Low Emission Zone * UK - LEZ-affected operators offered further manufacturer discounts

London,EN,UK -Transport Engineer, by John Challen -9 May 2011: -- Mayor of London Boris Johnson has announced that more major vehicle manufacturers have signed up to offer discounts for drivers of vehicles set to be affected by changes to the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) next year...  Renault and Fiat have pledged to provide the owners of around 72,000 larger vans and minibuses that will need to take action to avoid fines, more affordable ways to buy new, cleaner vehicles. This will enable them to avoid daily charges when changes to the LEZ come into effect in January 2012...  DAF has also come forward and offered to provide the owners of HGVs a discount towards the purchase of new, cleaner vehicles. Around 75,000 owners of HGVs buses and coaches will have to take action to meet tighter LEZ standards...  These companies join existing deals from Ashwoods, Citroën, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Peugeot and Volkswagen announced by the Mayor last month...  Owners of larger vans and minibuses who do not meet the required emissions standards by 3 January 2012, and who drive within Greater London, will have to pay a £100 daily charge or risk a £500 penalty...  Owners of HGVs, buses and coaches that do not meet the required emissions standards by 3 January 2012, and who drive within Greater London, will have to pay a £200 daily charge or risk a £1,000 penalty...

GREEN TRUCKS * USA - DHL Plans New York Delivery Fleet Powered Entirely by Alternative Fuels

New York,NY,USA -Automotive Fleet-11 April 2011: -- DHL said it is taking the first step toward establishing a delivery fleet in New York City that is powered entirely by alternative fuels, in a move that it said will reduce emissions by at least 50%...  The conversion from vehicles solely powered by petroleum fuels was announced March 31 by Frank Appel, chief executive officer of DHL parent Deutsche Post... The DHL fleet is scheduled to be in place by September, using 30 battery-powered electric vans and 50 hybrid trucks... Azure Dynamics is producing the electric vans and the hybrid trucks, whose total cost wasn’t disclosed. Ford Motor Co.’s E450 chassis are being used in combination with Azure’s hybrid and electric components, as DHL’s current E450 fleet is converted to hybrids... (Photo from automotive-fleet: DHL will be operating modified Transit Connect vans and E-450 delivery trucks)

* Europe - EU plan to phase out 'conventionally fueled' cars by 2050. The Commission says Europe's transport system remains unsustainable.

Brussels,Belgium -Gizmag, by Tannith Cattermole -April 11, 2011: -- The European Commission has released a white paper detailing ambitious plans to transform Europe's transport infrastructure by 2050...  The overall goal is to create a unified transport system capable of meeting the needs of the 500 million EU citizens...  Without change, oil dependence of transport will remain around 90%, CO2 emissions from transport will remain one third higher than their 1990 level and congestion costs will increase by about 50% by 2050...  The major goals set out in the "Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area" are:

• Development of eco-driving requirements in future revisions of the driving license directives with reference to fuel-saving techniques

• Progressively allowing for European electronic tolling systems through a single service provider for the whole of Europe... For example, current international hauliers need 13 permits, tags and tolling contracts to drive on all European tolled roads

• Movement of more than 50% of road freight traveling more than 300 kilometers (186 miles) to rail or boat (30% by 2030)

• Creating a fully functioning multi-modal transport system removing bottlenecks and barriers in other parts of the network. For instance the Thalys high-speed train through France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands must currently adapt to seven different signaling systems

• At least 40% cut in EU CO2 emissions from maritime transport (if feasible 50%) by 2050. Europe (EU/EEA) has the world's largest shipping fleet, directly employing some 300 000 seafarers on board merchant vessels and another three million in related jobs

• An overall 60% cut in transport emissions by 2050

• Use of electric, hydrogen and hybrid technologies for long distance and inefficient "last-mile" freight transport, reducing air and noise emissions, allowing a greater portion of freight transport within the urban areas to take place at night, and easing road congestion during peak hours

• Creating a fair financial environment applying the "polluter pays" and "user pays" principle

The European Twowheel Retailers' Association welcomed the plans but were felt that the part two-wheelers could play in helping cut emissions had been underplayed...  (Photo: A lorries protest in UK)

* Germany - Deutsche Post road tests 12 new Renault electric vehicles

Bonn, Germany -Transport Intelligence -11 Apr 2011: -- Deutsche Post DHL is road testing 12 new Renault Kangoo Z.E. electric vehicles for combined deliveries. As part of the "E-mobility in commuter traffic" pilot project, the vehicles will transport letters and small packages in the Rhine-Ruhr area until the end of 2011... By using these electric vehicles, Deutsche Post DHL and the car maker Renault are trialling the operational suitability of electric vehicles for commercial fleet operations...  The Renault vehicles are powered by a fully electric drive train with Li-Ion batteries. The range of up to 160 km for a fully loaded vehicle is sufficient for use as a combined delivery vehicle. At the delivery centres in the Rhine-Ruhr area, charging stations have been installed where the batteries can be recharged overnight... (Image from dp-dhl: Renault kangoo ze)

GREEN TRUCKS * USA - Transport operators place orders for electric, hybrid and natural gas trucks

DHL, Ryder Expand Green Truck Fleets

New York,NY,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -Mar 31, 2011:   ...  The green truck purchases by two large transportation companies underscore growing commercial interest in alternative fuels as diesel prices rise...  By September, DHL's New York fleet will include 30 electric vans and 50 hybrids. Those trucks will cut fossil fuel use and reduce carbon emissions 50 percent compared with conventional diesel or gasoline-powered models, DHL said...  On the West Coast, Ryder ordered more than 200 natural gas-powered heavy trucks...  That is the largest heavy-duty natural gas truck order to date for Freightliner, which introduced the M2-112 with the Cummins ISL-G natural gas engine in 2009. The vehicles will use either liquefied or compressed natural gas...  The Southern California natural gas project will eliminate about 9.2 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions, more than 131 tons of nitrogen oxide emissions and 2.65 tons of diesel particulate emissions a year, Ryder and the local government organization said...   When fully implemented, SANBAG, will displace more than 1.5 million gallons of diesel a year and create more than 400 jobs...

GREEN NEWS * Europe - CO2 limitation for commercial vehicles: 175 g / km by 2017

Brussels,Belgium -Trucks & Business, by Stijn Phlix -16 Feb 2011: -- By 2017 the average emission of light trucks should be limited to 175 gr / km. This standard will be limited to 147 g three years later. An agreement was reached to that effect between EU member states. The European Parliament has approved the standards. Builders who do not meet standards face fines...  The new limits are a compromise. In 2009, the European Commission had wanted to impose the limit to 135 grams per kilometer by 2020, but carmakers Italian, German and French were against...

GREEN NEWS * USA - House Approves Diesel Emissions Reduction Act

"This is the equivalent of taking 13 million of today's trucks off the roads"...

Washington,DC,USA -Work Truck On Line/Shared by Mike Willcockson in World of Trucks (Linkedin) -December 22, 2010:   ...  "When all of today's older diesels have been replaced by new models that meet current EPA standards, at least 110,000 tons of particulate matter (or soot) and 2.6 million tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxides will be eliminated from the nation's air"...   The Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) now just needs President Obama's signature for the bipartisan legislation to be reauthorized for five more years as the U.S. House of Representatives approved DERA this morning by a voice vote, according to the Diesel Technology Forum...   DERA is a five-year reauthorization of the highly-successful program created in 2005 to establish voluntary national and state-level grant and loan programs to reduce diesel emissions  upgrading and modernizing older diesel engines and equipment...  DERA is being supported by a unique and diverse coalition of more than 500 environmental, health, industry, labor and government organizations...  DERA funds are used to clean up the nation's older diesels, by retrofitting or replacing them with new technologies that significantly reduce the soot and emissions. EPA estimates there to be an estimated 11 million older diesel trucks, buses, and equipment in use today...