Net Zero ambitions in spotlight

Decarbonisation was the theme for day two in the Knowledge Zone, with a host of industry speakers bringing the topic to life.

Brian Robinson, commercial vehicle and sustainability consultant at Zemo Partnership, highlighted the organisation’s net zero initiatives.

He pointed to a range of things that operators can do such as using route optimisation tools, as well as exploiting the new legislation to permit longer vehicles and to campaign for 42-tonne gross combination weights on five axles.

Robinson also supported the rapid electrification of new vehicles, which he said would be total cost of ownership competitive regardless of distance or gross weight. “65%-75% of rigids and 30%-35% of artic movements operate on back-to-base routes and could be electrified without public infrastructure changes,” he said.

He also highlighted how batteries have become more energy dense and how technology trials are helping to demonstrate the benefits of electrification and bring air quality improvements.

Matt Pumfrey, CEO of the Innovation Gateway, explained how the new HGVzero23 programme can help operators.

A number of fleets have already signed up, including Tesco, CocaCola Europacific Partners, XPO Logistics and others.

Members have access to the HGVzero iHub, where shared information is lodged, providing shared tools and resources for members with information such as case studies, regulations, legislation and funding.

Colin Smith, programme manager for freight and clean vehicle retrofit at the Energy Saving Trust, highlighted the Freight Portal (freightportal.org), designed to provide operators with a range of schemes, guides, tools and blogs to reduce carbon emissions and lower costs.

The portal includes a fuel costcutter tool for diesel-powered vehicles, where operators can enter data about fuel cost, vehicle type and typical duty cycle and then choose from a list of interventions.

Gloria Esposito, head of sustainability at the Zemo Partnership, discussed the role of renewable fuels in decarbonising the existing fleet of diesel-powered vehicles.

Esposito said there is now more focus on fuel produced from waste materials, such as biomethane gas for CNG- and LNG-fuelled trucks and vehicles running on renewable diesel fuels such as FAME and HVO.

“The next decade is critical –make or break in hitting Net Zero”, said Esposito.

Zemo has generated forward modelling to 2050 and perhaps not surprisingly, significant volumes of diesel-fuelled vehicles will remain in the fleet between now and 2033.

The DfT is due to produce a low carbon fuel strategy by the end of this year.

Esposito also discussed the Renewable Fuels Assurance Scheme, which supports the traceability of sustainable low carbon fuels. There are currently 18 renewable fuels suppliers across the UK and this is expected to rise to 25 in the coming months.

Alistair Barnes, senior programme manager for land and maritime at Innovate UK, closed the first session with a discussion about the upcoming ZERFD programme. It will provide a fiveyear programme of on-road demonstrations of battery electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles, following two funded years to source trucks and infrastructure.

The objective is to raise operator confidence and government understanding of zero-emission vehicles. Between 200 and 400 vehicles will be involved, with a focus on the heaviest.

In addition, the Battery Electric Truck Trial involving 20 19-tonne GVW DAF LF electric models working in public sector fleets across the north-west of England for a year is just coming to a close.

A series of reports on the trial is available on cenex.co.uk

Barnes also provided a roundup of infrastructure projects running in other countries.

Projects in some countries are currently small scale – six 300kW chargers at Oslo harbour in

RENEWABLES

Esposito of Zemo Partnership discussed the decarbonisation of the existing diesel fleet

Norway and six Aral public charging points at a German location, for instance. At the other end of the scale, the US is providing $5bn in infrastructure funding.

The Milence joint venture between Daimler Truck, Traton and Volvo Group is due to build 1,700 charge points for trucks across Europe, including the UK, in the next five years.