Obituary: Steve Bell

Thu 23 August 2007 View all news

LowCVP colleague and friend Steve Bell died on Monday 20 August following a period of illness.

Steve’s career started with Sulzer Locos, British Railways, where he provided technical support for locomotives powered by Sulzer engines. His interest in locomotives and railways was to be a life long hobby, although his career moved on in the direction of automotive engineering when he joined Detroit Diesel Allison in 1977.

In 1985 Steve joined Tickford Ltd where he was responsible for engine development and testing. From that point forward Steve’s career would have an increasing focus on tackling air quality and reducing carbon emissions from road transport, working at AEA Technology and Roush Technologies before becoming an independent consultant in 2002 and a founder member and Director of the Sustainable Transport Solutions network.

Steve became a specialist in the environmental aspects of automotive powertrain engineering spanning passenger cars through to heavy-duty vehicles. He contributed greatly to a foundation piece of research on “Alternative Road Transport Fuels” for the then Department of Transport in 1996 which helped shape Government policy in the area for the following decade. While consulting for the EST he successfully managed the “Ultra Low Carbon Car Challenge” which demonstrated three family size cars with CO2 emissions less than 100 gm/km. He was a key and active member of the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership and played an important role in the work of the Bus and Commercial Vehicle Working Groups through which he co-ordinated the project to define the emissions performance of a “Low Carbon Bus” and led the debate on how to measure the fuel efficiency and CO2 emissions in gm/km for commercial vehicles.

Steve was well known and very highly regarded in the low carbon vehicle community. His manner was quiet and unassuming with a positive outlook on life; he gave his time freely, and was always ready to offer help and advice. It was a pleasure and privilege to work with him. We extend our condolences to his wife Sarah, and their daughters, Helen and Nicky. He will be greatly missed.

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