A Happy New Year to all readers. We have now reached 2011, the year from which all heavy vehicles built for sale in Australia must comply with new, very strict exhaust emissions standards known as Australian Design Rule (ADR) 80/03. So, what is ADR 80/03, and what will it mean to buyers of new trucks and the nation as a whole?
The new ADR places lower limits on noxious emissions from the engine exhaust systems of new trucks used on registered roads. While five pollutants are listed in the standards, the two that are the primary focus of regulators when considering heavy vehicles are Particulate Matter (PM) and Nitrogen Oxides (NOx).
In Australia, the pace to adopt exhaust emissions standards has hastened in recent years, such that we are now required to meet standards equal to the toughest required anywhere in the world at this time.
The ADR emissions rules are often (mistakenly) referred to by their European alternative standard. In fact, there have been three alternatives that apply. This choice reflects the fact that Australia is a “technology taker” in the truck engine stakes: trucks are manufactured locally, but not diesel engines.
If we focus on the two main pollutants mentioned earlier, PM and NOx, the limit levels to be met by new trucks are a tiny fraction of what they were just 16 years ago (in 1995 and earlier). In fact, PM output can be no more than 5% of the levels expected from trucks just 9 years ago (before ADR 80/00 was introduced), and NOx levels are just 25% of the levels from the same age trucks.
This means that the pollution (referring to NOx and PM) produced by ONE well maintained 16 year old truck, just a little older than the national average truck age of 14.3 years, would require 60 or more new, clean trucks to be matched! That is significant progress that can’t be ignored. Yet, the technology that makes these modern engines clean does not come cheap. New trucks cost an estimated 10-30% more than they would if the emissions standards were not required.
These trucks are also the safest they have ever been, featuring many life-saving features that did not exist 15 or more years ago.
The Truck Industry Council has long promoted the concept that today’s trucks are Safer, Greener and Essential. Indeed, the TIC was a key stakeholder in the development of the contents and timing of the ADR 80 changes.
However, it should be recognised in 2011 that we have reached a point where Australian new truck exhausts are among the cleanest in the world, making our heavy vehicles among the most costly in the world.
There will be political pressure to continue the pace of adopting even tougher (and more expensive to comply with) standards. Before the next round of standards is “locked in”, perhaps the federal and state governments would do well to consider implementing incentives that encourage the uptake of these trucks, and therefore assisting the widespread benefits that can be achieved across the nation through Safer, Cleaner and Greener trucks.
Phil Taylor
President