A question of infrastructure

There are countless questions facing operators wanting to decarbonise, but one of the most pressing for anyone considering electrifying their fleet is the potential infrastructural cost.

Dr Nicholas Head, XPO’s head of sustainability, says: “Infrastructure is the major issue in transitioning to zero-emission vehicles for all logistics operators. There are a number of issues around ensuring you have sufficient power available.”

The cost of upgrading infrastructure to support an electric vehicle fleet is extremely high, involving groundworks and a network connection upgrade. Charging 100 electric vehicles essentially requires the power supply to a small village.

The rules on network connection costs have recently changed. From 1 April, customers making demand connection applications will pay for extension assets only. Reinforcement costs will be fully funded by the distribution network operator (DNO) running the local electricity network that connects the National Grid to users.

However, this means the ‘second comer’ rules, in which others who go on to use the reinforced network

For many operators current infrastructure provision means decarbonisation is a no-go. Louise Cole looks at the issues and potential solutions

POWER DRAIN:

Infrastructure upgrades are essential, as charging 100 electric vehicles requires a power supply similar to that of a small village

Environmental Impact Of Batteries

A report by engineering consultancy Ricardo for the DfT suggested that –dependent upon energy feedstock – battery-electric artics could have a 73% lower lifecycle carbon footprint than a comparable ICE vehicle.

However, even if the UK creates a plentiful and secure supply of green energy, there is also another environmental impact – that of the raw materials. Nickel, cobalt and lithium mining has created environmental damage in South America, the Philippines and Africa.

Lithium uses 2 million tonnes of water for every tonne of product – currently running at 185,000 tonnes a year – depleting available water for entire regions. “In Chile’s Salar de Atacama, lithium and other mining activities consumed 65% of the region’s water. That is having a big impact on local farmers – who grow quinoa and herd llamas – in an area where some communities already have to get water driven in from elsewhere,” says a 2020 United Nations report, which also details substantial ecological degradation, forced migrations, soil and water pollution, child labour and human rights abuses associated with battery raw materials mines.

The requirement for these metals is also outstripping supply, so not only will the price of batteries be driven up, but at some point the materials may no longer be available – or will come at the price of immense environmental disruption.

Zemo’s Esposito says we need the same rigorous standards for the provenance and production of batteries and their constituent materials as we do for biofuels (through the Renewable Fuel Assurance Scheme). The UNECE, EU, US and Canada are looking at suitable standards but it is a global market.

There will also be a predicted 12 million tonnes of used vehicle batteries retired by 2030. While second-life uses are widely discussed, repurposed batteries are predicted to have an additional life of five to eight years depending upon their condition. So far, a handful of automotive OEMs have set up battery recycling schemes; however, only 5% of the world’s batteries are currently recycled because it is a time-consuming and difficult process.

There is research into replacing some of the more problematic elements in batteries – such as cobalt – with more accessible or plentiful materials such as silicon or iron, but so far with limited success.

supply would retrospectively share its implementation cost, will no longer be applicable.

An Energy Networks Association (ENA) spokesperson says: “The networks are focused on enabling decarbonisation in the quickest and most affordable way possible. There is a real focus on improving and accelerating the connections process, through ENA’s action plan and National Grid’s five-point plan in particular, and we are continuing to work with industry, government and the regulator to achieve this.”

Each DNO publishes a connection charging statement that details the unit costs for equipment and construction services. Quotes should therefore offer a breakdown of the connection charge, cross-referrable to the connection charging statement, including non-contestable and contestable costs – this helps operators to choose the most competitive accredited supplier.

As well as the regional DNOs, there are a handful of accredited independent connection suppliers.

Unfortunately the cost of any specific development is variable by location, depending upon the groundworks necessary, the current available supply, capacity and length of cabling and third-party costs such as local authority charges for road closures.

Head says: “One DNO can charge three or four times the price of another, which can sink a whole business case if your connection need is in a strategic location.”

This variability of costs from one site to another is another obstacle to operators establishing a pan-regional business case for decarbonised logistics.

Changing the game

UPS has recently bypassed the need for a network upgrade at its Kentish Town site by working with UK Power Services to create a ‘smart grid’, which it describes as a “game-changer” for logistics decarbonisation. This allowed UPS to increase its electric fleet from 65 to 170 vehicles without upgrading its network connection.

UK Power Network Services implemented “new smart electric vehicle charging systems to power UPS’s central

MIXED FLEET: Speedy Services runs electric vehicles from a variety of OEMs

London delivery fleet for what is believed to be the first of its kind in the world on this scale”.

The smart grid comprises an active network management system that monitors the maximum demand required by the site and controls the vehicle charging, scheduling the charge during the evening, ready for the following day’s delivery, supplemented by an energystorage system, capable of receiving or discharging energy depending on tariffs, demand and vehicle requirements. The project involved upgrading existing charging posts, and the smart grid application that connects all the vehicles and the energy storage system.

Kentish Town is a pilot project for UPS, which hopes to roll it out to other sites.

Artur Drenk, UPS director of sustainability for Europe, says: “These technological advancements should be adopted more widely to bring value to fleet operators of all sizes and consider broader customer and macroenvironmental demands.

“Savings can vary depending on the specific site and facility. It’s important to understand how the model supports fleet electrification rather than focusing on a specific percentage number. When transitioning to fleet electrification, it’s necessary to calculate the required amount of electrical energy needed to supply the fleet at each centre daily, considering factors such as electric fleet size, required distance per vehicle, and the energy intensity for each type of electric vehicle.

“The smart-charging infrastructure is designed to reduce resource consumption and operating costs, while providing potential gains through the use of vehicle-togrid [V2G] technology in the future. This partnership has led to a game-changing development in smart grid technology.”

SMART THINKING: UPS’ ‘smart grid’ has enabled it to increase its electric fleet without upgrading its network connection

No guarantees

Speedy Services runs Fuso eCanters, electric Econics, and 3.5-tonne Ford eTransits within its mixed fleet. It also has 50 eTransit panel vans and 100 eTransit chassis cabs on order.

“It’s very important to choose the right supplier when planning network upgrades,” says fleet director Aaron Powell. Currently, it gives drivers ‘juice booster’ cables, which facilitate an 11kW charge from a standard threephase connector.

Even for companies running eLCVs, the lack of consistent public charging availability is a problem. “Range anxiety is really charging anxiety. Knowing where and when you can charge your vehicle is very important. Even though there are apps that can highlight public van chargers, there’s no guarantee of availability or pricing,” says Powell.

Available power is far from the only barrier to fleet electrification. For firms like UPS or Speedy Services

ACTION NEEDED – LOW-CARBON FUELS

that can recharge vehicles during the night, long charge times are not necessarily a problem. However, for 3PLs like XPO it is. Head says: “Battery density of electric CVs is improving apace, but charging times are still not fast enough. A 50kWh rapid charger would require four hours to charge a 200kWh battery. As operators, we need that to reduce significantly, ideally in the region of 45 minutes to an hour. Rapid chargers for HGVs will also need to be in the 500kW to 1MW range, with the current standard being around 350kW; this is a further barrier to uptake and trialling within operations. Diesel vehicles are often double and triple shifted, so charging time is a key barrier to uptake currently.” 

A recent Zemo Partnership report on stakeholder responses into the Low Carbon Fuels Strategy highlighted that road transport needs these fuels, and innovation into their production, vehicle/fuel optimisation and use, if it is to achieve air quality improvements or reduce the sector’s carbon footprint.

Low-carbon fuels comprise: biofuels; renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBOs), including hydrogen produced by renewable electricity through water or carbon dioxide; synthetic fuels; ammonia; and recycled carbon fuels. The strategy will run until 2050.

Gloria Esposito, head of sustainability at Zemo Partnership, says: “The quicker we have carbon reduction, the better. We need expansion of refueling infrastructure, affordable solutions and a clear sense of policy direction.”

Although fleets will ultimately stop buying internal combustion engined (ICE) vehicles, low-carbon fuels are still their most immediate and cheapest way of making a profound difference to their carbon footprint now, and will be essential for decarbonising legacy ICE fleets.

“Operators should be looking for incremental gains and easy wins. Get to Euro-6 first. A 20% to 30% blend of a low-carbon liquid fuel in the HGV fleet overall would make a huge difference to the carbon footprint of the country,” she says. “The use of biomethane in gas trucks is also important for artic fleets, as we are now seeing biomethane truck fleets report carbon-negative GHG emissions.”

Every other solution involves substantial expense and is fraught with uncertainty, says Esposito. Even fact-finding missions like the Zero Emission Road Freight Trials (Zerft) will take four years to generate real-world data. Low-carbon fuels are the way for operators to start decarbonising now, with minimal risk or outlay.

XPO, which has an ambitious target to reduce emissions by 30% by 2030, currently runs 10% of the fleet on HVO. “This will be 15% by the end of the year,” says head of sustainability Dr Nicholas Head.

“However, you can’t afford to invest too extensively in a low-carbon fuel path if it has no long-term future.

“Given that there is currently no public charging infrastructure for electric HGVs and very little for hydrogen refuelling, it will be difficult for the logistics industry to meet the 2035/2040 deadlines with sufficient scale. The government should consider extending the use of low-carbon fuels as a bridging solution and look at incentivisation as a means of transitioning from low-carbon fuels to zero-emission vehicles.”

He says the fluctuation in HVO pricing is problematic. Esposito hopes that, as demand and capacity for low-carbon fuels is growing, pricing will soon become more consistent.

The industry will still require fiscal support, however. The government is currently considering a Zemo proposal that would offer a fuel duty rebate proportional to the percentage blend of low-carbon fuel.