IN THIS ISSUE April 2019 ❱ Last word: ❱ Axle weighing Scotland’s TC systems for vans speaks before and LCVs her retirement DRAINING RESOURCES Slick solutions for waste oil removal IN THIS ISSUE April 2019 Features ❱ Last word: ❱ Axle weighing Scotland’s TC systems for vans speaks before and LCVs her retirement COVER STORY: WORKSHOP 12 Draining resources Pits and lanes can both accommodate systems to safely collect used vehicle oils drained out of the vehicle sump, reports Richard Simpson Dealing with DEEEs 14 Following an update last year, workshops must meet more stringent air quality standards or risk prosecution, says Kevin Swallow DRAINING RESOURCES Slick solutions for waste oil removal Further hope for hydrogen 16 A new EU project could propel fuel cell buses back into the limelight. John Challen reports Regulars Emissions retrofi ts 5 Comment 19 Run non-compliant vehicles and need to operate in an ultra low emissions or clean air zone? The aftermarket may 7 News have some answers, but only really for the passenger and municipal sector, reports Richard Simpson • Depot trial begins of full-size autonomous bus • WABCO-ZF merger goes TRAFFIC COMMISSIONERS ahead 22 Interview • Highways Agency teams Scotland’s traffi c commissioner Joan Aitken OBE retired up with DVSA for CV in February after 15 years of service. Before leaving, she enforcement offers her views about the importance of community • Mercedes-Benz launches goodwill, local knowledge and respect for bodily functions pre-bodied trucks Going blue in the face • John Lewis pledges zero- 25 The law has clamped down on operators found to have fi tted carbon fl eet by 2045 AdBlue cheat devices on their vehicles, fi nds Steve Banner 39 Engineer to engineer • Ash Group reports View from the top £20,000/yr fuel savings after 29 As the IRTE technician Skills Challenge switch to Certas Energy returns to S&B Automotive Academy in June, • Silverstone doubles four-time winner William Scott, of Translink, investment with CV and car refl ects on the competition and his formative asset tracker software experiences in engineering CV Show preview 40 Technology update 31 Early show news is highlighted; a further update will be New two-page, single-topic provided in our next issue, out later this month section focuses on oils and lubricants; news from seven Van and LCV engineering: vehicle scales suppliers is included 36 Ignorance is no excuse for the drivers of overloaded vans. Dan Gilkes examines some technological solutions to this 42 Legal update small-scale problem April 2019 www.transportengineer.org.uk 3 Published by The Society of Operations Engineers President Howard Seymour CEng CEnv FSOE FIPlant FIRTE Fluid thinking Chief Executive Bruce McGill The Society of Operations Engineers is a licensed member of the Engineering Council. luids and gases are the common theme this month, from the Registered in England Company No 3667147 cover feature about spill-free oil changes (pp12-13) to a pair of Registered Charity F No 1081753 articles on exhaust emissions. The first of these (pp14-15) asks A Company Limited by Guarantee Registered Office whether workshop managers are aware that exposure limits to 22 Greencoat Place, London SW1P 1PR Tel: 020 7630 1111 exhaust constituents were lowered last year; as a result they may Fax: 020 7630 6677 Email: [email protected] www.soe.org.uk need to invest in local exhaust ventilation, or at least open the doors. Editor Will Dalrymple The second (pp16-17) considers ways to mitigate emissions on older Email: [email protected] Contributing Editors buses and coaches, as the London ULEZ – potentially the first of many Steve Banner, John Challen, Toby Clark, Laura Cork, Dan Gilkes, in cities across the UK – launches this month. Peter Shakespeare, Richard Simpson, Kevin Swallow, Chris Tindall We move on to consider the absence of exhaust in the next Art Editor Chris Charles feature: it profiles vehicles in a hydrogen fuel cell project, whose only Production Manager Nicki McKenna Email: [email protected] combustion products are water vapour (pp19-20). Advertisement Manager Craig Molloy Next up is a pair of articles relating to our traffic commissioners. Email: [email protected] Tel: 01322 221144 Among them, a recent topic of concern is AdBlue defeat devices. Publisher Jon Benson Profiled on pp25-26, these illegal retrofits disable the emissions Transport Engineer is the official journal of the IRTE, system and its urea tank as well. Immediately before that article, a professional sector of the SOE. Produced on behalf of the IRTE by though, is an interview with Scotland’s long-serving traffic MA Business Hawley Mill, Hawley Road, commissioner, Joan Aitken, who speaks passionately about her years Dartford, Kent DA2 7TJ Tel: 01322 221144 www.transportengineer.org.uk of service, just before retiring in February (pp22-23). Transport Engineer She contends that one of the wider social issues that the industry is distributed free of charge to SOE members, dependent on membership sector. For non-members, the annual subscription rate struggles against, and which puts off potential female drivers, is the (12 issues) is £79.50 UK and EU, or £81.50 airmail outside EU. For other SOE members, decay and closure of decent public toilets. We used to be grown up the discounted rate is £32. Origination by about the need to properly manage bodily functions, she argues; CC Media Group Printed by what has happened since? Pensord Press UK ISSN 0020-3122 • Apologies to Volvo for getting its retarder offering completely wrong in last month’s cover feature (pp10-12). A full correction is in news, p10, but, put simply, the OEM offers not only an exhaust brake Some of the articles and guidance included in and gearbox-mounted retarder, but also its VEB engine brake. Transport Engineer may make a contribution to your personal CPD requirements. Please read our privacy policy, by visiting http://privacypolicy.markallengroup.com. This will explain how we process, use and safeguard your data. Views expressed in Transport Engineer are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Society of Operations Engineers or of MA Business. © 2019 The Society of Operations Engineers Will Dalrymple Editor April 2019 www.transportengineer.org.uk 5 See us on Stand See us on Stand 4C96 at C66 at NEWS DESK Ä DAF Trucks has announced that its LF Sweeper chassis, in partnership with Johnston Sweepers, is now available with ZF’s 12-speed AS Tronic transmission. The new gearbox option, offering a spread from 10.37:1 to 0.81:1, is said to bridge a gap between Allison’s existing manual and fully automatic transmission options. FORS has announced that ND Brown has become the fi rst commercial vehicle hire fl eet in the UK to achieve FORS Vehicle Hire Company accreditation. This new trial arrangement requires that vehicle hire which are not FORS members must prove their vehicles are equipped with FORS safety equipment and are maintained and managed to FORS requirements. The European Commission has agreed new rules to step up UK depot trial begins the deployment of digital connectivity – or Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) – on Europe’s roads. The new technology of autonomous bus will allow vehicles to talk to each other (V2V), to the road infrastructure (V2I), and to other road users (V2X) – for example, A trial is underway of the UK’s fi rst full-sized autonomous bus at the Sharston, about dangerous situations ahead, roadworks and the timing of Manchester depot of Stagecoach. traffi c lights. The 11.5m single-deck Enviro200, built by Alexander Dennis (ADL), is equipped with CAVstar control and sensor technology from Fusion Processing. Northern Irish business SDC Truck & Trailer Parts has its fi rst The fi rst public demonstration was held on 18 March, and was attended by the branch in England, in Warrington. The company, a subsidiary chief executives of the partner organisations ADL, Stagecoach and Fusion. of SDC Trailers, says the new branch is in response to growing CAVstar uses multiple sensor types including radar, LIDAR, optical cameras demand, and follows three other branch openings last year in and ultrasound, along with satellite navigation to detect and avoid objects in all Omagh, Cork and New Ross. weathers, day and night, and to plan an optimum path for the vehicle. The software being used in this pilot vehicle also forms the basis for a major trial Van rental business Eastgate Commercial has recovered due to start in 2020, when a fl eet of fi ve autonomous buses will run with passengers a stolen Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, despite its tracking system between Fife and Edinburgh (www.is.gd/cepubo). being ripped out, thanks to the vehicle’s Mercedes PRO connect The vehicles in both trials will be used autonomously to Level 4, which means system. When criminals broke into one of its Sprinters recently, that a safety driver must remain on board, in line with UK regulations. they removed the tracking equipment. Gary Bridge, branch “Stagecoach was the original transport disruptor, trying new things and sales manager of dealer Cicely Commercials’ Bolton branch and breaking new ground, and that has never changed. This is an exciting project to service colleagues used the system to track the van to a yard in trial autonomous technology on a full-sized bus for the fi rst time in the UK,” said Leeds. They informed the police and the vehicle was recovered 20 Stagecoach chief executive Martin Griffi ths. minutes later. Jim Hutchinson, CEO of Fusion Processing, said the trial “offers a glimpse of how future bus depots can be automated for improved safety and effi ciency”.