SMMT Position Paper April 2023
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The UK government in its Transport Decarbonisation plan committed to ending the sale of all new, non-zero emission vehicles by 2040 at the very latest. The end of sale of new, non-zero emission heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) has been announced for vehicles up to 26 tonnes in 2035 and for vehicles over 26 tonnes in 2040.
In March 2022, the SMMT published its position paper on charging and refuelling infrastructure requirements, focusing predominantly on cars and vans, however, the recommendations made in our seven-point plan also apply to the HGV sector. This additional paper forms our position on what charging and refuelling requirements are needed for HGVs distributing freight along the strategic road network.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Strategy
- Government should publish a heavy goods vehicle infrastructure strategy no later than Spring 2024.
Depot based charging
- Government should, through its review of the National Planning Policy Framework, simplify and create a nationally consistent process for installing charging and refuelling infrastructure at depots.
- A simplified nationally consistent process for connection to the grid to enable depot-based charging should be created.
- Support for depot charging, including energy provision and funding, should be provided as soon as possible.
Public charging
- An increase in investment to supplement Project Rapid should be provided now to ensure the charging and refuelling requirements of trucks (as well as buses and coaches) are also provided for.
- Government should conduct research in partnership with the freight sector to understand HGV movements and the volume of vehicles that are able to conduct their daily cycle without charge and those who will need to use a public charging network.
- Charging and refuelling solutions must support efficient operations to mitigate any additional costs that would otherwise be passed on to the consumer.
Collaboration
- A mechanism to allow effective collaboration between operators where depots are clustered together should be created to ensure sufficient energy is available for their fleet as they transition to zero emissions and also allow them to share charging facilities.
- Government must support cross sector opportunities for decarbonisation of transport, including road, rail and shipping.
TO DELIVER THESE RECOMMENDATIONS:
The government’s Freight Energy Forum should deliver a long term infrastructure strategy to meet the commitment by the UK government to phase out the sale of new non-zero emission HGVs by 2035/40, in partnership with the automotive and logistics industries and other policy stakeholders. This should ensure UK-wide consistent policies at both local and national level.
HGV MARKET
Commercial vehicles are not purchased in the same way or for the same reasons as passenger cars.
They are assets bought to carry out particular functions and services. The market for HGVs from 3.5T
and over has remained steady for some years at an average of 52,770 per year between 2015 and 2019.
The overwhelming majority of registrations are for diesel fuelled HGVs.3 While there have been some
early adopters, registrations of electric HGVs have only been seen very recently.
Zero emission HGVs are being introduced to the market and are available in the UK today, however, uptake remains low when compared with the bus, car and LCV markets. The HGV market is some 20 years behind that of the car4 yet an end of sale date for HGVs up to 26 tonnes has been set at the same time as for cars and vans in 2035.
The availability of zero emission HGVs is growing with a variety of vehicles up to 44T available in the European market. The UK market, while lagging behind Europe, is growing. As of March 2023, there are eight zero emission HGVs eligible for the Plug-in Truck Grant.
- FUSO eCanter Up to 8.55T Up to 200km
- Paneltex Z75 Up to 26T Up to 200km
- Tevva T7 – T133 7.5T Up to 500km
- Electra e-Compact Up to 32T Up to 400km
- Electra e-Star 27-350 Up to 44T Up to 400km
- DAF CF Electric Tractor Unit 37T Up to 220km
- Dennis Eagle E-Collect RCV Up to 27T Up to 300km
- Renault Trucks D-Range Up to 26T Up to 400km
DEPOT CHARGING
Frequency of charging for a heavy goods vehicle will be dependent on its operation and will vary considerably with differing payloads and weather conditions. Research on how often HGVs need to charge is scarce due to the low operation of these vehicles in the real world.
Government should conduct research to understand the movement and volume of vehicles that are able to conduct their daily cycle with depot charging alone and those that will need to use the public charging network. This will help to determine a more accurate number of chargepoints required for use by HGVs. Furthermore, the number of foreign-registered HGVs also needs to be taken into account to ensure the cleanest vehicles can be used in the UK to achieve the greatest environmental improvements.
All operators using a battery electric HGV will need to have some level of charging capacity at their depot and individual operators and use cases will determine how much is needed dependent on their operation. The road logistics sector works on low margins and purchasing decisions are made against a total cost of ownership (TCO) model, therefore, charging and refuelling solutions must support efficient operations to mitigate any additional costs that may be passed on to the consumer.
Charging and refuelling a zero-emission vehicle must be as easy as it currently is to refuel with diesel. Battery electric trucks have so far been in operation in the UK for urban logistics and municipal services such as refuse collection, which are reliant on a depot-based charging solution for low mileage use cases. Depot charging will be required for all operators and should be facilitated as soon as possible.
Many depots are not owned by the operator of the vehicles, which makes the upgrades for energy provision complicated and often restrictive. The current fleet of zero emission HGVs in the UK is very small and serves mainly urban transportation and refuse collection services. With the absence of public charging and hydrogen refuelling sites suitable for use by HGVs it is assumed that 100% of charging takes place at the depot.
In our EV Infrastructure Position Paper, SMMT called for a universal ‘right to charge’ in the same way that consumers have a right to connect in the modern internet age. This right should extend to commercial premises with landlords required to support the provision of infrastructure by granting the necessary consent.
The power requirements at the depot will be dependent on the number of vehicles and their actual use. Slow overnight charging can currently be undertaken with 22kW AC charging but it is expected that many operators will also benefit from 150kW+ charging capability to support a faster turnaround for the vehicle when necessary. Many tractor units will require at least a 40kW charge and therefore charging provision must be future-proofed to consider the type of vehicles an operator is using in line with market development. The majority of depots in the UK have only one or two vehicles.
Operations that have consistent daily mileage and always return to base with low risk of detours or deviation to their operation such as urban distribution and refuse collection, for example, could operate without the need of any public charging or refuelling.
Locations of depots across the UK are widespread but do exist in clusters around major cities and ports. The existing clustering of depots provides an opportunity for collaborations between operators to ensure sufficient energy is available for their fleet as they transition to zero emissions and also to allow them to share charging facilities where appropriate.
Currently, there are considerable barriers to installing charging infrastructure at depots. In many cases the depot may not be owned by the operator and therefore they will require permission from the landlord. The cost of upgrading the local grid to provide sufficient power for vehicle charging is often a prohibitive factor. The current challenges should not be underestimated and government should act quickly to resolve these if net zero targets are to be met. To overcome these barriers, further regulatory support is required and government should, through its review of the National Planning Policy Framework, simplify and create a nationally consistent process for installing charging and refuelling infrastructure at depots. Furthermore, a simplified, nationally consistent process for connection to the grid to enable depot-based charging should be created.
The use of hydrogen for energy has been seen for a long time as one of the solutions to meeting net zero targets. Manufacturers are bringing hydrogen HGVs to the market both in the UK and across the world. The provision of a hydrogen refuelling station (HRS) at depots would allow operations to continue in the same way as they currently do with diesel. Many of the challenges faced by operators to install an HRS at the depot are much the same as that for electric vehicle charging.
The costs of installing hydrogen refuelling at a depot are significant and can extend to millions of pounds. Considerable investment is needed to support this for the long haul freight sector in particular where vehicles trave into Europe and Ireland. Many of these vehicles will be double shifted and only stop for their scheduled service, therefore, a battery electric solution will not yet be sufficient due to the long ranges driven without planned stopping for lengthy periods of time. The use of bunkered fuel locations for hydrogen refuelling may reduce some of the costs of installing infrastructure at depots and these can be shared by multiple operators.
PUBLIC CHARGING
The current public charging network for electric cars in the UK is not suitable for HGVs due to their differing technical specifications and higher power demand. Additionally, public charging has been designed to support the passenger car parc and therefore the parking spaces can rarely accommodate larger vehicles.
In 2021, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) published its position paper on charging and refuelling infrastructure for HDVs. It specified an installation target of 10,000‐15,000 (higher‐power) public and destination charging points by no later than 2025, and 40,000‐50,000 charging points no later than 2030 in the EU27 countries plus the UK. The UK target is 2,450 chargepoints in 2025 and 8,200 chargepoints in 2030 at 3,000 locations. The location study acknowledges an over-representation of locations in the UK and does not take into account accessibility or suitability of the sites. Further research is required to understand HGV movements across the UK and determine the number of public chargepoints required. We can establish the number and type of locations that should be included in the charging and refuelling network and while this is lower than ACEA’s estimate of 3,000, the number of chargepoints suggested is appropriate until further research can determine otherwise.
HGVs operate with diverse daily drive cycles and have different refuelling patterns to those of vans and passenger cars. They are also naturally larger and longer vehicles (especially when coupled to a trailer), meaning they need additional access and turning requirements only found in larger sites. HGVs do not always visit motorway services, with many common truck stops being A-road laybys, or on private land around business depots. This naturally limits the scope for recharging an electric truck when on regional or long-haul deliveries. A survey of truck parking conducted in 2021 by Aecom on behalf of DfT highlighted a shortage of parking spaces.7 The study focused on rest stops within 5km of the Strategic Road Network (SRN) and found a shortfall of 5,000 spaces. This demonstrates that providing charging and refuelling infrastructure alone may not be enough and further support is required to improve parking provision for HGVs across the UK.
SMMT welcomes UK Government’s commitment of £950 million in its Rapid Charging Fund which seeks to provide energy for electric vehicle charging infrastructure at motorway service areas and along the SRN. However, this is currently focussed on car and van infrastructure. An expansion of and an increase in investment to supplement Project Rapid should be provided now to ensure the charging and refuelling requirements of trucks (as well as buses and coaches) are also provided for.
From June 2021 to June 2022, 76% (90 million tonnes) of inter-modal journeys began or ended at a port. UK ports remain key areas of HGV freight movement and should be considered part of any HGV charging strategy. There are 139 ports in the UK authorised for international and domestic movement of freight,
9 however, 10 major shipping ports in the UK account for around 68% of all cargo. These already have truck rest stops in close proximity so charging at the port itself will not be necessary.
Additionally, 23% (27 million tonnes) of inter-modal journeys began or ended at a railway siding. DfT’s Freight Energy Forum has committed to the development of an HGV infrastructure strategy that look at the whole freight sector. This is a welcome step and can create efficiencies through cross-sector working.
Providing battery electric charging on the SRN, truck rest stops and at or near ports and railway sidings will create a comprehensive network across the UK to support the decarbonisation of HGVs as well as coaches.
Due to the significant costs associated with the production and distribution of hydrogen, it is expected that the majority of hydrogen refuelling will take place at public or shared locations. The UK has gone backwards when it comes to actual deployment of hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, with fewer stations now than in 2019. There were 14, currently there are nine – seven for cars and two for buses.
The UK government must work with the automotive industry (including leasing and hire companies) and the logistics industry to create a detailed map of opportunity areas for hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, including priority and future options for private and public networks in the form of a hydrogen infrastructure strategy, with plans for installing and a view to graduated expansion over time.
CONCLUSION
The challenges to decarbonise the HGV sector in such a short space of time must not be underestimated and for this reason it is imperative that government acts swiftly to convene collaboration between all stakeholders involved in the journey as well as providing support to secure the infrastructure and associated energy supply.
The current network of depots, MSAs and truck rest stops provide for an adequate spread of charging and refuelling opportunities. Further data is required to determine how much charging and refuelling capacity is required at each location.
- Depots 66,973 22kW to 500kW
- Truck rest stops 329 50kW to 1MW
- MSAs and TRSAs 114 350kW to 1MW and H2 350/700bar
- Bunkered fuel sites 1000 H2 350/700 bar
- Ports 139 350kW to 1MW
N.B. some truck rest stops are located at an MSA and should be counted as one location.
SMMT considers the hierarchy for HGV infrastructure to be as follows:
- Depot charging and refuelling
- MSAs/TRSAs
- Truck rest stops
- Intermodal locations (ports, railway sidings)