It's Not Easy Being Green

Over the last 15 years or so, Manchester City Council has grown in confidence through its pivotal role in the regeneration of the city. National and international acclaim has encouraged the council to take a lead on issues, rather than follow.
Therefore, it’s no surprise that Manchester’s fleet managers are involved in trials designed to increase the amount of green fuels used by its fleet of 1,200 vehicles.

However, as the council’s transport manager Gary Campin, explained, manufacturers seem reluctant to launch their green vehicles.

“The hardest part is getting the support from the suppliers to provide the vehicles. They all touch on the market but they also say that there is a lack of direction from central government. We’re interested in hearing from suppliers who can supply what we require but we understand that the market is not where we want it to be, yet.

Because of the council’s desire to achieve lower fleet emissions, it was probably inevitable that it would suffer some set backs along the way. The most frustrating was when a trial with Ford was abandoned at the 11th hour because the company pulled out. Ian Brown, head of contracting services, said: “Ford agreed to set up the trials and agreed to warranty the vehicles. We had selected the vehicles we wanted to give a good cross section. But Ford was clearly worried about the impact on their vehicles. What was annoying was that they’d come so far with the process and at the end pulled out.”

Despite this set back the council continues with its own trials, testing its fleet with an industry-leading 20 per cent bio diesel fuel mix: “We know that the vehicles are fine at five per cent, and we know we can’t use 100 per cent. In between we are not too sure but having seen the results from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, who have been running a fleet on 20 per cent and haven’t reported any problems, we’re happy to proceed.”

The council is due to go to tender again at the start of 2008, by which time Campin expects the market to meet the council’s needs: “By then we expect at least one supplier to be providing what we want. Once one manufacturer does it the rest will follow.”