Those readers of Biglorryblog in the enviable position of being able to justify buying a new truck are reminded that the deadline for qualifying for a Reduced Pollution Certificate (RPC) on a new Euro-5 engined truck runs out when the latest emission standard becomes mandatory on all new vehicles on 1 October. So the message is get yer order in toot sweet! And I'm grateful to Volvo Trucks for reminding me of the approaching deadline. The good news (at least for Volvo truck buyers) is that it also says: "All the Euro-5 compliant engines currently produced by the company, in advance of the mandatory deadline for implementation, are eligible for up to £500 annual VED benefit on the largest vehicles providing the vehicle is registered and taxed before 1 October 2009." Indeed commercial truck director Ian Mitchell adds: "Currently, the £500 VED annual benefit will disappear from 1 October, when Euro-5 becomes mandatory. However, as long as they register and tax the vehicle before the 1 October deadline, operators can claim the RPC for all Euro-5-engined Volvo trucks, including those fitted with our new range of engines."
Now click through here for more on life after 1 October...
Meanwhile, despite intense lobbying from various truck makers including Iveco and Volvo backed up by the SMMT, the Government (or to be more specific the DfT and the Treasury) has yet to declare whether it will provide further RPC incentives beyond the man datory Euro-5 deadline in October - not least to Enhanced Environmentally Friendly Vehicles or EEVs, which offer even lower levels of NOx, particulates and hydrocarbons.
As usual it's the complete lack of imagination within the Government when it comes to understanding why anyone would buy a low emission vehicle ahead of a mandatory deadline that Biglorryblog finds so depressing--and all-too familiar. Truck operators DO want to go green. Too bad that after 1 October what little incentives that do exist (and I'm not saying that £500 on VED is that great to shout about) will disappear--unless there's a rapid volte farce by the authorities before then...
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