Making the sector more environmentally friendly is key to achieving the UK’s net zero targets.
However, with both vehicle availability and the charging infrastructure lagging far behind that of electric cars and vans, industry figures are calling for urgent action to accelerate the transition, particularly as the Government has banned the sale of new diesel trucks under 26 tonnes from 2035.
“2023 was the best year ever for zero emission truck uptake, but they remain a tiny fraction of the UK’s fleet,” says Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). At the beginning of 2024, just 327 zero emission trucks had been registered.
“With an end of sale date of some fossil fuel HGVs starting in 11 years’ time, urgent action is required.”
The Road Haulage Association (RHA) wants the Government to build a trial network of HGV charging points, speed up planning applications for HGV electric substations at depots and offer financial incentives for small- and medium-sized businesses to make the switch.
Currently, there is only one public electric charging point for lorries in the UK, at the service station in Rivington, on the M61 southbound, and five hydrogen refuelling points.
“What we need is momentum and we’ll see decarbonisation start to snowball,” says Chris Ashley, RHA policy lead for environment and vehicles.
“Many of our members are already undertaking initiatives to decarbonise their operations and improve their impact on the environment.
“A message coming through loud and clear from our membership is that, alongside energy infrastructure provision, stable electricity prices are a must.”
Hydrogen contribution
As well as battery electric trucks, hydrogen-powered vehicles are expected to make a significant contribution to decarbonising the HGV transport sector, with the different technologies being applied to different use cases.
For those with shorter duty cycles where the vehicle returns to base with a long dwell time, battery electric trucks may be best.
This is true for Warburtons, which earlier this year took delivery of a further four Renault Trucks E-Tech D16s after gaining confidence from running its first 16-tonne electric truck. The zero emission vehicles join its secondary fleet and will deliver fresh bakery products direct to stores.
“By carefully planning the first vehicle, studying routes, diminishing loads and tail-lift systems, we specified the right vehicle for the job, which has delivered the same quality of service to our customers with zero emissions,” says Steven Gray, head of transport at Warburtons. “We have also had excellent feedback from our drivers who enjoy the quieter, smoother ride, and with any initial range anxiety soon put to rest.”
He adds: “Our secondary fleet, which delivers products direct to stores, is ideal for electric, as most routes are low stem mileage of less than 100 miles, making around 30-35 deliveries.
“All vehicles are on the road by 4am, returning by lunchtime with long dwell times back at base that are perfect for charging, using 22kW charging points.”
The Road Haulage Association says research shows 70% of British electric trucks currently return to depots for charging overnight. Most electric trucks are used for local deliveries within a 50-to-80-mile radius.
For longer-haul trucks which do not return to a depot overnight to charge, hydrogen may be more appropriate as it allows for faster refuelling times.
HVS, for example, has developed a 40-tonne hydrogen HGV which has a range of 370 miles and a refuelling time of 15-to-20 minutes.
In both instances, huge investment will need to be made to enable the widespread use of these technologies, including through the installation of charging and refuelling infrastructure.
To help gain real-world insights into the challenges and what future infrastructure may need to look like, numerous trials of battery electric and hydrogen-powered trucks have either taken place or are taking place in the UK.
Among the latest of these are four projects under the Zero Emission and Hydrogen Infrastructure Demonstrator programme, into which the Department for Transport and Innovate UK are investing £200 million.
Combined, these will roll out up to 370 zero-emission HGVs and deliver around 57 refuelling and electric charging sites, with the aim of showing how the UK can decarbonise heavy transport in the shortest possible time.
These projects are eFreight 2030, Project Electric Freightway by Gridserve, Project Zero Emission North (ZEN) Freight and the Hydrogen Aggregated Logistics (HyHaul) by Protium.
EFreight will provide Birmingham with one of the UK’s first EV charging hubs dedicated to HGVs, with fleet operators Wincanton, Welch’s Transport, Menzies Distribution and Kuehne+Nagel among its consortium members. They will operate around 140 electric trucks in a variety of scenarios to test their real-world feasibility.
Gridserve’s project aims to lay the foundations for a nationwide charging network dedicated to electric HGVs. It will see 140 battery electric HGVs provided by Daf and Volvo use 220 chargers across motorway service areas, truck stops and commercial depots.
The £41m HyHaul project will have 30 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles operating along the M4, while ZEN Freight involves operators taking on more than 70 battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and sharing infrastructure wherever possible.
Educational challenges
The high cost of vehicles and perception of the technologies may also need to be addressed, potentially through raising awareness of the issues.
“We speak to many clients and there is almost this perception that battery electric, in its own right, is already over for larger vehicles,” says Pat Skelly, CEO of Prohire. “Irrespective of whether it is or it isn’t, it’s a mindset, isn’t it?
“There are a lot of fleets who say they’ll wait for hydrogen because there’s plenty of time before the ban so they won’t bother with BEV. Actually, I think there’s room for both in the right space; there will be a joined-up approach.
“We need a direction of travel that people are willing to follow over an extended period. We seem to be bouncing around from one direction to the next, but actually sticking to none. It’s too fractional at the moment. If we could garner the momentum that’s going on into a more singular forum, you’d be surprised just how much amazing stuff is going on.”
