POWER

» Electric cars are now a common sight on UK roads, but a goods vehicle powered by electricity is a far rarer beast. Stephen Holmes visits Tevva, a start-up looking to extend the capabilities of electrified trucks with the help of hydrogen

There are over half a million goods vehicles on the road in the UK. The vast majority of them (some 98.8%) rely on diesel to make deliveries, collect household waste, transport fuel and so on. So it’s pretty shocking to consider that in the transportation sector, freight trucks emit more carbon dioxide than aviation and maritime combined.

And despite the uptake in electric passenger vehicles, trucks and lorries have so far proved immune to the trend. As of 2021, only 520 battery-electric trucks and lorries were registered in the UK.

That’s a big problem. On a worldwide basis, a passenger car is driven, on average, just one to two hours per day.