SMMT joins calls for action on e-truck charging infrastructure

Electric power dominated last month’s Commercial Vehicle Show, with everything from microvans to heavy tractors on display from a wide range of estab­lished manufacturers, niche players and start-ups. But industry is still lamenting a lack of infrastructure to support their uptake.

Undoubted star of the electric show was the Nikola Tre heavy truck on the Iveco stand (pictured). Based on the European manufacturer’s S-Way chassis-cab, this 4×2 tractor features a battery-electric powertrain offering a 330-mile range, rapid recharge and the equivalent of 645 hp of engine output.

It was joined by a variety of smaller battery-electric rigid trucks, and an array of electric vans, some based on existing diesel products and others new from the ground up. Many of these vehicles are either available to order now, or will be within the next couple of years. Prototype vehicles using hydro­gen fuel cells were also on display.

But doubts remain over the government’s willing­ness to incentivise the acquisition of such vehicles with suitable fiscal incentives, or provide the infra­structure to charge them on the road.

Now, the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Trad­ers (SMMT) has joined the growing chorus of calls for government to organise its strategy for the decar­bonisation of road transport.

With the ban on the sale of new diesel-engined trucks of 26 tonnes or less due for implementation in 2035, the SMMT cited analysis showing that the strategic road network in Britain “has not a single HGV-dedicated electric charging or hydrogen filling point”.

The SMMT points out that the 26-tonne deadline is the same as for the car and van sectors, despite the truck market being two decades behind passen­ger cars in the introduction of BEVs.

“The remaining heavier vehicles must be com­pletely decarbonised five years later, but the initial deadline leaves many operators with just one full eight-year cycle of fleet renewal to make the transi­tion,” warned SMMT.

“While investment announcements for public car charging infrastructure are gradually flowing through, there is no equivalent plan for HGV-dedicat­ed infrastructure.

“HGV manufacturers are in­vesting heavily in a broad range of electric and hydrogen models, however, these currently account for just one in 600 trucks on UK roads.

“A key concern for the sec­tor is ‘charging anxiety’, which is felt acutely by operators with time-sensitive, long-haul business models.

“Delivering sufficient levels of public infrastructure would sig­nificantly increase operator confi­dence to make the necessary and substantial investments to decar­bonise their fleets.”

In addition to the need to ex­pand infrastructure, wider sup­port for the sector must also be provided, the Society said, in order that operators running on tight margins are incentivised to shift to EV.

“The UK is behind many other countries in this regard as just eight of the 20 zero emission truck models on the market are eligible for the Plug-in Truck Grant,” said the organisation.

“Furthermore, other countries, including France and Finland, pro­vide up to triple the sum available to UK operators.”

SMMT has therefore called for a government strategy to be launched within the next 12 months, focusing on the specific needs of HGVs. As well as improv­ing operators’ incentives to invest, it said, the strategy must set out a plan for the support and coordina­tion of the rollout of public and de­pot-based charging and refuelling points across all regions – and include reforms supporting the investment, planning and energy provision to facilitate depot-based infrastructure.

Speaking at the CV Show, the Road Haulage Association’s (RHA) executive director for com­munications, Rod McKenzie, told BBC Breakfast that the industry was keen to decarbonise but was being hampered by lack of infra­structure and the pricing of elec­tric trucks, which cost three times their diesel equivalents.

“That’s a huge burden for small operators and they need some help. We need some guidance from the government about what the realistic road map is to net zero.”

He added. “Electric charging points for lorries at a motorway service station would need the same amount of electricity that would power a village of 2,000 people with all their devices switched on, so it’s a massive challenge for us.”

RHA pointed out that the UK was the first nation to commit to banning the sale of new non zero-emissions trucks of 26 tonnes and under by 2035.

“This ambition must be sup­ported by a clear plan that the industry can have confidence in,” it said.

“But the lack of an HGV infra­structure strategy is hindering our sector’s ability to invest in the re­quired vehicles.

“Investment in public charging and hydrogen refuelling infra­structure needs to be accelerat­ed.

“The high cost of zero-emission HGVs and coaches, together with uncertainty over which technolo­gies will prevail also act as barri­ers to investment.

“No business wants to invest in assets that may become worth­less if government policy does not support their use. A clear plan will help.”

Alex Harrison, partner at law firm Akin, commented: “SMMT is right that public charging in­frastructure suitable for medium and heavy goods vehicles is lag­ging behind that for passenger cars and light commercial vehi­cles.

“There remains considerable uncertainty around the location, type and speed of infrastructure needed for these vehicles, with National Grid estimating that 70-90 per cent of HGV energy provision will be done overnight at depot or destination and only the remaining 10-30 per cent needing to be provided en route at motorway and trunk road ser­vice stations.

“The optimal locations for road freight charging will depend both on vehicle routes, but also on co­inciding the availability of charg­ing with mandatory driver rest breaks.

“A UK government infrastruc­ture charging strategy for HGVs and how the UK’s Rapid Charging Fund could be used to support de­ployment for the sector would be very helpful to drive investment and incentivise the transition.”

The latest interventions by the RHA and SMMT follow further calls for government progress on road freight decarbonisation from the House of Commons transport select committee, in its March report: Fuelling the future: motive power and connectivity.

The MPs acknowledged that the government was still under­taking feasibility trials for HGVs in heavier weight categories that travel long distances such as BEV and hydrogen models, and that trials of so-called ‘electric roads’ with conductive or overhead charging – which allows HGVs to charge as they drive – were also underway.

But the committee reported that witnesses to its inquiry from the road freight sector were “rela­tively critical of the government’s current technology-agnostic ap­proach”.

”Logistics UK told us, although they support the assertion that all technologies must be explored given the complexity of the in­dustry and urgency of the need to reduce emissions, their ‘mem­bers do, however, need long-term certainty over which zero tailpipe emission solutions will be com­mercially viable’,” said the report.

“The RHA told us that they had noted ‘a backdrop where inde­pendent reports are calling for ministers to provide strong co-or­dinated leadership’ for the de­carbonisation of the road freight sector.

“Witnesses to our inquiry on the road freight supply chain also expressed this view; Ken McMei­kan, chief executive of Moto Hos­pitality, said his company needed to know which decarbonisation technology is expected to be the fuel of choice for HGVs in the fu­ture so they can begin investing in the appropriate infrastructure to supply vehicles at their service stations.”

The committee’s report con­cluded: “We recommend that the government publish a long-term HGV decarbonisation strategy as a matter of priority.”