Call for further funding for low-emission HGVs
The Freight Transport Association has claimed that not enough funding support is being allocated to the heavy goods vehicle sector for the development of ultra low emission HGV fleets.
A recent document published by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV), entitled Driving the Future Today – A Strategy for Ultra Low Emission Vehicles in the UK, was welcomed by FTA, but focused primarily on cars.
It proposed to encourage growth in the UK’s ultra low emission vehicle fleet through the provision of a charging point network and other infrastructure, following the recent announcement of £500 million of capital investment by OLEV to fund the ultra low emission technology through 2020.
Said Rachael Dillon, FTA climate change policy manager: “There is no denying that the UK should be pushing ahead with making our cars more carbon efficient, but HGVs provide a vital role in delivering the goods for our economy and also need to decarbonise.”
£6.5 million has been allocated by OLEV towards a trial of lowcarbon lorries and supporting infrastructure, which the office says “aims to encourage the uptake of HGVs whose CO² emissions are at least 15 per cent lower than those emitted by equivalent diesel vehicles.”
The programme will involve more than 300 low-carbon HGVs, most of which will deploy gas power in dual fuel vehicles. It will also entail the launch of several open-access gas refuelling points, and is due to run from this year until 2015.
However, Dillon claimed that “more financial support and incentives” would be needed “in order for the UK to see a significant uptake of alternatively fuelled or low carbon HGVs,” adding that “historically… funding has been mainly allocated to private car users.”
Vans have also received funding support through the ‘Plug-In Van Grant’, introduced in February 2012, which provides 20 per cent of the upfront cost of an eligible van up to a cap of £8,000, until May 2015.
Meanwhile, OLEV has also provided financial assistance to PSV operators through an £87 million Green Bus Fund, which it reports has delivered more than 1,200 new low-carbon buses in England, many of them built in the UK.
