehicle, or CFV); now, a new banding system based on the level of emissions will be used.
Once suppliers have reached a certain level of financial security and creditworthiness, the band
ing criterion used is the level of nitrogen oxides (NOx) produced in comparison to Euro-2 levels.
So far 21 passenger and commercial vehicles have made it into Band 3 of the Powershift register. All are powered by gaseous fuels such as compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Many others are in the late stages of approval.
Although Euro-3 emissions regulations (due in three years' time) are likely to enforce a 30% reduction in NOx, and off-theshelf Euro-3 diesel engines are likely to be available long before 2001 from manufacturers such as Iveco, the Energy Savings Trust's support for cleaner conventional engines will be moral rather than financial.
In any case, the benchmark will change to Euro-3 once the final specification is confirmed.