More fleets are choosing to go green, even though it might cost them more. TNT has bought a fleet of hybrid delivery trucks and hot on its heels Woolworths and Toll have chosen to go beyond the current emission limits and buy even greener Euro 5 trucks.
Several fleets are considering going to the Euro 5 trucks, but Woolworths and Toll are leading the charge with the purchase of 65 Euro 5-compliant Mercedes-Benz trucks for Woolworths' Sydney distribution operation.
Woolworths has bought 15 Euro 5-compliant Atego rigid trucks, which will be run for Woolworths by Toll, and has backed Toll's move to acquire 50 Euro 5-compliant Actros prime movers, which will also be used for the Woolworths operation.
Woolworths became the first company to commit to the Euro 5, which won't be mandatory here until 2011, when it placed the order with Mercedes in late 2007.
Euro 5 will come into play in Australia as ADR 80/03 when the next round of emission limits are made mandatory in 2011. Under the Euro 5 regime, NOx emissions are almost halved from the allowable emissions under Euro 4, while the allowable particulate emissions are unchanged.
European truckmakers are able to offer the Euro 5 trucks because they use SCR, Selected Catalytic Reduction, technology. With SCR, NOx emissions are attacked by the injection of Adblue, a urea solution, into the exhaust stream after it leaves the engine. In essence, to reduce NOx even further, to the lower Euro 5 limit, it's a relatively simple matter of injecting more Adblue.
“The technology lends itself to the change because the treatment is outside the engine rather than in the cylinder,” says Mercedes-Benz senior truck executive Carlo Beltrame.
There are also some hardware and software changes needed, which make the Euro 5 trucks more expensive by about $5000, and the extra Adblue needed makes them a little more expensive to run, but Woolworths sees the extra cost as being worthwhile to be a good corporate citizen.
“Woolworths drove the deal through a corporate commitment to be green, and Toll picked it up and ran with it as well,” Beltrame says.
The Woolworths deal is a significant one for Mercedes-Benz, who will deliver 15 235hp Atego 2324L 6x2 rigid trucks with six-speed Telligent automated shift gearboxes, as well as 50 435hp Actros 2644 LS prime movers with Powershift 12-speed transmission.
The Ategos will hit the road in June, while the Actros prime movers will join the Toll fleet a month later.
Both will be run out of Woolworths' Minchinbury distribution site, making deliveries to Woolworths supermarkets in the Sydney metropolitan area and surrounding districts.
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