Low Emissions Options

This week we are looking at low emissions and how this can affect your business.

We all know that London has a low emissions area, and we try to avoid it if possible by catching the tube or other public transport. This is perfectly fine until you have to work in the area and your tool is your access platform. Even though London has downrated its clean air zone from Class A to Class D, vans and cars are still included. This means that each time you take your work equipment (Access Platform) into the city, it will cost the business £12.50 plus the congestion charge of £15.00 during the working day.

If you failed to pay a ULEZ charge on time or within three days, you’d be penalised for £160. This penalty fee has now increased to £180 for both the ULEZ and Congestion Charges. All vehicles have up to midnight on the third day after their journey to pay their charge.

Scrappage Scheme:
From the 30th of January 2023, those living within greater London can apply for the Scrappage Scheme. This is where you can swap in your current vehicle, get it scrapped, and then receive a grant payment to help those fund a new car purchase that is compliant with the Low Emissions restrictions.

You may have also read that other cities throughout the UK are adoption the low emissions charge, but did you know just how many areas are either practicing this or considering it?

Here’s a list of the Cities that have or will be adopting the scheme:
Cities with Clean Air Zones
Bath has a Class C clean air zone.
Birmingham has a Class D clean air zone.
Bradford has a Class C clean air zone.
Bristol has a Class D clean air zone.
Portsmouth has a Class B clean air zone.
Sheffield has a Class C clean air zone.
Tyneside (Newcastle and Gateshead) has a Class C clean air zone.
London has a Class D clean air zone.

Future Clean Air Zones
Greater Manchester (under review – asked to submit revised plans by July)
Edinburgh – 1st June 2024
Aberdeen – 1st June 2024
Cardiff – Going with a non-charging Clean Air Zone option

Types of Clean Air Zones
A Buses, coaches, taxis, private hire vehicles
B Buses, coaches, taxis, private hire vehicles, heavy good vehicles
C Buses, coaches, taxis, private hire vehicles, heavy goods vehicles, vans, minibuses
D Buses, coaches, taxis, private hire vehicles, heavy goods vehicles, vans, minibuses, cars, the local authority has the option to include motorcycles

Support offered to reduce individual’s emissions
The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles offers a range of grants to help you choose cleaner vehicles

Find out how much money you can save on fuel by switching to an electric vehicle – make your next asset electric
The Clean Air Fund provides support to individuals and businesses, for example vehicle upgrades – you can access it through your local authority

Local authority that can provide support to help upgrade or replace the vehicle:
Birmingham
Bradford
Bristol
Sheffield
Tyneside (Newcastle & Gateshead)

All of this information can be overwhelming. In basic terms, if you drive a vehicle registered before September 2015, you cannot drive it in the low emission zones. If your vehicle is registered after September 2015, you can but it will cost you £12.50 per day. This is £275.00 per week (5 days) If you are working in the city for 50 weeks of the year, this adds up to £13,750.
Add the cost of fuel to this and you have
• 0.2 litres of fuel are consumed every 10 minutes
• 1.2 litres of fuel are consumed every hour
• 4.8 litres of fuel are consumed every day (on an average daily use of the vehicle)o 24 litres are consumed every week (based on a 5 day work week)
• 101 litres are consumed each month (based on 21 working days)
• 1,200 litres are consumed annually (based on 50 working weeks)
If we multiply the current cost of diesel, which is at least £1.50 per litre, by 1,200 litres consumed in a year of work, we see a cost of £1,800 per year in fuel.

In 1 year you are spending £15,550.00 on fuel and ULEZ’s.

CPL have spent time understanding these figures and have ensured there are options available for all business sizes working at height.

The first option for Low Emissions is a hybrid model. All of the van mounts we produce can be made up of an electric boom and diesel Euro 6 base vehicle. This is compliant in zero emission areas and will reduce the cost of fuel consumption when stationary and using just the boom, and maintenance of the engine which is not designed to tick over for long periods of time without moving.

The next options is a full electric van mount.

The KL26 is designed specifically for urban areas with its cutaway design. This makes manoeuvring easier and prevents damage to the basket. The KL26 can have up to 400Kg payload allowing for equipment storage and shelving options.
The KL26 has a working height of 11.8m and an outreach of 6.5m with 120Kg in the basket. The model has been designed with no legs allowing for a speedy set up and stow away.

Our finance partner has advised that with a £10,000 deposit, the KL26 fully electric platform is £394.00 a week or £1,706.00 per month over 5 years. (Subject to credit approval) Suddenly your new fully electric MEWP is costing you £5,000 more per year than your older platform and this is without any maintenance costs for the older unit.

We also have partners in the leasing sector that have these units built and ready to go.

If you are considering a low emissions asset for your business, contact us to find out more and arrange a demonstration.