Tier 5 Forklift Trucks Engines: Designed To Increase Costs and Mask Our Emission Problem?

Emissions standards for diesel forklift trucks are about to get a lot stricter, and for the first time, LPG trucks are affected too. What are the implications for buyers planning their future fleet purchases? The new level is known as Stage V or Tier 5 and comes into force on 1st January, 2019, applying to all diesel engines with an output of up to 56Kw (75HP) and all petrol engines with outputs above 56Kw (75HP).

All brand new LPG and diesel forklift trucks sold in the European union and the UK will start to have to comply with tier 5 engine compliance. Tier 5 engines will mean a further reduction of 40% emission reduction Carbon monoxide emissions will be set at 5.0g/kWh for all engines up to 128kW and emissions for NOx and HC will remain current. For LPG forklift trucks, emissions of particulate matter will not be a problem but to eliminate nitrous oxides a three way catalytic converter will be necessary.

These expensive adjustments has caused up to 30% price increase on diesel and LPG forklift trucks. Devouring profit margins even further, from April 2022, UK businesses will no longer be eligible for red diesel which means fuel costs will see up to 300% price increase. The cost damage doesn’t end there, a rapid paradigm shift towards diesel vehicles as a whole has poleaxed the fuel’s appeal almost overnight. Second hand diesel trucks are seeing the scrap yard sooner than they thought, customers simply do not want expensive diesel supporting their warehosue function. Why would they? Despite the emission reduction, it’s still vastly unsustainable and only getting more expensive.