A £200m programme to roll out 370 zero emission trucks and 57 refuelling and electric charging sites across the country has been launched by the UK government, reports Carol Millett.
The demonstrator programme will involve major fleet operators, including Menzies Distribution, Eddie Stobart and Royal Mail, with manufacturers DAF, Renault Trucks, Scania and Volvo providing the battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell powered demonstrator trucks. There’s no mention of Iveco, MAN or Mercedes in any of the announcements. There is a requirement for 60 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in the mix too, though only HVS has a development timeline, but still to get a vehicle type approved.
Innovate UK will lead the demonstrator programme, which consists of four projects. These include Project Electric Freightway, led by Gridserve, which will demonstrate up to 140 battery electric trucks, along with up to 220 chargers, 70% of which will be open-access.
Another participant is Project Zero Emission North (ZEN) Freight, which will demonstrate up to 70 battery electric and 30 hydrogen fuel HGVs.
Meanwhile Voltempo’s eFREIGHT 2030 project will demonstrate up to 100 battery electric HGVs.
The fourth project, Hydrogen Aggregated Logistics (HyHAUL), is being led by Protium and will deploy around 30 hydrogen fuel cell HGVs onto the M4.
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