TF examined the documents submitted by Belgium and the proposals from the Russian Federation. The representative from France requested to recall the background of the proposals, and OICA explained the story behind the Belgium paper, on trolley buses. OICA mentioned that trolley buses are like hybrid vehicles, since they can operate either:
OICA outlined that, currently, UN regulations needs to include one sentence saying that trolley buses, when operating in bus mode (moving) or when connected to the grid for charging, should refer to R10. Otherwise, when operating in trolley mode (moving and connected to the grid), the railway standard should be used (IEC 62236-3-1). The proposal for the sentence to be included is: “R10 is applicable when the trolley vehicle is in motion without connection to external power source or when it is connected to the power grid for stationary charging.”
This additional sentence should be added either in R10 or in R107. The representative from France underlined that TF should seek advice from GRE about where to include it. TF agreed with that approach and proposed to further add to the sentence some figures to make it more explanatory. OICA will then prepare a proposal and will discuss it during next TF meeting.
Trolley buses manufacturer, present during the meeting, mentioned that they should go back and check with the representative from Belgium about retracting or amending their former document in the direction of how TF has decided to proceed.
In addition to the sentence to be added to the UN Regulations, TF commented the document Mutual Resolution No. 2 (M.R.2) of the 1958 and the 1998 Agreements (WP.29/1121), containing Vehicle Propulsion System Definitions (VPSD), should be amended. Item 44. reads: “Electric trolley vehicles are not covered in vehicle regulations at this stage.” TF commented that trolley vehicles should then be covered by vehicle regulations in the situation mentioned above (bus mode). As this document is a Resolution, and has no binding aspect, this modification could be done at later step, but it should be mentioned to GRE, and/or WP.29.
The representative from the Russian Federation joined the meeting via teleconference at the end of the meeting, and asked about TF conclusions on trolley buses. The general opinion of the Russian Federation was to agree with the TF plan to move forward, but will proceed with further check on their end, and will comment TF activity based on the TF meeting minutes.