Cloud with a silver lining
Delays to the forthcoming introduction of its Clean Air Zones in Birmingham and Leeds need not prevent drivers knowing the exact CO2 emissions coming out of their vehicles which could help them cut their carbon footprints ahead of any rescheduled CAZ launch, a leading expert has claimed.
In the week of National Clean Air Day, (June 20th) both Birmingham and Leeds City Councils announced they were independently postponing the planned introduction of the CAZ because of a delay over Whitehall’s roll-out of software to check older, more polluting vehicles being made available to local authorities.
But the delay to the CAZ scheme, which were both scheduled for launch on January 1 2020, need not hold back drivers, or businesses that rely on bringing vehicles into the cities, wanting to calculate their own CO2, as that technology is already commercially available, according to Martin Wedge, the founder and CEO of Emtec Corporation Ltd.
Wedge, who has more than three decades experience of the commercial fleet market, says CAZ is a blanket tax which could unfairly penalise all businesses.
‘Such city-wide carbon taxes are indiscriminate in the way they charge, in the same way chemotherapy is indiscriminate when it attacks cancer cells in the body – it also kills everything else, healthy or otherwise, in its path,’ said Wedge.
‘Operators of all trucks and commercial vehicles that help deliver vital supplies to cities like Birmingham – on very tight margins – will be unnecessarily penalised if they don’t, or can’t, invest tens of thousands of pounds in replacing their fleets with the latest Euro6 engines.’
He points to the impact of the ‘demonisation of diesel’ and the push for electric vehicles which have seen demand for many fossil fuel vehicles drop to record lows, according to the latest SMMT figures.
‘This ‘ditching the diesel’ is an emotional knee-jerk reaction based on older, polluting engines, rather than independent science around new generation engines. Businesses need to have the accurate and verifiable data – hard facts – to understand where their pollution problems lie, and if diesel can still form part of their fleet mix, for example.
‘Yes, the CAZ catches the killer pollution, but fleets now have the technology to determine exactly which vehicles are the polluting ones, and in real time,’ said Wedge.
Emtec has developed an innovative cloud-based technology which allows fleet managers to control the environmental impact of their individual drivers and curb their business carbon footprint.
Smart Fleet Cloud is a diagnostic tool that allows fleet managers to use the intelligence to accurately target and train errant drivers, or simply remove poor performing vehicles.
Emtec Corporation Ltd engaged global emissions experts and academics, to design Smart Fleet Cloud in the battle against climate change by using verifiable algorithmic data to accurately measure and manage vehicle exhaust emissions in real time. It currently measures CO2, but the next generation will also accurately capture NOX outputs.
Furthermore, Smart Fleet Cloud, which currently provides independent CO2 dashboard data for conventional petrol, diesel and hybrid engines, will soon, furnish users with real-time verifiable information for electric vehicles by measuring the company’s overall energy management strategy, and provide the carbon and cost impact of vehicle batteries, chargers, stationary energy storage and electricity prices.
‘Fairly or unfairly, in an era of ‘fake news’ the automotive industry has become synonymous with accelerated climate change with cities introducing congestion charges, and low-emission zones to curb kerb side NOX levels,’ argues Wedge, who said that the telematic-style technology can be fitted to every existing vehicle on the planet.
‘We are moving to a regime of transparency of greenhouse gas reporting as the government wants zero carbon generation by 2050.
‘Apart from CAZ, under the Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) regulations, businesses generating more than 40,000 kwh of energy will have to declare their emissions levels, which is why our solution is based on the maxim that a problem cannot be managed until it can be accurately measured.’
‘Through Emtec’s proprietary dashboard, targeted organisations with fleets, including international businesses, government departments, local authorities with light vehicle fleets and vehicle manufacturers will receive an accurate, real time and comprehensive view of their vehicles’ economic and carbon footprints with a view to automate planning that reduces future operational costs and emissions,’ he added.
The business, founded in July 2017,has an international reach and remit, with a team of experts located in the UK, Europe and Kenya. Emtecis currently in the process of authenticating the CO2 algorithm in conjunction with the Millbrook testing facility and is working with the National Physical Laboratory to achieve the same validation.
Wedge added, ‘Climate change attributed to rising CO2 emissions is probably the single, biggest threat to the environment, but accurately measuring its impact has been part of the problem with the science lobby on one side of the argument and the climate sceptics on the other.
‘Where there is agreement is that air quality from vehicle emissions is a perennial problem for urban areas, but how much of an issue is a moot point following recent scandals over data tampering in vehicle emission testing which served to negatively impact many vehicle manufacturers due to a perceived breach of trust.
‘Having reliable fleet data means that they can drive their overall business decarbonisation strategy more effectively which is good news for the environment and the bottom line,’ added Wedge.
