Update: Just to prove that I’m not making up stories about the growing popularity of automated manual transmission, here’s a link to a recent article from the RoadTransport.com website.

Iveco are reporting steady growth in sales of ‘two-pedal’ vans – those with automatic transmission. I must confess to feeling especially smug that Iveco’s UK marketing director Andrea Bucci shares my expectation that automatic gearboxes will become the norm in 10 years.

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I recently mentioned that the new Citroen Nemo / Peugeot Bipper van will come with the option of automated manual transmission (AMT). This is basically a manual gearbox that operates automatically – just stick it in drive and go.

AMT is fast becoming the standard choice in larger commercial vehicles and combines most of the benefits of manual and traditional automatic gearboxes without really having any of their weaknesses.

Such is its rapid growth in popularity that eager not to be left behind, Vauxhall have now announced that they are making an AMT gearbox available on the Vauxhall Combo and Vauxhall Vivaro vans – two of their biggest sellers.

You can see more details here, but I have little doubt that this will become the standard technology in pretty much all vehicles over the next 5-10 years (including cars)

Recent changes in the legislation governing the use and speed restrictions of 7.5t lorries have meant that many operators are downsizing to 3.5t vans – still blessedly tacho and speed limiter free.

This is especially true of companies whose workers simply use the vehicles to transport their own equipment, not for commercial transport.

The problem is that a growing number of 3.5 tonne vans are being overloaded by their drivers and operators – whether knowingly or unknowingly. 55% of vans stopped by VOSA in 2006/7 were overloaded (obviously a skewed statistic because some would have been chosen to be stopped because they looked overloaded). All the same, that figure is up from only 38.7% in 2005/6 and 30% the year before.

Overloading carries a fine of up to £5,000 – ouch – so what do you need to know to avoid it?

Why’s It Happening?

It’s easy to see how this can happen – vans used as mobile workshops, sheds and storage facilities gradually get heavier – and then you have to add perhaps 200kg for 2/3 people and their ‘stuff’, as well. Unfamiliar loads can be heavier than they look, and so it goes…

3.5t vans keep on getting bigger, too. Transit Jumbos and XLWB Sprinters are positively cavernous inside – and try telling the boss you can only use half that space because his stuff all weighs too much.

Our ‘What Size Van‘ page includes typical approximate payloads for all the most common types of vans, but what else do you need to know?

How Do I Know the Maximum Load Weight I Can Carry?

All goods vehicles should have a ‘plating certificate’ issued by the manufacturer on vans and the Department for Transport on heavier vehicles. It’s a metal plate fastened in the cab somewhere, often around the door wells – in my Transit, it’s on the passenger side below the seat.

This states the legal ‘Maximum Authorised Mass’ for the vehicle – also known as the maximum gross weight or something similar. Problem is, it won’t tell you the unladen weight – so how does it help?

If you think there’s a risk that you may be overloaded, the thing to do is to find out the ‘Tare’ – or empty – weight of your van.

If You Carry Different or Unpredictable Loads

If you carry varying loads, that means taking it to a weighbridge and having it weighed with you, a full tank of fuel and your standard (always with you) tools or equipment but with no load.

Take the weighbridge weight and subtract it from the MAM (maximum authorised mass) for the vehicle. That will give you the maximum load weight you can legally carry.

Now you just need to find a way of knowing how much all the stuff you need to carry actually weighs – easier said than done, sometimes.

If You Always Carry the Same Load

If you always have the same set of equipment/load in your van, take it to a weighbridge fully-loaded (including people and packed lunches) and see what it weighs. If it’s more than your maximum plated weight (MAM) – you need to shed a few pounds, somehow, before VOSA do it for you.

See here and here for two useful guides on commercial vehicle weights (although they are biased a bit towards lorries). If in doubt, check your information with VOSA or on the government’s Transport Office website.

Peugeot and Citroen are both part of the PSA automotive group – hence why almost all of their vans are produced in two versions, one featuring the Peugeot badge and one the Citroen.

Regardless of this, the company has produced some great vans in recent years – most notably the three-million selling Berlingo / Partner small panel van.

Now there is a new kid on the block – the Peugeot Bipper and Citroen Nemo.

Aimed firmly at the European small van market, the Bipper and Nemo offer great economy – with a choice of 1.4L petrol or 1.4L HDi diesel engines – and a convenient 600kg payload. The van has an impressive 18,000 mile service interval – meaning most rental companies will never have to service them!

The load area is a generous (for the van’s size) 1.5m long, 1.18m high and 1.05m wide between the wheel arches, and the front passenger seat can be folded into the floor to increase the load length to almost 2.5m.

On the outside, the van is usefully small – at just 3.75m long and 1.68m wide, it’s ideal for town work. High barriers won’t be a problem, either – even with the roof rails fitted, the Bipper / Nemo is still only 1.78m high.

The van features an optional automated manual gearbox – a fitting fast becoming standard on larger commercial vehicles and one which makes the driver’s life much easier, especially around town. Get ready to see a lot more of these over the next few years – the advantages of full manual gearboxes are rapidly disappearing!

The Bipper / Nemo looks like it should be a suitable addition to the hire fleets of most van hire companies – although small, it’s ideal for urban work and should be economical and straightforward to operate. I also expect it to be very popular – perhaps replacing the extremely small Corsa-sized vans for some operators.

P.S. I should of course have mentioned that most PSA vans are also produced badged as Fiats. That’s certainly true with the Bipper/Nemo – Fiat will be resurrecting the Fiorino name with its own version of this new van.

Combined Sales of the Peugeot Partner & Citroen Berlingo (they are the same van, just badged differently) have now reached 3 million worldwide.

When it was first launched, the Partner/Berlingo redefined the small van sector and it continues to be a hit with everyone from couriers to plumbers to florists – as well as van hire companies.

It offers economical, reliable and comfortable operation with generous load capacity for its size – a choice of 600kg or 800kg payloads in a surprisingly capacious load bay.

Since the launch of the original Berlingo, the small van sector has expanded to include vehicles such as the Vauxhall Combo and Volkswagen Caddy. That the Berlingo/Partner is still the best selling small panel van in Europe, with 29% of the market, just shows what a great package it offers.

To learn more, visit Easier Motoring.

According to this press release from Ford, all new Transits will now come with a built-in connector for most MP3 players.

Ford’s research has managed to unearth some totally unsurpising facts – such as “67% of van drivers like to listen to music”…

Sarcasm aside, the new Transit has won a plethora of awards and is by all accounts a very tasty van. Once the van hire companies get their hands on some of the new MP3-enabled models, van drivers will be able to keep their favourite tunes on tap even when in a rental van!

The Volkswagen Caddy is already a popular, high quality choice in the small van sector. It offers the usual VW standards of finish and engineering along with a decently-sized load area.

The next van up in VW’s range, the Transporter, is quite a bit bigger and as seems to be the fashion these days, Volkswagen is launching a LWB version of the Caddy to fill this gap.

The VW Caddy Maxi Life should compete head-to-head with Ford’s LWB Transit Connect (not a coincidence, I should think!) and will be offered in both people carrier and panel van versions.

You can see more details here, on the Due Motori website, but it looks like it will be a popular choice with all sorts of buyers – from families to couriers to rental companies.

In my last post I discussed how environmentally-friendly stop-start systems were likely to become the norm on most vehicles over the next decade or so.

It seems I was right! Carmagazine.co.uk has a review of the new Stop-Start equipped Mini Cooper S – and confirms that BMW are rolling it out across their range. With modern engines, better lubricants and beefed-up starter motors and alternators, more frequent stopping and starting is no longer a problem for today’s vehicles – and idling is simply a waste.

All the vehicle electrics contiune working when the engine cuts out – including air-con and stereo – so you won’t notice the difference.

Vans, with their larger-capacity, fuel-hungry engines are an obvious target for this technology. How long before it’s standard on all new vans?

At least, it will be if you are driving one of the growing number of new Mercedes Sprinters that comes equipped with the German company’s ECO-Start system.

This environment (and wallet) friendly system stops the engine automatically if the vehicle remains stopped in neutral for more than three seconds. Depressing the clutch or allowing the vehicle to move causes the engine to restart automatically.

Testing has shown that for drivers doing extensive urban work, fuel savings of up to 20% could be achieved, while for the rest of us, a figure of 5% – 8% is more likely. It’s a system that I can imagine becoming standard on almost all vehicles in years to come, and is certainly likely to make an appearance on rental fleets – although perhaps not for a while, due to customers’ unfamiliarity with it.

ECO-Start also has a number of protective features built in that will protect the engine from overheating or repeated cold starts. The engine also won’t cut out if the temperature outside is sub-zero – to make sure the occupants don’t get too cold!

The system costs a meagre €203 if specified with new Sprinters in Germany, and it will be available worldwide.  You can find more details on the Mercedes website here.