August 2024 Newsletter
Dear HVTT Forum subscribers,
Near the end of each month, you can usually find me pestering another HVTT officeholder to submit their newsletter on time… On this occasion, I have not done my job effectively! Nevertheless, it is my pleasure to write to you again in this, my second, newsletter. There is not much to report on the information officer front, other than a steady uptick in our LinkedIn readership and a few minor updates and corrections to our website. With that out of the way, I’ll dive into some updates on the UK front.
The biggest development in the UK has of course been the election of a new Labour-led government in July, taking the helm after 14 years of the Conservatives. Leading up to the election, the Labour election manifesto had big ambitions to kick-start economic growth while accelerating the transition to a clean future, including the creation of the new UK government-backed energy company “GB Energy”. The company is due to be headquartered in Aberdeen and will fund renewable energy projects rather than supply energy itself.
On the transport front, however, not much was mentioned in the manifesto nor has been announced since the election other than a reform of the passenger rail sector to address issues of service delivery and costs. There has been little mention of freight transport other than that, “a unified railway will be tasked with reducing complexity for freight customers,” which may potentially attract a modicum of modal shift. The lack of a concrete transport decarbonisation agenda is surprising given that transport is the UK’s number one emitting sector. We wait to hear more on this from the new Secretary of State for Transport, Louise Haigh.
The new Prime Minister, Keir Starmer (second from right) with the new Secretary of State for Transport, Louise Haigh (third from right) (source: Louise Haigh on X)
On a positive note, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill proposes to accelerate infrastructure planning processes and streamline the expansion of critical infrastructure which includes that associated with the national grid and renewable energy. This bodes well for the rollout of electric HGVs. The party has also confirmed that Labour will be reinstating the 2030 phase-out date for new petrol and diesel passenger vehicles which was first introduced in 2020 by the previous government under Boris Johnson before being pushed back to 2035 last year by the same government under Rishi Sunak.
The phase-out dates for heavy goods vehicles, or “lorries” as we like to call them over here, remain unchanged at 2035 (up to 26 tonnes) and 2040 (all HGVs). There are approximately 500,000 HGVs in the UK, of which only around 1% is currently electric. This means that around 20,000 diesel HGVs will, on average, need to be replaced with zero-emission vehicles each year by 2050. (This assumes that any diesel vehicles purchased just before the 2040 cut-off date will still operate for a typical first-life of 10 years.) Vehicle registration statistics for Q1 2024 show that only 0.5% of new HGV registrations were electric; the figure for Q1 2023 was 2.9%. A transition at the sort of scale required will need far more inspiring figures than these and a momentous collaborative effort across all players in the sector.
Welch’s Transport has been operating two 19-tonne Renault E-Tech D Wide lorries since 2023. One vehicle is pictured here in the historic centre of Cambridge
Meanwhile, the large-scale UK government-funded electric HGV trials announced in 2023—including Project Electric Freightway, Project Zero Emission North (ZEN) Freight, and eFREIGHT 2030—continue in earnest. The ZEN Freight trial was put in a challenging position with lead consortium member BP withdrawing from the project but the project has since regrouped. A smaller electric truck trial was announced recently in the form of “Project JOLT” led by the Centre for Sustainable Road Freight. The project is already gaining traction with consortium member the John Lewis Partnership (JLP) taking delivery of a new Volvo FM electric 4×2 truck-tractor unit. JLP have in the past led the adoption of sustainable road freight technologies, having transitioned to bio-methane HGVs as early as 2015. Such vehicles now account for the majority of their HGV fleet.
The John Lewis Partnership takes delivery of its new electric Volvo FM 4×2 as part of the JOLT trial
Weather-wise we are now officially in autumn, which may come as a surprise to many Brits still waiting for the summer to arrive. The 2024 British summer was the coolest since 2015, while being part of an overall undeniably steady climb in the average summer temperature trend since the 1960’s. This in turn, alongside the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, contributed to the subdued consumer spending during the summer, further hampering the UK’s already-sluggish economic growth.
Mean summer temperatures in the UK over the last century
Before closing, I should mention the upcoming HVTT18 symposium in Quebec City in May 2025. Early-bird registrations are now available via the event website. All the best to those preparing their full papers!
All the best,
Christopher de Saxe
HVTT Forum Information Officer
