GreenFleet

Information from the organisers confirms the success of the recent CV Show and ATS at the NEC in late April. A survey of all 672 exhibitors, itself a record number, found some 90 per cent said the three-day event was a commercial success.
    
Nearly 90 per cent were happy with the event, with a similar number very pleased with the all-important visitor quality score and footfall around their stands. They also said they preferred a three-day format.
    
"This is excellent news and confirms our own belief that the show was an outstanding success," said Tony Young, exhibition manager. "And we've already had a record number of exhibitors asking about space at next year's event. This is not surprising as independent data just released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations shows that we had a record 30,376 visitors this year."

Show highlights
The energy saving hybrid technology for light vans launched at the show by Connaught Engineering proved to be a great success with the company reporting firm orders and unprecedented levels of interest from large national and international companies as well as small fleets operating throughout the UK.
    
Connaught Engineering, based in South Wales, will increase production of the HYBRID+ units by 20 per cent to take account of the demand created at the show.
    
The Connaught HYBRID+ delivers significant fuel savings and an equivalent percentage reduction in CO2 emissions.
    
Dennis Eagle re-enforced what its brand core values stand for: the company’s green credentials as well as its role as a one-stop RCV total solutions supplier.
    
In order to emphasise the company’s prominence within the recycling sector, Denis Eagle has adopted the promotional platform: ‘A Cleaner Today For A Greener Tomorrow’. To support the theme, Dennis Eagle showed on its stand the dual compartment 50/50 Twin Pack, a general compaction favourite amongst both private and public sector operators, and the Phoenix P2-17 body option, fitted the highly-acclaimed Elite 2 chassis.
    
Eminox showcased the latest exhaust conversions developed for Euro 4 & 5 trucks. This range of specialist exhaust systems has been developed to reposition and rehouse the manufacturer’s exhaust after-treatment system, retaining its emissions reduction capability
    
The new list of available conversions, due for official release in May, includes Scania, Volvo, DAF, MAN and Renault trucks. As Eminox continues to develop its conversion technology, more options will be included in future lists, which will be issued three times a year.
    
Commenting on the technological achievements, Mike Galey, director of Marketing at Eminox, said: “Eminox has for many years been the UK market leader in exhaust conversions. As new Euro 4 & 5 vehicles were launched, many people thought that exhaust conversions might be impossible. However, using our emissions experience, we are able to provide the traditional benefits of an exhaust conversion without affecting emissions performance.”
     
Eminox’s exhaust engineering knowledge means systems are designed for optimum gas flow and noise reduction and are individually calibrated to meet the manufacturer’s back-pressure guidelines.

Birthday celebration
Modec celebrated its first birthday in style at the CV Show. With one year in production and over 100 vehicles manufactured, Modec's customers include Tesco, UPS, Center Parcs, Network Rail and Speedy Hire. Demand is growing rapidly; the London dealer network is set up and international expansion is well under way.
    
Two new initiatives announced by LDV Group at the show are set to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of the company’s MAXUS range of light commercial vehicles.
    
The company’s chief executive, Evgeniy Vereshchagin, announced the initiatives: “Our responsibility as a manufacturer is to look to the future and in particular the effects carbon emissions and vehicle pollutants are having on the environment as a result of the whole life of our range of light commercial vehicles.
    
“I am delighted to announced that LDV Group is one of a consortium of British companies led by motorsport specialist, Prodrive, which have joined forces to develop a DC-DC converter for use in automotive hybrid and electric vehicles. The converter will be more efficient, smaller and lower in cost than those currently available. The vehicles will recycle energy lost during the braking process through an electronic motor, which can then be used later.
    
“The second initiative will see LDV Group work with RVL in the development of an electric powered version of MAXUS, which will be available as early as June of this year.”
    
Everyone has their own idea of how improvements to the environment can be made and telematics experts RTL launched a system that evaluates and proves these methods. The system calculates the amount of CO2 over a given period or mileage and links it to RTL’s Driver and Vehicle Performance Monitoring product.
    
The small device connects to the Data Bus of the vehicle so that fuel consumption is accurately measured, then calculates CO2 emissions. The data can be collated by depot, by vehicle, by haulage contract, or from the whole fleet.
    
Smith Electric Vehicles unveiled a new version of its Edison pure electric van with a leading edge Iron Phosphate lithium-ion battery pack, along with significant improvements to the vehicle’s interior console.
    
The new Iron phosphate lithium-ion battery comes in much smaller unit size, so it can be packaged much more intelligently around the Transit chassis. This means there is no loss of carrying space and the floor is completely flat. The lithium-ion battery also does not require heat charging and is more robust than sodium nickel chloride, offering a longer life and making it more receptive to fast charging.
    
Darren Kell, chief executive of The Tanfield Group Plc, which owns Smith Electric Vehicles, said: “For the first time, this new battery technology gives Edison complete parity with the conventional Transit when it comes to cubic carrying capacity.
    
“This brings us another step closer to offering a pure electric vehicle that has the same operating capabilities as a regular van, but with the added bonus of zero emissions and significant whole life cost savings.”

Lean haulage industry
Business developer GreaterThan held a seminar exploring the opportunities that lie in reducing waste in the road haulage industry. A series of high profile speakers will respond to the findings that the average waste in the road haulage industry is 14 per cent. Most of it goes out as exhaust fumes.
    
Chaired by the Mr Christopher Macgowan, the seminar explored the opportunities that may lie in reducing CO2 emissions.
    
A panel consisting of Ms Rebecca Jenkins, known expert within the industry, Mr Steven Norris, and Ms Maria Jobenius, director of truck manufacturer Scania, addressed the issues from different angles.
    
“We would like to see if there is a common ground between policymakers, manufacturers and hauliers”, explained Hugh Brown who presented data from two million driver hours performed by GreaterThan’s customers in Scandinavia and the Benelux.
    
Hugh Brown, CEO of GreaterThan UK, said: “Our data shows there is an average waste of 14 per cent in the industry. A waste measured against best practise standard not to an ideal situation – it is curable in reality as well. There is a huge potential in this, for the haulier, for customers and for the environment.”

Next year's CV Show and ATS at the NEC is scheduled to run from Tuesday 24th to Thursday 26th April.