News that attempts to retro-fit emission reduction equipment on London buses and taxis have failed introduces a fatal flaw in Transport for London's Low Emission Zone (LEZ). The Freight Transport Association says it is now very clear that the LEZ scheme should be based on the increasing quality and efficiency of newer engines rather than trying to change the engineering of existing ones, which does not work.
The failure of retro-fit equipment on lorries was revealed at FTA's London Freight Summit held in March. Numerous companies operating goods vehicles in the capital told Transport for London that, whilst new exhausts on old lorries seemed to reduce emissions reasonably well on trunking and longer journeys, they failed in the constant stop and start nature of urban operation because of lower operating temperatures.
That experience seems to have been replicated in the recent past by reports relating to difficulties retrofitting new exhausts to both buses and taxis, which have resulted in massive increases in oxides of nitrogen.
FTA Chief Executive Richard Turner says that it is very hard to improve the manufacturer's specified performance of an engine by changing just one component - in this case the exhaust system. 'The recent evidence confirms what lorry engineers have known for a long time. The retro-fit option for older engines simply does not exist and the scheme fails on that basis - it is fatally flawed. A programme for the LEZ based on progressively excluding older vehicles, perhaps those more than seven or eight years old, would be more effective in reducing emissions and would provide lorry operators with the opportunity for an orderly replacement of very expensive equipment. It would also be far easier to enforce.
'FTA is anxious to achieve improvements in air quality in London. But lorries are responsible for only 20 per cent of the offending emissions and that figure is reducing every year as engine quality increases. TfL must design an LEZ scheme which recognises the reality of improved technology and acknowledges the practical needs of the commercial vehicle fleet which serves London industry and residents. All of the evidence suggests that the scheme as presently designed does not.'
A copy of FTA's submission to Transport for London on the Low Emission Zone is available on the FTA website www.fta.co.uk
For further information call:
Richard Turner
Chief Executive
dtel: 01892 552281
mob: 07818 450450
Gordon Telling
Head of Policy - London, South East & East of England
dtel: 01892 552205
mob: 07985 887374
Geoff Day
Head of Vehicle Engineering Policy
dtel: 01892 552271
mob: 07818 450523#