tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391255626232385293.post1865925530397250097..comments2024-01-25T17:14:18.395+00:00Comments on Auto Industry Newsletter: Stobart to trial KERS semi-trailerWhaddon Quarterlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15965874319054447170noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5391255626232385293.post-13135803249608474482016-04-12T14:40:09.692+01:002016-04-12T14:40:09.692+01:00The KERS-on-a-trailer development raises further q...The KERS-on-a-trailer development raises further questions on the practicability of officially measuring and legislating for truck and bus greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and, by direct association, fuel consumption. <br />The European Commission (EC) is adopting what it claims to be a realistic and accurate approach, using a computer program dubbed VECTO – standing for Vehicle Energy Consumption Calculation Tool – developed on the commission’s behalf by Austria’s Graz University of Technology. <br />It is claimed to be capable of precisely simulating CO2 emissions of virtually any type of truck, bus or coach, taking account of all energy-demanding specification features. <br />VECTO would, says the EC, be used initially to encourage commercial vehicle buyers to specify the most fuel-efficient models able to meet their operating requirements. More profoundly, the commission has indicated that VECTO would, in due course, form the basis of hard legislation, making it mandatory for CO2 emissions from new trucks and buses to be ‘certified, reported and monitored’, as effectively an extension of today’s type approval requirements. <br /><br />But by no means is everyone content about the practicalities. An immediate question arises in respect of tractor-trailer combinations, where a tractor, over the course of weeks or months, might be hauling a variety of trailer types, whose aerodynamics, tyre rolling resistance and other features differ markedly. And Adgero’s KERS-equipped semi-trailer perhaps encapsulates better than anything the impracticability of the VECTO proposals. <br /><br /><br />Alan Buntingnoreply@blogger.com