Government funding aims to get more zero-emission lorries on the road
The £200m investment will aim to explore ways to cut pollution from HGVs
The government has announced a £200m investment that aims to get more electric and hydrogen lorries on British roads.
While there’s lots of talk about electric cars and vans, little has been done to address the more complex issue of how to bring emissions for HGVs down, which are said to account for 20 per cent of all transport pollution in the UK.
This announcement today (October 19) will see funding split across four projects that aim to get 370 zero-emission HGVs up and running on the road.
Part of the funding will go to Voltempo, which seeks to provide Birmingham with one of the UK’s first electric charging hubs dedicated to HGVs. Firms such as Marks and Spencer have confirmed their participation which is said to ‘lower their transport emissions while protecting them from rising delivery costs associated with changing petrol and diesel prices’.
Gridserve, one of the largest electric car charging operators in the UK, is another to receive a cut of the funding and will set up its ‘Project Electric Freightway’ to demonstrate 140 electric DAF and Volvo HGVs, as well as installing a number of chargers.
Large HGV fleet operators Eddie Stobart and Royal Mail, among others, have also confirmed their participation in a scheme that will use 70 electric and 30 hydrogen HGVs in the north of England.
There’s also a plan to create a corridor on the M4 motorway that will support 30 hydrogen fuel cell HGVs with one fixed refuelling station and two mobile refuelling locations – addressing the issue of weak hydrogen refilling infrastructure.
Roads Minister Richard Holden said: “Freight and logistics are the beating heart of our economy and it is only right that we celebrate the sector so that it gets the recognition and support it deserves.
“From boosting zero emission tech across freight to attracting the future generation of talent to the industry, we are working hard to drive innovation, create jobs and grow the economy by building a brighter, more innovative future for one of our most crucial industries.”
Despite the announcement, it comes just two days after Volta Trucks – one of the first firms to build purpose-built electric HGVs – filed for bankruptcy. Though headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, 600 of its 850 global employees are based in the UK, with hundreds of jobs now at risk.
