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Floating earth is also known as insulated earth, isolated return, double pole and a number of other combinations. Basically it's a system where the trucks electrical system is isolated from the trucks metalwork and chassis. The British manufacturers Foden and ERF manufactured only floating earth trucks up to June 1997, then ERF started to produce some negative earth vehicles. The floating earth system was required to meet the requirements of British "fire screen" regulations for vehicles working in hazardous areas or with hazardous cargoes. All other European truck manufacturers use negative earth systems. Therefore 97% of European trucks have a 24 volt negative earth system. Interestingly, the European ADR (European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road) does not require a vehicle to have a floating earth system. Instead it requires the electrical system to be bonded to earth at one point only (to prevent current flowing through the metalwork). So it may be only a matter of time before the British manufacturers build to the minimum requirements of the ADR and adopt the lower cost negative earth system.