Britain’s first buses built to comply with the new Euro IV emissions criteria will start running in London on 6 May.
Alexander Dennis has supplied Go-Ahead Group company London General with a fleet of 39 double-deckers, the first to pass ~Transport for London~'s own emissions test-cycle process, introduced to deal with the capital’s high air pollution levels.
The Enviro400 vehicles use new engines developed jointly by ADL and power technology specialist Cummins, to reduce fuel consumption as well as pollutants. Meeting previous Euro emission standards has involved increasing diesel usage, but ADL claims its new engines have solved the problem with selective catalytic-reduction technology.
Test vehicles have trialled the new solution during 240,000 km of driving over almost four years. As a result, London General is expecting its buses to produce 18% less in CO2 and nearly 50% in NOx emissions, compared with existing vehicles, while reducing fuel consumption by up to 20%.
The Euro IV standards will apply to all new registrations from October 2006. They impose 80% reductions in particulate matter emissions, as opposed to around 30% for other types.