Commercial GreenFleet December 2022

Start the Future in Distribution

The New Generation DAF XD sets amazing new standards in direct vision and safety for busy urban areas and beyond. The unique cab design is not only stylish and spacious, it also delivers exceptional aerodynamics for unbeatable fuel efficiency and reduced CO2 emissions. Get ready to start the future in distribution.

Visit greenfleet.net for the latest news, features, road tests and interviews

Innovation in last mile logistics

With strict environmental measures in many cities, logistics companies are having to think differently about how they deliver the ‘final mile’.

There’s an abundance of innovation in this sector. A new mobility-as-a-service hub concept has opened in London, which enables individual couriers or delivery firms to rent small electric vehicles, such as electric bikes, e-cargo bikes, mopeds or scooters, for last mile deliveries.

Volta Trucks and Swedish electric motorcycle manufacturer Cake have created a mobile micro hub, or mini warehouse, which sees Cake’s electric motorcycles loaded into the Volta Zero from the distribution centre at the start of the working day and deployed into the city centre. From there, the electric motorcycles will deliver the last mile of parcels to customers in the fastest and most sustainable way.

Similarly, Renault Trucks has launched a multimodal last mile e-mobility concept, which combines three types of electric transportation in one vehicle: an electric truck, e-Cargo bike, and parcel-carrying drone.

Elsewhere, we interview Tristan Thomas, co-founder & CEO of Packfleet, who has given logistics an Uber-style wake-up call. Read the interview on page 18 where Tristan talks about the company’s ethos, workplace culture, disruptive technology and fleet of all-electric vehicles.

We also interview Shell’s Giorgio Delpiano on the company’s recent report which highlights the challenges to decarbonisation felt by fleet operators.

Angela Pisanu, editor

© 2022 Public Sector Information Limited. No part of this publication can be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any other means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. Whilst every care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the editorial content the publisher cannot be held responsible for errors or omissions. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the publisher. ISSN 2399-4940

Commercial GreenFleet is a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (which regulates the UK’s magazine and newspaper industry). We abide by the Editors’ Code of Practice and are committed to upholding the highest standards of journalism. If you think that we have not met those standards and want to make a complaint please contact Angela Pisanu or Polly Jones on 0208 532 0055. If we are unable to resolve your complaint, or if you would like more information about IPSO or the Editors’ Code, contact IPSO on 0300 123 2220 or visit www.ipso.co.uk

Commercial GreenFleet® would like to thank the following organisations for their support:

Electric benefits without the price premium

PackFleet’s co-founder and CEO Tristan Thomas talks to GreenFleet about the company’s ethos, workplace culture, electric vehicles, and Uber-style technology

Shell’s recent report ‘Navigating Fleet Decarbonisation: A guide to driving a successful transition’ highlights the challenges to decarbonisation felt by fleet operators. GreenFleet chats to Shell’s Giorgio Delpiano to find out what the report has uncovered

Biogas

The ADBA National Conference 2022, taking place in London on 8 December, will make the business case for anaerobic digestion in ensuring energy and food security for the UK, as well as how it can help decarbonise the country’s transport sector

DRIVER WELLBEING

Up to £100 million to improve HGV roadside facilities

Up to £100 million is being invested by industry and government into safer rest areas and roadside facilities for HGV drivers.

Truck-stop and road service operators can bid for a share of the £32.5 million match-funding pot from the government. This is in addition to the £20 million match-funding launched earlier this year from National Highways to improve roadside facilities and security for lorry drivers.

The move is part of the government’s comprehensive 33

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

actions to address the shortage of HGV drivers and boost recruitment and retention.

The funding scheme draws on ‘The National Survey on Lorry Parking: Part One’ which provides important evidence as to what improvements are needed and where to boost the nation’s roadside infrastructure.

The industry is responsible for providing roadside parking and welfare facilities for hauliers, and the department is committed to help the sector achieve the government’s

long-term objectives of improving driver welfare, boosting drivers’ security, and safeguarding road safety.

With hauliers required to take mandatory breaks and rest periods, building better roadside facilities will improve the quality of HGV drivers’ rest and recovery, ensuring everyone can feel safe on our roads.

Director of policy at Logistics UK, Kate Jennings , said: “Logistics UK’s members and their employees deserve access to hygiene and rest facilities

enjoyed by workers in other parts of the economy, and it is good news that funding is becoming available to help improve the quality and safety of amenities already in place, a swift resolution will now be needed to ensure that the shortfall of lorry parking and necessary facilities can be constructed and opened to support our key workers in the course of their daily travels.”

READ MORE

Many electric vans under utilised and overcharged

Petrol and diesel-powered light commercial vehicles (LCVs) are being worked more than twice as hard as electric vans within the same customer fleets, despite the average daily mileage being well within the range of an electric LCV.

Analysis of more than 85,000 vehicle records by MICHELIN Connected Fleet’s data science team found the average internal combustion engined (ICE) van travels 63 miles per day, compared with just 28 miles for an electric LCV.

The data also found that 59 per cent of electric vehicles (EVs) are being plugged in when the state of charge is greater than 50 per cent – which negatively impacts driver productivity, particularly given half of charging events occur during the daytime. This overcharging is also putting lithium-ion batteries through unnecessary charging cycles which could cause them

to deteriorate faster, negatively impacting range and residuals.

Alberto De Monte, business segment director for EV and OEM at MICHELIN Connected Fleet, says: “Range anxiety is clearly impacting the fleet market’s confidence in electric vans, resulting in EVs being overcharged, and under-worked.

“In most applications the EVs you buy today have the range to do the job of a petrol or dieselpowered van in and around cities, but they’re being deployed on the lightest duty work – whilst ICE assets are being worked harder, which is less efficient and increases emissions.”

MICHELIN Connected Fleet’s

analysis has also revealed that van drivers charged batteries to 90 per cent or more in 76 per cent of the charging events it studied – in comparison with car drivers who hit 90 per cent or more in only 58 per cent of instances.

READ MORE

Menzies Distribution trials Ford E-Transit M&H Carriers expands last-mile electrification in north of Scotland

Menzies Distribution will embark on a 12 month trial of a pre-production, allelectric Ford Transit van.

The test will engage both the Menzies Newstrade and Express operations, providing varied routes, mixed terrain, different speeds and, at times, vast mileage ranges, all of which have a bearing on battery life. Data obtained from the test will inform blueprints for all Menzies sites and their EV resources.

The Ford E-Transit being tested is the L3 H3 425 GVM model, featuring a 68kWh battery and 135 KW (184PS) motor. Its estimated range is up to 154-183 miles (WLTP). Ford Pro E-Telematics help to enhance driver performance with in-vehicle coaching, while new auto stop-

start technology reduces wear on brakes. Menzies presently has around 90 charging locations in its network, making it one of the UK’s largest commercial EV charging infrastructures.

Commenting on the E-Transit trial, Adam Purshall, fleet and procurement director, said: “We are excited to have this opportunity to push the E-Transit and our infrastructure as hard as we can to fully understand the limitations of both and work with the manufacturer to deliver the future of EV technology. The transport department is ready to embrace this trial with open arms, and the buy-in of drivers and staff is key to its success.”

ELECTRIC VANS LAST MILE READ MORE READ

Distribution firm M&H Carriers has expanded the reach of its last-mile electric delivery fleet in the Scottish Highlands. M&H Carriers has introduced a MAN eTGE e-van to the fleet operating from its Fort William satellite depot – joining nine others providing last-mile deliveries in Inverness and Elgin. The firm was the first to introduce electric vehicles to its fleet in the Highlands in 2021, and has now spread these vehicles across three sites to provide further geographic EV coverage. Managing director Fraser MacLean said: “The response to our electric vans has been fantastic, and we’re delighted to be expanding the area in which we can provide clean, green deliveries to our customers.

“The health and wellbeing of the communities we live and work in is of paramount importance to us as a business and this is a very real commitment to improving the level of service we offer.

“Operationally, the electric vans have exceeded our expectations and – as range and technology improves – we are fully committed to EVs becoming a much bigger part of our operation.”

M&H Carriers’ last-mile electrification in the north of Scotland prompted Mr MacLean to be invited to speak at last year’s global environmental conference COP26 on sustainability and carbon footprint reduction for SMEs.

MORE

LAST MILE

Amazon opens three more micromobility delivery hubs

Amazon has announced the opening of three further micromobility delivery hubs in Manchester and London, which will expand it UK e-cargo bike fleet.

The e-cargo bikes and walkers are now expected to make more than two million deliveries a year. These deliveries will take traditional delivery vans off the nation’s roads, alleviate city centre traffic congestion and improve air quality.

The hubs join Amazon’s existing central London e-cargo bike fleet which was recently announced in July. Amazon has already made more than five million deliveries so far in 2022 using its e-cargo bikes and electric van fleet within London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone.

Making e-cargo bike deliveries to Manchester’s customers for the first time, Amazon’s electric

delivery fleet will operate across the City of Manchester. New delivery hubs based in London’s Wembley and Southwark will also more than triple the e-cargo bike fleet making deliveries to Amazon’s customers across the capital.

“With more than €1 billion committed to electrifying and decarbonising our European transportation network over the next five years, including more than £300 million in the UK alone, we remain laser focused on reaching net carbon zero by

2040,” said John Boumphrey, UK country manager at Amazon. “These new hubs will not only bring our customers more electricpowered deliveries, but also support local authorities looking for ways to reduce congestion and find alternative transportation methods. We look forward to expanding our e-cargo bike fleet further in the coming months.”

“E-cargo bikes can play a vital role in reducing emissions, and that’s why we’ve already helped hundreds of firms to use them for deliveries,” said decarbonisation and technology minister, Jesse Norman. “With ever more people buying goods online, it’s more important than ever that we move to greener alternatives, and today’s announcement is one step closer to achieving that goal.”

READ MORE

ELECTRIC TRUCKS

DPD completes engineering tests with Volta Zero prototype

Delivery company DPD has completed a series of engineering tests with the full-electric Volta Zero, as part of wider Beta Trials for the new, 16-tonne vehicle. The prototype vehicle was based at the firm’s Hinckley Superhub in Leicestershire. DPD’s drivers were accompanied by Volta Trucks engineers and qualified drivers and, while no parcels were onboard, the truck was tested on a

range of pre-determined routes including motorways, A-roads and urban centres.

The Volta Zero is a full-electric 16-tonne vehicle, designed for urban logistics. With an operating pure-electric range of 95 – 125 miles, the truck is designed to significantly reduce the environmental impact of freight deliveries in city centres.

The truck has also been designed from the ground-up

with vehicle, driver and pedestrian safety in mind. The combination of a central driving position with a much lower seat height and the glass house-style cab design gives the driver a wide 220-degrees of visibility, minimising dangerous blind spots.

The Beta Trials are part of Volta’s Test and Development programme and a key step towards the start of customer

Production in early 2023.

DPD’s aim is to be the most sustainable parcel delivery company in the UK and the company is on track to have over 3,000 electric vehicles (EVs) on the road this year and 4,000 by 2023, when it will be delivering to 30 towns and cities using electric vehicles only.

READ MORE

SERVICING

Fleet Assist launches electric van servicing network

Fleet Assist has set up a nationwide network of 900 Premier Van Centres capable of servicing and maintaining vans and chassis cabs of up to 4.25 tonnes GVW. The network was set up to accommodate the anticipated growth of new electric vans plated at 4.25 tonnes GVW being onboarded by fleets.

Each garage with EV Premier Van Centre status has the premises, equipment, and technicians in place to service and maintain larger LCVs, in particular those with hybrid and electric power units.

It enables the Fleet Assist team to assign the right garage to undertake SMR on larger vans to ensure its leasing and rental customers’ LCVs are serviced and MOT’d in a timely fashion to reduce vehicle downtime.

“The additional weight of electric LCVs has meant the Government has extended the Gross Vehicle Weight from 3.5 tonnes to 4.25 tonnes that can be driven legally on a Category B car licence for five years,” explained Vincent St Claire, Fleet Assist’s MD.

“This is great news for operators as electric van payloads have increased, but for garages it means having vehicle lifts in their workshops capable of accommodating the heavier vehicles. Many dealers will simply not be equipped to handle these

vans which is where our EV Premier Van Centre network comes into its own. It avoids misdirection of SMR work to garages unprepared for heavy weight LCVs,” he added.

READ MORE

Ford Pro reveals electric E-Tourneo Custom multiactivity vehicle

Logistics UK’s Denise Beedell

Category B Derogation Consulation Review

In 2018 the UK secured a derogation from the European Commission allowing category B licence holders to drive alternatively fuelled vehicles (AFVs) up to a gross weight of 4.25 tonnes, as opposed to the standard 3.5 tonnes licence entitlement. This was to mitigate impacts on vehicle payloads due to the increased weight of batteries and other alternative fuels compared to petrol and diesel engines, while still allowing the vehicle to be driven on a standard driving licence.

Ford Pro has revealed the electric E-Tourneo Custom – a multi-activity vehicle with a range of up to 230 miles.

The E-Tourneo Custom targets both personal-use and business customers, with space for up to eight occupants, and is also available with as a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) version or with an EcoBlue diesel engine.

New Tourneo Custom vehicles are fully integrated with the Ford Pro platform of software and connected services including end-to-end charging solutions, management tools from Ford Pro Telematics, 4 the FordPass Pro app, 5 and the FORDLiive connected uptime system.

An onboard 11kW AC threephase charger is capable of fully

recharging the battery in less than eight hours, and a 15-80 per cent recharge takes around 41 minutes using a 125kW DC fast charger. E Tourneo Custom’s charge profile front-loads the energy to enable quick top-ups; in lab testing, using a 125kW DC fast charger added almost 23 miles of range in just five minutes.

E-Tourneo Custom offers a maximum towing capacity of 2,000kg along with a payload allowance, helping adventurous owners carry friends, family and sports equipment with ease, and business operators transport customers and their luggage efficiently.

Logistics UK welcomed the original derogation which supported operators who wanted to decarbonise their van fleets without imposing additional administrative or cost burdens from reduced payload or additional category C or C1 licence acquisition. And, following discussions with Logistics UK and industry, the government confirmed in August 2022 that they had no plans to remove the derogation and published a consultation reviewing areas of it.

However, van operators have reported barriers to uptake under the current rules of the derogation, including the five hours mandatory classroom training that has to be undertaken before the derogation could be utilised, as well as the prohibition of towing a trailer using an AFV between 3.5 tonnes and 4.25 tonnes.

The safety of all road users is a top priority for Logistics UK members, and we campaign for enhancement and improvements to the alreadystringent regulations that support safe road freight operations. However, given that recent driving licence entitlement changes mean that category B drivers can already operate conventionally fuelled vehicle and trailer combinations over the AFV derogation’s 4.5 tonne limit without additional training, and that there are no known stability or safety issues, it seems unnecessary to introduce a higher level of requirements simply because of the vehicle’s propulsion technology.

Logistics UK members have made it very clear that current legislation already places responsibilities on operators to ensure drivers can competently and safely use AFVs and do not agree that a voluntary accreditation is necessary either, an option proposed in the consultation.

The original derogation’s aim to encourage more van operators to move away from fossil fuels has not been realised as hoped for. Demand has been lower than expected due to the way the derogation was set up, which has in turn negatively impacted vehicle manufacturer’s investment in vehicle development of heavier alternatively fuelled vans.

Solar delivery vehicle launched by Clean Motion

Swedish company Clean Motion has launched its electric solar delivery vehicle, EVIG, which has a range of 125 miles and additional range provided by its 2.5 square meter solar roof.

The vehicle is optimised for last-mile deliveries in urban environments, able to carry anything from pallets and packages to post and food.

The EVIG has a 2.5 cubic meter cargo space for maximised utilisation. It’s low weight enables optimised energy efficiency and long range.

Prices will start at £9,400 with deliveries coming in Q1 2023.

The company also released its new fleet calculator where customers can compare and calculate costs and emissions of their fleet and compare it with conventional vehicles.

Therefore, Logistics UK has welcomed the consultation and supports the proposals to remove the mandatory five hours training requirement and to allow all AFVs up to 4.25 tonnes to tow a trailer up to seven tonnes maximum authorised mass (MAM). We have also supported the expansion of the derogation to other alternatively fuelled vehicle types as this will simplify and streamline driver vehicle allocation, especially for the construction and events sectors that use specialist vehicles and people carriers, as well as equipment.

The consultation also looked at the definition of eligible alternative fuels, something that Logistics UK is keen to maintain. Continuing to include low carbon fuels in the definition will allow significant greenhouse gas emission savings to be made by operators that cannot fully electrify – and give them the confidence to invest in vehicles that can use low carbon fuels – until the market can provide appropriate zero emission vehicles.

With challenging decarbonisation deadlines for the van sector, it is vital that the derogation, with these amendments, must be urgently and permanently incorporated into law, to provide greater confidence for manufacturers and van fleet operators to make the necessary investments to this important part of the van sector.

FURTHER INFORMATION

logistics.org.uk/environment/netzero

Denise Beedell, senior policy manager, Logistics UK

LAST MILE

How retrofit technology can help commercial fleets comply with clean air zones

What is the decision process to replace or retrofit vehicles? Which vehicles are ripe for retrofit? And how do camera systems recognise compliance? Colin Smith, programme manager for freight & clean vehicle retrofit at Energy Saving Trust answers some key questions

Air pollution in our towns and cities remains a problem that affects us all but especially the more vulnerable such as young children, the elderly and those with underlying health problems. Illegally high levels of nitrogen dioxide have led to the introduction of Clean Air Zones (CAZ), Low Emission Zones (LEZ) and even an Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) in London.

These charging zones aim to deter the most polluting vehicles from entering an area where pollution levels are considered very high and pose a risk to human health. Local authorities are central to deciding which types of vehicles to charge, ranging from only buses, coaches and taxis in a category A CAZ, to all vehicles in a Category D CAZ. The emissions standards that vehicles are required to meet to enter a CAZ, LEZ or ULEZ without charge are the same no matter whether in London, England or Scotland - that being Euro 4/IV for petrol vehicles and Euro 6/VI for diesel vehicles.

Currently, charging clean air zones are operational in London with the LEZ covering the Greater London area and the ULEZ covering Inner London (within the North/ South Circular) with proposals to expand the ULEZ to cover Greater London in August 2023, along with being rolled out in Bath,

Birmingham, Portsmouth and most recently Bradford. The Bristol CAZ will go live at the end of November 2022; Tyneside is planned for winter 2022-23 and Sheffield in Spring 2023. The Greater Manchester CAZ is currently still under review.

Complying with a CAZ, LEZ or ULEZ There are several actions that an individual or vehicle operator can take to comply with a clean air zone. The first is to avoid driving within the zone but if your business means delivering or picking up in the zone, or if your business or residence is in the zone itself, this may not be possible.

The second option is that an operator could accept and pay any charges incurred which could be feasible if infrequent journeys into the zone are conducted and the costs can be passed on to customers, but not viable if daily entry is required and margins are tight, without the possibility to pass on cost.

A third option is to re-arrange fleet operations and use compliant vehicles in a CAZ and only operate non-compliant vehicles outside of any CAZ. With more charging CAZ coming into operation this option is becoming harder and not every owner operator has a fleet with the ability to re-arrange.

Crucially, each of these first three options do not help reduce air pollution, which is the aim of a CAZ – they either allow continued pollution or move the pollution to another area.

The fourth option is to replace a non-compliant vehicle with a “new” compliant vehicle. For a petrol vehicle, this could be a Euro 4 vehicle dating back to 2005/2006 and for a diesel vehicle it could be a Euro 6/VI vehicle which is brand new or dating back to around 2015.

The fifth compliance option is looking at retrofit solutions for diesel vehicles where an exhaust after-treatment system is fitted to reduce the emissions to Euro 6/VI E



equivalence. This generally involves fitting a diesel particulate filter (DPF) and a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system with the urea (Adblue) injection. This is the same technology that is fitted to Euro 6/VI vehicles coming off the production lines now. Once a vehicle has been retrofitted the air pollutant emissions are reduced immediately. These final two options are the only ones that reduce air pollution from vehicles overall.

What is the decision process to replace or retrofit and which vehicles are “ripe for retrofit”?

The decision to replace or retrofit a vehicle depends on several factors, including the cost implications; how long the vehicle has left in service – bearing in mind that retrofitting may extend the vehicle’s service life – what level of CAZ or LEZ charges would be incurred and the resale value of the vehicle before and after retrofit. It will also depend on whether an appropriate CVRAS approved retrofit system is available.

Generally, vehicles with higher replacement costs and those which are on fleet for longer than average are the vehicles that are “ripe for retrofit”. Buses, coaches, refuse collection vehicles and specialist HGVs are more suited to retrofit, whereas cars and vans will probably be replaced.

Assurance of retrofit suppliers and their products

The Clean Vehicle Retrofit Accreditation Scheme (CVRAS) was set up to provide assurance to operators, as well as local authorities that might be implementing a CAZ or distributing grants to help operators either comply with a CAZ or reduce air pollution from their vehicles. The Scheme is run by Energy Saving Trust on behalf of the Joint Air Quality Unit (JAQU) with support from the Zemo Partnership. The aim of the Scheme is to ensure that suppliers and their products meet set standards and continue to do so over time. The standards were

developed under consultation in 2016 and the Scheme has been in operation since 2017, with over 10,000 vehicles now retrofitted. Within CVRAS, an approved company needs to have a recognised quality management system, a comprehensive warranty provision and adequate insurance cover. Their products also need to demonstrate the required emissions reductions for the type of vehicle they are retrofitting. The scheme has set representative test drive cycles for various vehicle types such as buses, coaches, HGVs, refuse collection vehicles (RCVs), taxis and cars and vans. There is also a robust set of technical requirements that approved systems need to meet to ensure in-service performance emissions reductions continue to be delivered.

Once retrofitted, how do camera systems recognise compliance? When a vehicle has been retrofitted, it is vital that automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras can recognise it as compliant for a CAZ. To achieve this, the CVRAS approved suppliers will issue an individual vehicle installation record for each vehicle retrofitted and log all their retrofits. They submit their lists to Energy Saving Trust weekly who upload these vehicle registrations to the CAZ Vehicle Checker database. This means that when the ANPR cameras pick up a registration, it can be first checked against the DVLA database and then the CVRAS approved retrofitted vehicle list. If a vehicle is not compliant according to the DVLA database and is not on the CVRAS retrofitted vehicle list then it

will incur a penalty charge notice (PCN) if it enters a chargeable CAZ, LEZ or ULEZ.

Cleaner air for all

It is important to remember that the overall objective of implementing low emission zones and associated schemes is cleaner air for all and reducing the health impact of illegally high levels of air pollution. Retrofitting has in important role in tackling the impact of the legacy fleet. Going forward, the best vehicle for cleaner air is one which has no tailpipe emissions at all so accelerating the uptake of zero tailpipe emissions vehicles will be the best approach for cleaner air in the long term, but until then, efforts to reduce emissions of current fleets can make a significant impact.

About Energy Saving Trust Energy Saving Trust is an independent organisation dedicated to promoting energy efficiency, low carbon transport and sustainable energy use. We aim to address the climate emergency and deliver the wider benefits of clean energy as the UK transitions to net zero.

The Energy Saving Trust empowers householders to make better choices, deliver transformative programmes for governments and support businesses with strategy, research and assurance – enabling everyone to play their part in building a sustainable future. L

FURTHER INFORMATION www.energysavingtrust.org.uk

An option for complying with clean air zones is looking at retrofit solutions for diesel vehicles where an exhaust aftertreatment system is fitted to reduce the emissions to Euro 6/VI equivalence

NEW GOUPIL G6

100% ELECTRIC, ZERO EMISSIONS

Building electric utility vehicles for over 25 years, the latest and the largest model in the range offers a generous payload of up to 1,050kg for the pick-up and an impressive 9m3 for the cage body. With a vast array of body options, the Goupil G6 is suitable for various business needs and applications whilst delivering environmental and sustainable operations. Designed to fulfil everyday tasks, the 100% electric G6 comes with a 28.8kWh lithium battery providing a 93-mile range.*

Innovation in last mile deliveries

With environmental and air quality measures in place in many cities, companies are having to develop innovative solutions to last mile deliveries and urban operations

The United Kingdom is the third largest e-commerce market in the world. The increase of online shopping and home deliveries have played a significant role in contributing to the growth of last-mile deliveries.

Needless to say, with this comes challenges. Urban centres are susceptible to suffering from poor air quality, traffic, and parking issues. An increase in deliveries contributes to these problems.

In the government’s Transport Decarbonisation Strategy, it says that by 2030, the ‘last mile’ of deliveries will be largely decarbonised through new delivery models, supported by accurate data and digital innovations driving greater efficiencies.

By the same timeframe, the strategy says that HGVs will be increasingly zero emission and cities will have the logistics solution that best fits them, allowing places to become more people-centred while still delivering goods rapidly and reliably.

With this recognition that the last mile is a vital part of the transport decarbonisation puzzle, the industry has responded with innovative ways to ‘green’ the last mile.

What does Amazon do?

Amazon has announced the opening of three further micromobility delivery hubs in Manchester and London, which will expand it UK e-cargo bike fleet.

The e-cargo bikes and walkers are now expected to make more than two million deliveries a year. These deliveries

will take traditional delivery vans off the nation’s roads, alleviate city centre traffic congestion and improve air quality.

The hubs join Amazon’s existing central London e-cargo bike fleet which was recently announced in July. Amazon has already made more than five million deliveries so far in 2022 using its e-cargo bikes and electric van fleet within London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone.

Making e-cargo bike deliveries to Manchester’s customers for the first time, Amazon’s electric delivery fleet will operate across the City of Manchester. New delivery hubs based in London’s Wembley and Southwark will also more than triple the e-cargo bike fleet making deliveries to Amazon’s customers across the capital.

More than 1,000 Amazon electric delivery vans are already in operation on UK roads, in addition to five fully electric Heavy Goods Vehicles – these 37-tonne vehicles are among the first in the UK, the first in Amazon’s fleet, and replace traditional diesel trucks.

Electric vans

DHL Express has announced the rollout of 270 new electric vans which will be used in its last-mile fleet.

Following last year’s introduction of 50 electric vans to operate out of sites across the UK, this next phase is helping the business reach its goal of a 100 per cent electric UK-wide courier fleet by 2030.

The 270 new vans service over 30 different locations, including London, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Bristol, Southampton Liverpool, Sheffield, Edinburgh, and Glasgow.

The Ford E Transits have a range of 140 miles and a payload of approximately 1000kg, similar to the diesel vans they are replacing. The bodies have been customised for ease of use for drivers and to ensure continued high service levels. Drivers are provided with training to ensure they are familiar with the new vehicles and confident in their capabilities.

DHL has also been focussed on developing its infrastructure to support the EV roll-out and in addition to stand-alone charging points across the Service Centre network, now operates 10 fully integrated EV-ready sites, with an additional three opening this spring, and 13 more planned later this year.

Rental hub innovation

A new mobility-as-a-service hub concept has opened in London, which enables individual couriers or delivery firms to rent small delivery EVs, such as electric bikes, cargo ebikes, mopeds or scooters, for last mile deliveries.

The hub, opened by technology company Port, has been launched in partnership with parking operator Q-Park at their Leicester Square car park which they are repurposing as a Mobility Hub.

The EVs are hired on a weekly or monthly subscription through the Port app, and the vehicle, parking, charging, maintenance and software are all provided by Port.

Once the courier has picked the vehicle from the hub at any time, they undertake their deliveries before returning the EV to the hub at the end of their working day. The vehicle is locked, parked and charged overnight and then E

A new servicemobility-as-ahub concept has opened in London, which enables couriers to rent deliverysmall EVs

 ready to be rented the next day. The long range and battery capabilities of the EV means it can be used for an entire day of work.

The platform also removes all the courier companies’ electric fleet parking, charging, maintaining, financing and managing burdens. Offered to both independent couriers and delivery firms, Port’s dark hubs mean courier companies can automate currently labour-intensive fleet management tasks and unlock the full potential of EVs.

At a time of courier shortages, the hubs will also empower more drivers to enter the industry. Building Port’s dark hubs in city centres activates a suburban workforce that is currently untapped by the last-mile delivery industry, as suburban workers are largely unable to cover the long distance between their homes and the city centre by e-bike or moped. The dark hubs will enable them to commute into the city centre and pick up their fully charged vehicle for the day.

The dark hub launch follows two years of R&D by Port, who have built every aspect of the dark hub platform – including the proprietary hardware and software – from the ground up. At the heart of the system is the world’s first, patented universal docking station that can lock and charge any small electric vehicle. As a result, Port offers a wide range of EVs to best meet the needs of industry players – including deliverers of food, parcels and groceries.

Electric mobile micro-hub Volta Trucks and Swedish electric motorcycle manufacturer Cake, have announced a collaboration aimed at decarbonising and decongesting last mile deliveries.

H&M Group will lead the first trial, which is planned in Q1 2023 in Paris.

The Volta Zero will act as a mobile micro hub, or mini warehouse. Cake’s electric motorcycles will be loaded into the Volta Zero from the distribution centre at the start of the working day and deployed into the city centre. From there, the Cake electric motorcycles will deliver the last mile of parcels to customers in the fastest and most sustainable way,

without impacting the traffic, or struggling with parking. The Volta Zero is free to redeploy to other locations throughout the day or to provide quick-replacement batteries for the Cake motorcycles if necessary, providing an efficient city-wide coverage for deliveries.

Stefan Ytterborn, founder and CEO of Cake, commented: “As the majority of today’s lastmile delivery chains will soon be banned in many of the world’s largest cities, worldleading e-commerce consumer brands need to engage in future-proof concepts now. Solutions need to be developed to offer lower emissions and less congestion, while benefiting from far more efficient deliveries all the way to the end customer. This innovative mobility ecosystem that the three brands are trialling is setting a clear direction for both healthier cities and business advantages.”

Multimodal last mile e-mobility concept Renault Trucks has announced the launch of a multimodal last mile e-mobility concept. Called the the Renault Trucks E-Tech Master OptiModale, it combines “three types of electric transportation in one vehicle”. It’s made up of a 3.5 tonne LWB L3H1 E-Tech Master van with Low Loader Luton body by Horton Commercials; an eBullitt electric Cargo bike; and parcel-carrying drone from UVATEK.

Suitable for a wide range of logistics operations as well as medical applications, the E-Tech OptiModale is designed to carry and deliver parcels of various sizes. Its specially commissioned Low Loader Luton body holds the parcels and acts as the ‘Mothership’ for the eCargo bike and drone helipad system. Grahame Neagus, head of LCV at Renault Trucks UK & Ireland, says: “The all-new Renault Trucks E-Tech Master OptiModale addresses the pressing need to improve air quality and pollution in our cities while improving accessibility and productivity for operators. By harnessing multiple modes of electric transport, this is an all-in-one sustainable solution that is set to transform the rapidly growing parcel market, and can be replicated anywhere in the world.

“The E-Tech Master OptiModale is a twoperson operation, offering the flexibility of delivering larger parcels by van, whilst the second team member takes the eBullitt cargo bike for last mile deliveries where congestion is at its worst. Additionally, the drone provides rapid deployment for urgent situations, such as delivering vital drugs or supplies to challenging or inaccessible locations. Optimodale delivers an innovative “last mile” solution and is a clear illustration of the breadth and depth of our thinking, providing Renault Trucks logistics customers with a sustainable solution from 2kg all the way up to 44 tonne.”

Electric bikes for recycling collections

It’s not only delivery companies that are affected by operating in urban centres. Many other companies are embracing innovative ways to run a fleet within a city. London recycling company, First Mile, for example, has invested in a fleet of four custombuilt electric bikes for recycling in the capital. First Mile’s custom-built bikes can each carry 250kg of recycling, while working silently across the capital with zero emissions. Each bike operates on one small battery charge, which can cover 25 miles per day – an ideal operational range for urban collections. One bike has the same operational capacity as a 3.5tonne small van-sized vehicle, while saving 20.26 kg of CO2 emissions per day in comparison. The fleet is ULEZ compliant and congestion charge exempt. As suggested by its name, First Mile was established to tackle the challenges often presented by the first mile of the recycling supply chain. These challenges include the need to collect recycling from thousands of businesses, separate various recycling streams and consolidate the material for reprocessing. The new fleet of bikes were designed and built by cargo bike and pedicab rickshaw manufacturer, Maxpro, and have much lower embedded carbon in the production of the bikes and their batteries, compared to traditional vehicles L

What’s the route forward for electric vehicle deliveries?

With many fleet owners still struggling to navigate new challenges around electrification, Alex Buckley shares some tips to support the successful delivery of a decarbonisation

When it comes to technologies that are still maturing, one of the most difficult roadblocks to achieving widespread adoption is education. When it comes to electric vehicles (EVs), this process of educating delivery organisations about how to best leverage them is still in its early stages. As a result, long-term thinking about this technology is still dominated by misconceptions and apprehension. A particularly striking example of this was highlighted in a recent study that Shell and Deloitte published on decarbonisation efforts among fleet operators. One of the fleet owners polled stated: “We have only trialled a few EVs in a city centre, as that’s all they can do.” This was in the context of nearly one third of respondents underestimating the range.

It’s easy to imagine why a fleet owner would take that approach, after all, the government is increasingly incentivising EV usage in city centres. But in point of fact, EVs can provide value in a much larger set of use cases, especially as decarbonisation pushes among logistics businesses become more urgent. The trick is to find ways to overcome these four potential hurdles:

Planning around shorter ranges

Even though average EV ranges have improved significantly in the last 10 years, range was one of the factors in EV routing that seemed to worry a lot of respondents in Deloitte’s study, so much so that nearly a third of respondents actually underestimated the total range of a typical EV. There’s still a perception that EVs aren’t applicable to a wide range of logistics use cases, and that outside of dense city centres they’re simply not as useful.

There’s no doubt that these kinds of limitations on range that come with EVs can be a challenge, but it’s a challenge that can be tackled with the right approach to routing and distribution planning. By mapping out the areas where you expect the most demand to arise for a particular period, you can become more strategic about where you position hubs and warehouses in order to minimise the required amount of travel for any given route.

Smart, AI-powered routing techniques already have the power to shorten the distances you’re driving for each stop, so getting more strategic about where your EVs are actually starting those routes can only improve the length you’re able to get from them.

Managing charging stops

Of course, one of the other issues that businesses worry about isn’t just the length of a charge, but the logistics of charging itself. Installing charging hardware in distribution centres and warehouses can be a big project, and even once they’re installed, you’ll need a reliable map of other charging stations out in the world.

Route optimisation can present challenges even before you start thinking about incorporating stops along the route for the vehicle to potentially spend multiple hours charging. Equally, the same techniques that you need to ensure efficient routing under normal circumstances can still be applied here. You can factor in charging stops after a certain number of miles driven automatically, the way you might factor in necessary breaks at certain intervals along a route. Based on the charger, you can calculate charging time the same way you would calculate service time.

Of course, many businesses will default to doing only as many deliveries as a single charge will carry them. But for businesses that may sometimes need more than that, a sophisticated routing system should help.

Blending EVs into hybrid fleets

EV production is certainly starting to pick up steam. That said, supply chain issues mean that there still won’t be enough of them in the immediate future to enable everyone currently running a traditional fleet to fully transition over to electric. That means that one of the keys to success in the interim will be finding a way to manage a hybrid fleet and optimise delivery planning in such a way as to limit emissions.

We shouldn’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good when it comes to decarbonisation. At the same time, managing a hybrid fleet might seem a little tricky. After all, the more variables you add into the planning process, the harder it is to ensure that you’re getting the most efficient possible planning outcomes.

Here, AI may be the best solution. If you can leverage routing technology that enables you to configure different parameters for different truck types and then nearly-instantaneously find the optimal options based on what you’d like to optimise your routes for (e.g.,

strategy

the lowest CO2 emissions), handling this kind of hybrid fleet can become like second nature for routers and despatchers.

Tracking sustainability progress

Many of the challenges that we’ve talked about above are fundamental to new technologies like EVs. But perhaps the most important challenge to overcome is something much more fundamental: the ability to actually measure what’s happening when you make deliveries. Luckily, this is just a matter of making sure that your last mile deliveries are comprehensively tracked and documented. If you’re able to capture a thorough record of how many miles were driven on each delivery run and compare it to the miles that you planned for in the routing stage, you can determine your actual carbon emissions fairly effectively. When you add EVs into the mix, the only additional challenge is configuring different emissions for different vehicle and load types.

As with so many other EV challenges that businesses will face in the coming years, success is all about creating clarity and visibility about what’s actually happening in your delivery network, when you can make that happen, decarbonisation suddenly seems a lot less daunting. L

FURTHER INFORMATION www.dispatchtrack.com

Written by By Alex Buckley, general manager EMEA and APAC operations at DispatchTrack

One of the issues that businesses worry about isn’t just the length of a charge, but the logistics of itselfcharging

Alex Buckley, general

manager EMEA and APAC operations

at DispatchTrack

A forward thinking parcel delivery company

PackFleet’s co-founder and CEO Tristan Thomas talks to GreenFleet about the company’s ethos, workplace culture, electric vehicles, and Uber-style technology

Packfleet is a forward-thinking parcel delivery company that runs an all-EV fleet from their base in London and has created logistics technology similar to the tech used by Deliveroo and Uber Eats.

The company delivers from 87 mostly independent businesses including wine shops, a cheese company, and a refillable grocery firm where they collect the empty packaging for reuse.

GreenFleet talks to the company’s co-founder and CEO Tristan Thomas about this new concept.

Why was Packfleet established and what is the concept behind it?

Whenever we receive a parcel, it’s always a mediocre experience. You’re never sure when it’ll turn up, and even if you wait around all day, the parcel often ends up being thrown over the fence.

The idea for Packfleet came in 2021, when I realised how broken the customer experience with couriers really is. The frustration and apathy we feel for delivery brands has become the norm, and there was a clear gap in the market for a courier service that customers could love.

But it’s not just consumers that suffer with couriers - merchants do too, and Packfleet is overhauling the business experience as well. During lockdown, I started a wine delivery service to stave off boredom with my newfound freetime after work. As a result, I was exposed to delivery from a seller’s point of view, and was surprised at how obtuse and inefficient it was.

I had issues with every major courier service. Either the sign up process was far too long, or parcels were frequently turning up to customers broken – which with wine isn’t ideal. I knew there was a better way to do deliveries, and that’s when the idea for Packfleet came about. I wanted to make sending parcels as easy as ordering a takeaway.

The technology you use is similar to that used by Deliveroo and Uber Eats. Can you expand on how the technology works?

In logistics, there’s a lot of room to do things differently, and we’re building a tech stack that will make every process of delivery better. Much like the food delivery apps, we provide live tracking for every package (with an ETA that’s actually correct), so you’re no longer waiting around all afternoon for a parcel that doesn’t even show up.  Expecting to be out when your delivery is due? You’ve got the option to change it on the day, automatically moving it in the driver’s schedule. Find yourself heading into the office with your parcel due at home? You can change the delivery destination whilst the driver is on the road. Just put your newborn to sleep? You can let your driver know to call you to say they’re outside, rather than them ringing your doorbell. All of these changes are sent to the driver automatically, and update their routes whilst they’re on the road. Our tech keeps them on the most efficient route possible, saving time and reducing carbon emissions.

Please could tell us about your all electric delivery fleetwhat vehicles are they and how are they charged?

We currently have a fleet of 20 vans which are shared amongst our 25 drivers. Within that, there’s a mixture of Peugeot and Maxus vans. They’re charged with renewable energy, and we use that same energy supply to boil the office kettle, making us carbon neutral throughout.

The company focuses on its drivers’ wellbeing – how important is this?

Driver wellbeing is incredibly important to us. We can’t ignore the fact that until now driver employment standards haven’t been acceptable – the amount of horror stories we hear from drivers of the well

known courier brands is ridiculous. They desperately need to be brought in line with the rest of the working world. Whilst the majority of the big courier companies franchise out their vans, or pay drivers for every parcel they deliver, we employ drivers like any other member of staff. They get all the benefits of full time work, and don’t have to drive recklessly to deliver their parcels - which sadly isn’t the industry standard.

hasPackfleet a fleet of 20 electric vans which are shared with drivers and all charged with renewable energy

Do you have plans to try any other zero emission fuels, such as hydrogen, or investigate the use of cargo bikes?

Cargo bikes work well in really dense urban areas, but we cover the entirety of London and are expanding constantly, so they are less practical for our needs. This is the main reason why we’ve gone with all electric vans – we can reliably charge them all across London, and they give us the reach we and our merchants require.

Do you have expansion plans? If so, what are they?

To be successful, we need to be in a place where any time someone wants to move something physical, anywhere in the world, they open the Packfleet app. Whether that is a business shipping bottles of beer across the continent, or an individual sending house keys across the city because their partner has locked themselves out, we want to be the go-to courier.

We want customers to be able to load up

the app, and with two taps of their screen they’ve got a courier on the way. Of course, we need to perfect this in the UK first, and that’s our short term goal. But in 10 years’ time, there’s no reason that we can’t have our operations across the entire world, facilitating both international and local deliveries. L

FURTHER INFORMATION www.packfleet.com

Navigating fleet decarbonisation

Shell’s recent report ‘Navigating Fleet Decarbonisation: A guide to driving a successful transition’ highlights the challenges to decarbonisation felt by fleet operators. GreenFleet chats to Shell’s Giorgio Delpiano to find out what the report has uncovered

Shell’s recent report - Navigating Fleet Decarbonisation: A guide to driving a successful transition features insights drawn from more than 150 fleet executives and experts, in 12 markets across the globe, examining the organisational and operational challenges to decarbonisation that organisations face.

GreenFleet caught up with Giorgio Delpiano, senior vice president at Shell Fleet Solutions, to find out more.

Shell’s recent report ‘Navigating Fleet Decarbonisation: A guide to driving a successful transition’ highlights the challenges

From talking to fleet owners and operators, it seems one of the biggest challenges they’re facing is turning ambition into action. Of the fleet owners we surveyed for our new report, more than two-thirds (68 per cent) expect increasing pressure to decarbonise from regulators, customers and even their own employees. They see fleet decarbonisation as critical, but they feel it’s a complex and overwhelming task. They don’t know what the best way forward is or how to get the business buy-in they need to drive change. Almost half (46 per cent) of those we spoke to told us that restrictive operations (in areas like people, governance and process) stands in the way of them

Another is the cost of the transition to electric vehicles (EVs). Most fleet owners and operators (95 per cent) see EVs as the long-term solution but are still working out how to balance their transition with the need to reduce their total cost of mobility.

To address the challenges, the report also includes guidance that businesses can use to accelerate and simplify their decarbonisation strategy. What guidance does the report give? In response to the challenges highlighted in our research, we’ve worked closely with Deloitte to create a set of practical tools and frameworks to help light commercial

fleet operations. We built it around four key phases (Diagnose, Build, Deploy and Realise) to make sure it covers all the strategic decisions and solutions businesses really should consider at each stage of their decarbonisation journey.

The Organisational Readiness Toolset demonstrates what success looks like to help businesses see where they need to get to. It also helps them to map out exactly where they are currently and which parts of their business they need to get buy-in from to achieve their goals. So, they can map the next steps in their decarbonisation strategy and take them with greater confidence.

It’s difficult to make decisions when there’s so much uncertainty in a market. That’s why the report also includes the EV transition Toolset, which gives fleet owners an EV decision-making framework – as well as useful information on duty cycles, infrastructure considerations and guidance on the ‘no-regret’ actions they can take to support their electrification journey.

What’s Shell’s position on the best route to decarbonisation? What is the best alternative fuel to get there?

From our perspective, there’s no silver bullet or single route to decarbonisation. Every fleet’s journey to net zero emissions is different, and that’s why we provide each business with the solutions to meet their specific needs. However, while there are multiple solutions available to help fleets reduce and compensate for their CO2 emissions, transitioning to EVs is currently the clearest way for them to hit their zero-emissions targets.

As I’ve highlighted, the cost of this transition remains a challenge for many businesses – especially as the levels of technological maturity vary between markets. But, as technology improves and charging networks expand, EVs are increasingly becoming a competitive alternative to internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs).

At Shell Fleet Solutions, we’re working to support that by providing businesses with easy access to charging solutions at home, at the office, depot and on-the-go. We’re also investing in carbon compensation offers and, of course, biofuels.

Shell is investing in expanding the electric car charging network, working towards 500,000 charging points globally by 2025, and 2.5 million by 2030. Could you give an update on Shell’s EV infrastructure plans here in the UK?

In this area, it’s all about making EV charging as accessible for fleets and their drivers as possible – something we’re making swift progress with across Europe. Our customers now have access to more than 300,000 Shell and third-party charge points in over 35 countries, and that number will only continue to grow.

The UK is an example of how we’re making EV charging more accessible. For on-the-go charging, we aim to have 100,000 public EV charging points in place nationwide by 2030. To support at-home charging, Shell ubitricity has installed more than 5,500 public on-street charging points (working with local councils to install them inside lampposts) as part of the largest such network in the country.

Also, we’re delivering 22kW office chargers to help fleet owners turn their depots into charging locations.

Ultimately, we’re working towards a reality where 90 per cent of all UK drivers are within a 10-minute drive of a Shell rapid charger. And then the aim is to take that level of offer global, bringing it to customers across all eighty markets we operate in.

Shell has also recently launched its Accelerate to Zero programme, which helps fleet owners identify the best course of action to decarbonise their fleet. Could you tell us what sort of help fleet operators can expect from the programme? While many businesses share the same end goal of reaching net zero emissions, every fleet’s roadmap is different. Think about a fleet’s total cost of ownership, vehicle replacement plans or infrastructure availability. These are all factors that shape the path to decarbonisation –and each path has unique operational and economic implications.

That’s why Accelerate to Zero brings together our full range of solutions and expert-led consultancy services in a tailored programme to help fleet owners explore the options they have (as well as the trade-offs required).

And it’s not just about providing a full suite of low- and zero-carbon solutions. Within the programme, we work closely

with fleet managers and operators at every stage of their journey. Our team of experts help them to plot out their best course of action while our digital solutions – like telematics – give them the ability to make more informed decisions based on insights from integrated fleet data.

At Shell Fleet Solutions, we want to help fleets achieve a truly sustainable future by making sure they have the right solutions to meet their needs today as well as the flexibility to adapt as requirements and technologies change.

What more could the government be doing to support the country in its net zero transport goals?

Across the world, governments and businesses are setting goals to meet the Paris agreement on climate change, and the UK is on that same journey. One example that will impact fleet operations is the government’s commitment to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030. This signals a positive shift towards EVs, but goal setting isn’t enough to deliver a net zero future – action is needed. This means going beyond regulations to create an environment in which zero-emission technologies and operations aren’t simply mandated but are able to thrive.

It’s not just about the vehicles themselves either. The industry needs support and incentives to develop the charging infrastructure that will power the fleets of the future. We’re encouraged by the UK’s plans to invest £1.6 billion in expanding the UK charging network. At Shell, we’ll continue to play our part in delivering this capability across the UK and globally. L

FURTHER INFORMATION www.shell.com

Many fleet managers face market-driven issues like uncertainty around costs and concerns around infrastructure.

ADBA National Conference

The ADBA National Conference 2022, taking place in London on 8 December, will make the business case for anaerobic digestion in ensuring energy and food security for the UK, as well as how it can help decarbonise the country’s transport sector

Faced with the energy crisis currently affecting not just the UK but much of the world, the British government is overlooking the gift that is anaerobic digestion (AD), despite the business case for AD development growing stronger by the day.

This is the context in which the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA) will hold its National Conference on 8th December. At its full potential, AD could meet 25 per cent of the UK domestic gas demand and insulate customers from rocketing energy prices, which in turn send the costs to farmers and the food industry spiralling. The price of chemical fertilisers and CO2 have also increased dramatically, which is reflected in higher costs for food produce in the shops.

The AD sector provides a strategic solution to these crises, generating biogas, a biofertiliser (digestate) and bio-CO2 as readily available, homegrown alternatives – and furthermore, they are environmentally friendly.

“Investment in AD offers an immediate answer to the current crises, as the sector is capable of delivering energy and food security for the UK in the short term, while addressing the climate emergency,” says Chris Huhne, former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and now chairman of ADBA.

“Unlike a nuclear reactor, an AD plant can be built within two years. The sector already delivers the equivalent of 42 per cent of the power generated by the UK’s nuclear industry. This could double within a few years.

“Given that we have a new administration in place,” he continues, “this will be a

pivotal conference, setting out a roadmap for AD to support the development of a resilient and sustainable economy in the UK at a time of global instability and a clear acceleration of climate change impacts.

“The guardians of the Paris Agreement have concluded AD is the cheapest and most cost-effective way to keep global warming below 2˚C”, he adds. “The UK is a signatory of the Global Methane Pledge to reduce emissions by 30 per cent against 2020 levels. Treating organic wastes through AD is the most effective way of achieving these – preventing methane from rising into the atmosphere whilst generating bioenergy, biofertilisers and bioCO2. It’s a no brainer.”

A solution to the crisis

The conference, to be held at One Great George Street in Westminster, London SW1, will make the business case for AD, including how it can deliver a market-led solution to the current crises.

A session looking at energy futures and what needs to happen to unleash the power of biogas will include a presentation by John Baldwin, MD, CNG Services, of the “biomethane ladder” – a biomethanefocussed version of Michael Leibriech’s Clean Hydrogen Ladder and important tool to help grow biomethane as an essential fuel to decarbonise the transport industry.

David McKee, chief technical officer at Bio Capital will also review how AD can close the loops to integrate energy into wider systems such as waste or transport.

The conference will additionally report back on COP27, which is set to deliver a pledge on reducing wastes by 50 per cent and call for a Just Nature Transition to align with the Just Energy Transition.

In afternoon breakout sessions, the conference will discuss how to bring digestate to market, best practice in AD, AD electricity generators, and the role of Local Authorities in delivering Net Zero growth in the UK.

Alongside John Baldwin and David McKee, confirmed speakers include Lord Deben, Chair of the UK Climate Change Committee; Dr Alan Whitehead MP, Shadow Minister for Green New Deal and Energy; Russell Smyth, KPMG; James Richardson, National Infrastructure Committee; Dr Norman Ebner, Oxford Martin’s School; Sue Jefferson, Circular Malton and Norton; alongside senior representatives from BioCapital, Air Liquide and other key industry players. L

We

Keeping in touch Your support makes a life-changing difference to people in crisis. We write to our supporters to update you about the work of the British Red Cross, and how you can help and donate in other ways. You can change the way we contact you at any time by visiting redcross.org.uk/keepingintouch or calling Freephone 0800 2800 491.

Privacy statement The British Red Cross is committed to privacy and will use personal data for the purpose it was collected or other legitimate purposes we tell you about: for example, to provide goods, services or information you have requested or to administer donations or services we provide. We may also analyse data we collect to better understand the people who support us or those who use or deliver our services. Sometimes this means us combining that data with information from reliable public sources. Our research allows us to tailor communications and services in a more focused and cost-effective way, as well as better meeting your needs and the needs of others like you. However, we will never do this in a way that intrudes on personal privacy and will not use your data for a purpose that conflicts with previously expressed privacy preferences. For full details about how we use personal data, our legal basis for doing so and your privacy rights, please see our privacy notice online at redcross.org.uk/privacy.

The DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal will support people in areas currently affected and those potentially affected in the future by the crisis. In the unlikely event that we raise more money than can be reasonably and efficiently spent, any surplus funds will be used to help us prepare for and respond to other humanitarian disasters anywhere in the world. For more information visit https://donate. redcross.org.uk/appeal/disaster-fund

*Texts cost £10 +1 standard message (we receive 100%). For full T&Cs visit redcross.org.uk/mobile, must be 16+.

The British Red Cross Society, incorporated by Royal Charter 1908, is a charity registered in England and Wales (220949), Scotland (SC037738), Isle of Man (0752) and Jersey (430).

Photo

© Michael Kappeler/dpa