PRESS RELEASE
Release date: 7th January 2015
DPF cleaning could settle taxi debate
Regularly maintaining diesel particulate filters (DPF) on taxis could not only see an end to the taxi strikes of last year, but could also help taxi operators better meet their emissions targets.
That’s the sensational claim from automotive reconditioning specialist DPF Clean Team following a year that was plagued by disruptive taxi strikes, particularly in London.
Last year saw Boris Johnson scrap 3,000 older taxis on pollution grounds, claiming they were contributing too heavily to emissions outputs. However, simply cleaning DPF filters on older taxi fleets at regular intervals would have given them a new lease of life and would have also reduced emissions outputs; not only avoiding the need for a widespread scrappage scheme, but subsequently avoiding the disruption that taxi strikes caused throughout 2014.
DPF Clean Team Managing Director Cameron Bryce explained: “Taxis spend most of the time doing short journeys, which can lead to higher levels of deposit build-up in the DPF and may cause DPF regeneration to be unsuccessful. For a DPF to be successful in reducing diesel emissions, it needs to be driven at a road speed higher than 40 mph over a longer journey. This ensures the DPF reaches a high enough temperature to make the regeneration process work and burn off the deposits.
“The reason many of these older taxis were still emitting too many emissions is due to the constant urban driving at lower speeds. To overcome this, simple, regular cleaning of the DPFs would have kept them performing at an optimum level and could have kept 3,000 taxis on the road last year.”
Euro 5 emissions came into effect for taxis in 2012, covering a reduction in overall emissions, but the biggest challenge is a 92% reduction in tail pipe particulates. For many taxi manufacturers, fitting DPFs to old and new vehicles was seen as the easy answer to meeting Euro 5 emissions levels, altering the exhaust gas circulation and engine recalibration.
A Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) added to the exhaust, filters and traps the soot produced from fuel combustion and periodically regenerates as part of the normal duty cycle to chemically incinerate the soot and particulates.
However, many taxis are unaware that by simply cleaning these DPFs regularly, they can prevent fleets from producing high levels of waste emissions and eliminate the need for taxi scrappage initiatives, saving the need for significant capital investment in purchasing a new fleet of vehicles.
Cameron Bryce continued: “We all know that Diesel Particulate Filters are not cheap to replace, but cleaning definitely offers a very cost effective alternative. Not only can it restore the DPF back to optimum performance but regular cleaning costs just hundreds of pounds; significantly less than the thousands of pounds a new DPF unit can typically fetch.”
About DPF Clean Team
Based in Hinckley,
Leicestershire, DPF Clean Team has over 15 years’ experience in the motor parts
reconditioning industry and is one of a handful of companies in the UK to offer
a full DPF cleaning service to independent or franchise garages and commercial
fleet and plant operators across the country.
DPF Clean Team has sought worldwide best practice and undergone extensive training to be able to offer its unique DPF cleaning service, developing flow test results in conjunction with University of Nottingham.
The company’s process utilises
state of the art ultrasonic cleaning technology and is accredited ISO
9001. The six step cleaning system uses powerful non-flammable chemicals
available only to specialists.
DPF Clean Team is committed to
providing excellent customer service and a cost-effect and legal solution for
the trade to offer customers.
For further
information, please contact:
John Edden
Bridge PR &
Media Services
T: 024 7652 0025