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
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192 
The surge in demand for new trucK.s is expected to
Page 62
Page 63
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
end this autumn when new rules on buying and running vehicles tax-efficiently come into force. Guy Sheppard reports.
Despite intense lobbying, Chancellor Gordon Brown refused to include any incentives for Euro-4 trucks in last month's Budget.
The Freight Transport Association, the Road Haulage Association and the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) all argued that without a tax break operators would not be queueing up to pay a premium for the privilege of investing in low-emission technology.
But no concessions were forthcoming on capital allowances, which would have allowed the cost of capital assets to be written off against a business's taxable profits Instead, the Chancellor merely 'promised to consider' incentivising early uptake of Euro-5 technology ahead of the formal European Union requirement for introducing it in three years' time.
His attitude is expected to have a significant impact on sales of new trucks. This is partly because Reduced Pollution Certificates (RPCs), which cut green vehicles' VED bill by up to £500 a year, will be scrapped in October when all newly registered vehicles will have to meet Euro-4 anyway.
However, any operator with a vehicle which qualifies for an RPC before October will retain this benefit throughout the vehicle's life. The scheme will also remain open to operators who fit the necessary technology to vehicles registered before October 2006.
Karen Dee, policy director at the RHA, claims the effect of all this will be to encourage hauliers either to keep their existing vehicles or to buy second-hand rather than investing in trucks that meet Euro-4 or Euro-5.
"There was no reason not to ineentivise Second time around, I block changed twice from 2E1 to 6H using power rather than torque, took my foot off the accelerator sooner and looked further ahead than I normally would. The moral is: prepare rather than react.
Perhaps the most important lesson I learned from the ProfiTraining course was the cost of unnecessary acceleration. Mercedes' figures show that powering up from 40 to 50mph between two sets of roadworks a kilometre apart wastes 0.2lit of diesel.
Repeat that mistake hundreds of times in a journey and your fuel bonus is out of the window. •