Randall & Associates Ltd - Talking about Engineering: Our Blog

High Productivity Vehicles - the 50 tonne Proposal

By Andrew

Apr 09, 2009

From the list of impending rule changes coming from the New Zealand Transport Agency, the long-talked about 50 tonne combination mass legislation is expected to be introduced late 2009.

This increased mass limit is touted as being for “high productivity vehicles”.

I wondered what effect this increase might have on the Road User Charges that applicable vehicles would incur, on the basis that no alterations are envisaged to the Dimensions and Mass Rule other than the maximum permitted combination mass - that is, axle and group ratings continue unchanged.

This effectively means that the only rigs that may run at 50 tonne are:

                                    3-axle rigid truck and 4-axle full trailer

                                    4-axle rigid truck and 4-axle full trailer

                                    3-axle tractor unit and 5-axle B-train

The other combinations - including a 4-axle tractor unit with quad semi trailer - are ruled out as axle group ratings will be exceeded.

Using the estimated weights in the following tables and the current Road User Charges, the calculations for each combination of RUC cost per tonne payload show an interesting trend - every one of them gives an increased RUC cost per tonne, of 16-21%.

So much for “high productivity”!

What this tells us is that there will have to be rather more changes than just the Gross Combination Mass - the Road User Charge scale of fees, for one!

Example 1 - 3 axle truck, 4 axle full trailer

          44 tonne GCM        Truck                       Trailer                  Combination

          Tare (tonne)                9.0                            6.5                           14.0

          Payload (tonne)         12.0                          16.5                          30.0

          Gross (tonne)             21.0                          23.0                          44.0

          RUC                       $369.93                    $184.80                    $554.73

          $ / tonne Payload                                                                       $19.46

 

          50 tonne GCM        Truck                       Trailer                  Combination

          Tare                            9.0                            6.5                           15.5

          Payload                     13.0                          23.0                          34.5

          Gross                         22.0                          28.0                          50.0

          RUC                       $432.14                    $349.47                    $781.61

          $ / tonne Payload                                                                $22.66 (+16%)

 

Example 2 - 4 axle truck, 4 axle full trailer

          44 tonne GCM        Truck                       Trailer                  Combination

          Tare                           10.5                           6.5                           17.0

          Payload                     11.5                          15.5                          27.0

          Gross                         22.0                          22.0                          44.0

          RUC                       $237.00                    $162.42                    $399.42

          $ / tonne Payload                                                                       $14.79

 

          50 tonne GCM        Truck                       Trailer                  Combination

          Tare                           10.5                           6.5                           17.0

          Payload                     14.5                          18.5                          33.0

          Gross                         25.0                          25.0                          50.0

          RUC                       $348.71                    $240.25                    $588.96

          $ / tonne Payload                                                                $17.85 (+21%)

 

Example 3 - 3 axle tractor, 5 axle B-train

          44 tonne GCM       Tractor        1st Trailer      2nd Trailer      Combination

          Tare                            8.0                5.5                5.0                  18.5

          Payload                      9.0                9.5                7.0                  25.5

          Gross                         17.0              15.0              12.0                 44.0

          RUC                       $192.99         $93.23         $103.09           $389.31

          $ / tonne Payload                                                                       $15.27

 

          50 tonne GCM       Tractor        1st Trailer      2nd Trailer      Combination

          Tare                            8.0                5.5                5.0                  18.5

          Payload                     11.0              11.5               9.0                  31.5

          Gross                         19.0              17.0              14.0                 50.0

          RUC                       $268.49        $127.22        $172.63           $568.34

          $ / tonne Payload                                                                $18.04 (+18%)

DISCLAIMER

The above is the opinion of the writer and is not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual. The views of the writer are his own, and do not in any way reflect the views of the site they are posted on, other sites affiliated with this site, the staff involved with the site, or any other members of this site. Furthermore, they do not necessarily reflect the views of the the people who live in the author’s neighbour hood, city, province, country, continent, hemisphere, planet, star system, galaxy, or universe of orign. Please also note that the fact the piece is written in English is in no way meant to malign other languages or linguistic entities, nor to malign those who are illiterate or visually impaired and thus are unable to read the piece. Furthermore, the individual letters, words, and punctuation marks involved had no option but to be placed into the story, and should not be held accountable for the writer’s statment. Any spelling or grammatical errors are not the responsibility of the the schools the author attended, the teachers the author was taught by, the regional governments who did or did not fund the author’s educational system, or anyone else involved in the author’s education. In point of fact, the author takes full responsibility for his actions and opinions and does not hold his parents, siblings, other relations, friends, neighbors, acquaintances, people in any proximity, or that strange guy he talked to on the bus three weeks ago responsible for anything in the following work, or for anything else the author may or may not have done. The author freely admits that his views may not be the same as those of his religious group, eithnic group, neighbourhood watch program, bowling league or other club. Source: Writing.Com: Disclaimer