CPA Bulletin

www.cpa.uk.net CPA Bulletin > February 2024 11 CPA CONFERENCE: 2 GAP’s Mark Anderson was similarly positive. If hire was a £6 billion industry, that was a big sector to aim at even in a relatively flat market. Hire had proved itself to be resilient before, during and after Covid, and greater political certainty would help further. He highlighted the importance of sound management, particularly in relation to people costs and equipment depreciation. Following Covid disruption when supply chain difficulties made some plant hard to obtain, many companies had ramped up purchasing to meet demand and were now reining in their spending as conditions normalised. However, it was important to invest in people as good personnel would guide a company’s future success. Mark said he had been particularly impressed by the new talent entering the plant industry highlighted by CPA’s Stars of the Future awards earlier in the year. Five industry professionals participated in the second panel discussion ‘Fuelling the Future’ focused on the challenges of transitioning away from diesel: AdamNicholson and Jim Haigh, respectively the MD and Chairman/CEO of Eagle Platforms; Alasdair Reisner, Chief Executive of the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA), Matt O’Hara, Head of Sales for Clean Energy with Sunbelt Rentals UK & Ireland; and Paul Mabey, National Account Sales Manager with JCB. AdamNicholson believed a steep learning curve remained for customers wishing to go green by using electric or hybrid machines. One Eagle Platforms client had wanted to use battery machines during the day and charge them overnight with a diesel generator, which rather defeated the object. In future, adequate infrastructure would be needed for such charging purposes. Meanwhile, transitional fuels like HVO (hydro-treated vegetable oil) would play a role in replacing diesel, especially if the government encouraged its use with a rebate scheme - although the panel agreed this was unlikely. Similarly, Eagle’s Jim Haigh felt that more benefit could be derived over the shorter term from using the cleanest and most efficient diesel technology with machines incorporating Stage V engines, building on what customers are already familiar with. He believed that battery technology still had to improve and that hydrogen, while being a fuel of the future, was clearly not yet available on a practical scale. JCB’s Paul Mabey stressed the importance of selecting the most appropriate energy source for each particular task and that customers can achieve cost-effective results now. Surprisingly, the UK lies at the bottom of the global league table for adopting JCB battery powered equipment, so any increase would deliver big incremental benefits. Paul said that some house builders were questioning the green credentials of HVO, suggesting that the land devoted to growing crops fromwhich it originates could be put to more ecologically friendly uses. He believed that battery and hydrogen powered machines complemented each other, the former suitable for compact machines, and hydrogen internal combustion engines like JCB’s for larger, power-hungry plant that has to work virtually 24/7. He added that telematics were a valuable tool in optimising diesel use in terms of reducing equipment idling times and unnecessary machine movements. CECA’s Alasdair Reisner agreed that diesel remained a valuable practical fuel over the shorter term but that it would clearly be phased out on the road to Net Zero by 2050, which is the government’s stated intention. Hydrogen and other novel fuels would have a big role to play and the market would need to keep abreast of developments. He also praised the CPA’s work and guidance on issues like environmentally friendly plant operation and minimising idling. As such information is available now, industry professionals should be using it and this, he said, exemplified how the industry could work together to achieve improvements.