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Specifying a Euro-2 engine for your next truck could increase its purchase price by 0,000—but within two years every new vehicle will have to meet this emissions limit. We compare the Euro-2 options, and find out who's charging what.
'Ire idea that transport operators will stump up an extra £2,000 for a feature the law does not require, and which offers few proven benefits, might seem a nonstarter. But several companies are willing to do just that, says Leyland Daf marketing manager Tony Pain, and they're not all high profile outfits seeking to project a save-therainforests green image.
"It's been a slow start, and small numbers. but some of the supermarkets are taking them," says Pain. "Safeway is taking a few, for example, as are one or two county councils. The parcels companies, UPS, for instance, are interested too."
Their motives are mixed, he believes. Several major firms are influenced by environmental considerations. Some parcels companies might take the view that positioning themselves as the green overnight carrier will help differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack For the supermarkets green equals clean.
Other operators simply want to see how Euro-2-powered vehicles will perform against their Euro-1 (or pre-Euro-1) stablernates. Pain believes they could be in for a pleasant surprise. "Operators who have already gone for Euro-2 on high-powered engines are finding that there is a fuel consumption benefit," he says. But he admits that this improvement does not extend to mid-range engines, while the fuel consumption of lower-powered engines may actually increase.
Residual values
Pain does not buy the argument that Euro.2 trucks will enjoy healthier residual values and most other manufacturers would agree.
One haulage executive observes: "Let's face it, the majority of general hauliers who buy these trucks secondhand couldn't give a monkey's whether it's Euro-1, Euro-2 or Eurowhatever. All they care about is how much it's going to cost to buy, how much it's going to cost to run, and if it's going to be reliable."
When Euro-2 comes into force in October 1996 it will require manufacturers to reduce carbon monoxide (CO) emissions to 4.0 g/kWh; oxides of nitrogen (NO)) emissions to 7.0 g/kWh; and particulate matter (PM) emissions to 0.15 g/kWh. The hydrocarbon (HC) limit will remain at the Euro-1 level of 1.1g/kWh, but this is likely to fall to 0.6 g/kWh when Euro-3 comes into force.
That may be in October 1999: the date, and final emission figures, have yet to be finalised, Leyland Daf has had Euro.2 engines available since October 1993, says Pain. Meeting the standard so early was designed to satisfy domestic demand in the Netherlands, to help Daf make inroads into the environmentally obsessed German market—and to prove a point: "So many people had said that we wouldn't be able to afford to meet Euro-2 that we had to prove them wrong," he explains.
UK operators who specify a Euro-2 engine on a Leyland Daf will have to find an extra £2,135. It's an option on all models, but not at all power ratings. The current choice for Euro-2 is: 45 Series, 160hp; 50 Series, 160hp; 60 Series, 210hp; 65 Series, 210hp; 75 Series, 240hp, 270hp and 330hp; 85 Series, 330hp and 360hp; 95 Series, 360hp, 400hp and 430hp. The other Euro-2 engine in the range is the 500hp Cummins N500E CELECT 14litre straight-six which was introduced in the Daf 95 Super Space Cab earlier this year.
Possibly prompted by pressure from its domestic market, Mercedes-Benz has also come to Euro-2 early. A £240m development programme has bought it a full range of charge-cooled Euro.2 engines.
Changes to the 300-Series engine used in the T2 van, light trucks, and the Unimog include a new injection pump and camshaft; a newly shaped piston recess; and a wastegate to cut boost pressures at higher engine speeds and outputs.
The heavier Mercedes are powered by various derivatives of the 400-Series engine; they too benefit from a new injection pump.
Euro-2 versions of T2 and LN2 are now on sale in the UK, for a price premium of £600 and £1,000 respectively. It will progressively be introduced as an option on the rest of the range from the start of next year at a cost of £1,500 for 17-tonners and multi-wheelers, or £2,000 for tractive units. Euro-2 will become standard across the Mercedes range from the start of 1996.
Tipper equivalents
MAN has also started down the Euro-2 road: since May L2000 models have been on offer with a Euro.2 four-cylinder D0824 engine rated at 160bhp. Meeting Euro-2 on your 7.163F (6/7 tonnes), 8.163F (7.5 tonnes), and 10.163F (10 tonnes)—or their tipper equivalents—will cost you £1,200 more than the 155hp Euro-1 model.
The six-cylinder D0826 has been marketed since last May in the 7.5-tonne 8.244F and the 10-tonne 10.224F: it is only available in Euro-2 guise.
All M90 and F90 models are now available with optional Euro-2 power packs, which were launched at the RAI show earlier this year. The Euro-2 D0286 engine at 230hp will set you back an extra £1,200, says MAN. For a premium of £3,070 you can have Euro-2 on the D2865 at 340hp (up from 320hp), or on the D2866 at 400hp (up from 370hp).
When the F2000s go on sale here next year they will be marketed with Euro-1 and Euro2 power: once again, the greener you go the more you pay: "People are not really looking for Euro-2 at the moment," says MAN Truck & Bus UK marketing manager Euan Harron. "There is no incentive whatsoever to choose it as an option."
Volvo is offering Euro-2 on the FH12 at 340hp, 380hp, and 420hp; and on the 520hp FH16, for an extra £2,000. The latest version of its 7.0-litre engine, to be announced at the Hanover show, is only available at Euro-2. However the 6.0 and 10.0-litre engines in the FL6 and FL10 are Euro-1 only.
Iveco Ford Truck is trotting along some way behind its rivals in the Euro-2 stakes: its E14, E15, E18, E42 and E52 engines will cross the line in December, This will make Euro-2 an option on the EuroCargo, SuperCargo, and the lower reaches of the EuroTech and EuroStar ranges. A phased introduction for the rest of the range is planned for 1995. "The 520hp engine in EuroStar is Euro.2 anyway," says the company. "It will be in the UK at the start of next year."
There will be a price premium, IFT has not yet come up with a figure, but past experience would suggest a price in line with, or slightly below, Leyland Daf's. Renault and Scania are at the back of the field. Euro-2 models from Renault are not expected in the UK until the third quarter of 1995; it will then be optional first on the 12litre engine in the Magnum, then on the 62litre that powers the Major and Midliner. Renault does not expect demand to be high: its Euro-2 premium will be "in four figures".
Scania is equally sceptical about UK operators queueing up to pay for Euro-2. In the rest of Western Europe, the 250hp DSC9.09, 380hp DSC11.70, 400hp DTC11,02 and 500hp DSC14.16 engines are all supplied to Euro-2 standards. The turbocompound DTC11.02 is not available in the UK.
Product marketing manager David Burke explains: To date in the UK, and with the odd exception—ie The Body Shop—we have not been asked for vehicles built to these new emission standards; we would only quote prices if we had an inquiry.
"Unless demand increases significantly in the coming months we will probably adopt the same marketing policy as we did for Euro-1: standardising the cleaner engines some 12 months prior to the legislative deadline!'
ERF, Foden, and Seddon Atkinson all depend on Cummins and Perkins for their Eu r o -2 programmes. None of them is quoting definite availability dates or prices but Seddon Atkinson plans to start fitting Euro-2 units during the second quarter of 1995.
Perkins has yet to announce its Euro-2 range, but Cummins will hit the standard engines at Hanover with 24 ratings across four engine families. These are the 4.0 and 6.0-litre B Series; the 8.3-litre C Series; the new 11-litre M Series; and the 14-litre N Series. All models have air-to-air chargecooling; the M and N Series models have CELECT and articulated pistons.
Some of these Euro-2 engines offer hefty torque increases. At least one UK assem bler has pointed out that in some circumstances uprated gearboxes, axles, and propshafts may have to be fitted to handle the extra output, which will push up prices.
All the prices quoted are list—operators are unlikely to face quite that level of financial penalty in practice.
Fl by Steve Banner