October 2010 Newsletter
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber, an European update.
The weather is in its pre-hibernating and somewhat unruly stage and the birches are saying “see you next year” by glowing like unpolished gold. On the other hand, the economy has a springtime smell, at least in Northern Europe. A small and export-dependant country like Sweden (it is sometimes better to be in a small boat even on the high seas) survived the crisis surprisingly well and truck and bus manufacturers are re-hiring and increasing R&D efforts.
There are indications that Germany might start trials on longer, if not heavier, vehicle combinations. This is good news, but I will believe when I see it. The EU Transport Commissioner is still saying no to cross-border operation of modular concept vehicles. He does this on grounds of his (secret) legal interpretation of the W&D Directive. In the long run the “consenting adults” principle cannot be stopped.
The issue of heavy vehicle, above 3.5 ton in the EU, fuel consumption and carbon dioxide generation is progressing. The European Commission, through its Climate Action branch, has two consultancies working on possible future legislation. It is not a simple, straightforward process: what is the proper metrics, how to handle the enormous number of variants of vehicles and vehicle combinations? There is a good US study on this, “Technologies and Approaches to Reducing the Fuel Consumption of Heavy- and Medium-Duty Vehicles” now available with full diagrams on the NRC/NAS/TRB website.
As for the 12th International Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology conference in the Stockholm area, September 16 – 19 2012, we are gearing up. We are more or less copying the experiences from the excellent HVTT11 in Melbourne in March. We have a core team of four people, the Organising Committee will meet November 24st and we are presently looking at possible venues.
The provisional theme is “Setting Future Standards” with six sub-themes: “Vehicle-infrastructure interaction (including WIM), Road safety, Energy and carbon footprint, Implementing ITS, Innovative and high productivity vehicles, The transport task (policies, logistics and co-modality) “.
Preliminary, extended abstracts for acceptance should be received no later than November 1st 2010. If everything works out according to plan, HVTT12 will use the same site address as for HVTT11:
Drive safely,
Anders Lundstrom, IFRTT vice president Europe
