SUNBELT Rentals has become the first plant hire company to upgrade its existing fleet with the CESAR ECV (Emissions Compliance Verification) Scheme.
The CESAR ECV system combines the technology behind the security marking scheme with an additional colour-coded plate showing the engine emission stage from stage 2 through to stage 5.
All the information about the machine is collated on a database accessible through a new ECV clearing portal. This allows plant owners, operators, contractors and site managers to comply with any local policy or contractual obligation in place regarding machinery emissions levels.
The Construction Equipment Association (CEA) revealed Sunbelt Rentals UK is the first UK plant hire firm to adopt an ECV upgrade programme across its fleet. Sunbelt is investing significantly in the next two years on Stage V equipment including excavators, dumpers, telehandlers, compressors and rollers.
Tom Welland, Sunbelt Rentals business development director HS2, said, “As part of the HS2 supply chain Sunbelt Rentals recognise the need to report easily our Plant NRMM (Non-Road Mobile Machinery) data to help achieve these targets. There is no universal recognition scheme for NRMMs, so currently it is a manual process to identify and ensure the correct policy is enforced. With a clear need for a simple system that could cut down in confusion, wrong deliveries, wasted time and money, as well as the risk of non-compliant plant being used, the CESAR ECV scheme created in partnership with the CEA seemed the logical scheme to get behind and support.”
CEA added that manufacturers across the industry recognise the value of the ECV scheme and the majority of leading OEMs and machine dealers across the UK have signed up to install CESAR ECV across a range of their machines. Since the launch, JCB, Hitachi, Cat Finning and SMT Volvo all fit the scheme to new machinery as standard.
JCB and Hitachi were among the first manufacturers to fit the CESAR ECV scheme as standard in early 2020. David Roberts, CEO of Hitachi Construction Machinery (UK) said, “Helping our customers protect and optimise their Hitachi machines is an increasingly important element of our value proposition. CESAR is not only a proven theft deterrent; the addition of the Emissions Compliance Verification gives our machines a visible and traceable identity in regard to which emission stage they comply with.”
Rob Oliver, chief executive of the CEA, added, “Air quality and the environmental impact of construction machines is one of the dominant themes in our work at the CEA. CESAR ECV has really taken off from small beginnings as shown by our partnerships with leading OEMs, HS2 and Balfour Beatty. I see CESAR as the go to resource for checking machine provenance and compliance for a range of applications in the future.”
