The hot topic in the HGV world at the moment is the impact of impending legislation in the form of Euro 6 emissions limits which come into force next January.
These new incredibly stringent requirements necessitate major re-designs by truck manufacturers, brought about by the increased cooling requirements demanded by new combustion and exhaust treatment technologies.
Truck exhausts have evolved from a basic silencer to a 'chemical plant' bolted to a chassis that removes virtually all the particulates (PM10) and NOX before they enter the atmosphere.
It could be said that in some cities the air exiting a Euro 6 truck via the exhaust can be cleaner than that entering the air filter!
This technology is complex and expensive, and HGV transaction prices will inevitably rise, as will chassis unladen weight in many cases. Component packaging will also be a challenge for suppliers of specialist body equipment such as car transporters, fuel tankers or road sweepers etc where significant clear chassis space is required, much of which will be taken up by large exhaust componentry.
What is unknown at present is the scale of these price increases. Other unknowns include the impact on fuel consumption, and what additional operational costs there will be around the replacement of particulate traps.
The expected impact on the 2013 new HGV market hasn’t happened so far. Most manufacturers anticipated that operators would accelerate fleet replacement programmes by ordering Euro 5 models in order to avoid the implications of Euro 6. New registrations this year to date show that this has not been the case. We are fast approaching the time when manufacturers will not be able to build Euro 5 trucks before the production cut-off later this year, so it is unlikely that we will see a vast improvement in new registrations.
The upside to the situation is that demand for used Euro 5 trucks is likely to remain relatively high for the next two or three years as operators continue to avoid potential increased costs, which will help to stabilise used values.
John Watts - Red Book Senior Editor
john.watts@cap.co.uk
