Uncertain economies, high energy prices, the need to contain costs – no business has to look far to find good reasons to implement an effective environmental policy. For fleets, the issue has moved from being a fringe activity confined to a few ‘early adopters’ in the 1990s, to centre stage. Many have carbon reduction plans at the centre of their business.

For those who need a wider reason, a report published within the last few weeks by independent researchers at the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project in the US, points to a 1.5°C temperature rise in the Earth’s surface over the past 250 years. 0.9°C of that rise has taken place in the past 50 years. The mass of data used in the report points strongly toward that rise associated with man-made carbon dioxide emissions. For those still sceptical about the contribution of man-made CO2 to global warming, it’s worth pointing out that Berkeley Earth is headed by founder and scientific director Richard Muller, who had previously expressed scepticism about man-made global warming.

The data used for the latest report extends back to 1753 and has included factors such as solar activity and world population. Commenting on the research he has said, “Much to my surprise, by far the best match was to the record of atmospheric carbon dioxide, measured from atmospheric samples and air trapped in polar ice.” While he points out that the match between the data and the theory does not prove that carbon dioxide is responsible for the warming recorded, the good fit of data and theory makes it the strongest contender. “To be considered seriously”, continues Muller, “any alternative explanation must match the data at least as well as carbon dioxide does.” He, like some colleagues, admits surprise that the new analysis shows such clear agreement between global land temperature rise and greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity. “I was not expecting this, but as a scientist, I feel it is my duty to let the evidence change my mind.”

So there are compelling reasons – cost and environmental – to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The problem for many fleets is matching their target CO2 emissions reduction plans across the business with realistic reductions in their vehicle fleet emissions. Engine downsizing has helped to an extent, but to make significant cuts on the scale that some businesses are planning, more is needed. 

The issue is perhaps greatest for commercial vehicle fleets. The number of light CVs on the road has increased notably, particularly in Europe, over the past 15 years. Vehicle weight has increased too as safety and emissions equipment has been added. Adding a hybrid drive system, would present an unacceptable weight increase for many operations. Reducing vehicle weight is key to big cuts in emissions and fuel consumption for both cars and light CVs. The problem is that none of the established manufacturers have lightweight products in their model plans.

Emerald Automotive is a new company that has grown out of a research project in the UK and has advanced plans to build a lightweight hybrid van. Fleets such as UK based Royal Mail and BT, US-based Enterprise Rent-A-Car, FedEx, AT&T, Ameren and GE and La Poste in France are aiming at 50% reductions in carbon dioxide emissions for their fleets, but lack of available light CV models make this target almost impossible to achieve. Emerald’s target has been to cut CO2 emissions by 80%, compared with traditional vehicles, translating into a fuel consumption reduction of 80%. The project is not a fantasy, two demonstrator vehicles have been gathering data in trials for some months.

Emerald’s estimates show that for the Royal Mail, the vehicle has a potential for savings of over €316 million a year alone – roughly €9,100 per vehicle per year. Hybrid vehicles tend to weigh more than their conventionally powered counterparts, but the Emerald project overcomes this by using lightweight construction, with an aluminium chassis and a space frame cab structure with composite body panels that can meet current crash requirements.

The demonstrators built so far have achieved a target gross vehicle weight (GVW) of 3,050kg but have not yet reached the 1,550kg target kerb weight, which would give a payload of 1,500kg. Kerb weight currently is 1,665kg, giving a payload of 1,385kg, but Emerald Automotive is working on it. The vehicle should provide a similar payload to current 3,500kg GVW van models.

The Range Extender Electric Vehicle (REEV) uses battery electric drive with a Ford 1.4TDCi diesel engine to charge the batteries. The engine, which is not connected to the wheels, starts up automatically when battery charge falls below 20%. Battery range is around 60 miles, which can be extended to around 250 using the engine.

What of the carbon dioxide emissions and fuel consumption? The project set a series of targets for the demonstrator vehicles. These were for combined fuel consumption using the recognised UN ECE R101 test, fuel consumption over the first 200km of testing, set at better than 100mpg and carbon dioxide emissions, also measured on the UN ECE R101 cycle. In testing, the demonstrator returned 232mpg in the UN ECE R101 tests, compared with 31mpg for a typical diesel van. In the first 200km of testing, the van returned 3.09l/100km, compared with 11.8l/100km for a typical diesel-powered van and CO2 emissions of 31.4g/km, compared with 200g/km for a typical diesel-powered van – a reduction of around 84%.

Emerald plans to sell vehicles direct to fleets, on the basis that they mostly have repair and maintenance arrangements in place and the vehicles can be serviced using those channels. The company reckons it can break even producing 4,000 vehicles a year, but has based its business plan on building 10,000 a year, hardly enough to worry the major manufacturers, reckons Emerald. One central production plant, would supply kits to assembly plants around the world. Production could begin in 2014.