SMMT plea for action to ease CV ‘charging deadlock’

The Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) has called for further action by government to help hasten progress on the UK’s path to decar­bonisation, amidst concern over significant wait times being faced by fleets for depot grid connections.

The organisation warns that current grid process­es mean truck and van operators could wait up to 15 years for depot charging connections to become available – beyond the end-of-sale date for all new non-zero emission commercial vehicles.

In a statement issued at the opening of the CV Show last month, Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: “We cannot deliver net zero and improve air quality without decarbonising commercial vehicles.

“But if operators have to wait up to 15 years just to be able to plug them into their depots, there is no case for investment.

“Prioritising grid connections, alongside reform to planning and action on energy costs, would reduce barriers to adoption, en­suring commercial vehicles con­tinue to carry the loads that keep our economy on the move whilst doing the heavy lifting the nation needs to reach net zero.”

SMMT emphasises that invest­ment in new vans and trucks is contingent on their commercial and operational viability – and that in order to reap the full ben­efits of electrification, affordable energy, depot charging access, and access to facilities suitable for charging larger vehicles across the strategic road network, will be required.

“The fact that companies cur­rently face wait times of up 15 years for grid connections is the biggest barrier to EV adoption, and is too late not just for 2035 – when the sale of new, non-ZEV vans and HGVs under 26 tonnes is due to end – but for 2040 when all new HGVs sold in the UK must be zero emission,” warned SMMT.

“Massive manufacturer invest­ment means operators can now choose from 35 zero emission van models – more than half of the market – and more than 30 ZEV truck models.

“Uptake, however, remains significantly behind ambition with the ZEV mandate requiring 16 per cent of new van sales to be ZEVs in 2025.

“Currently, electric van regis­trations are running at little more than half that (8.3 per cent) with around 167,000 more expected to reach the road over the next three years – which would see the market reach 25 per cent ZEV by the end of 2027, below the man­date target of 34 per cent.

“The challenge is even steeper for the HGV sector, with ZEVs mak­ing up just 0.5 per cent of regis­trations and accounting for fewer than 600 trucks currently in use.”

While grants for plug-in vans and trucks and govern­ment’s Zero Emission HGV and In­frastructure Demonstrator (ZEHID) programme continue to incentivise transition, says SMMT, action is needed now to remove administra­tive gridlock to investment.

It added: “Government recently announced that it will fast-track grid connections for data cen­tres, wind farms and solar power installations. This preferential treatment, as well as consistent and efficient implementation of local planning policy, must also be afforded transport depots if the UK’s net zero and air quality improvement ambitions are to be realised. Together with more affordable energy and a faster rollout of infrastructure across the strategic road network, this would make the case for operator investment in ZEVs unarguable. To do otherwise risks ceasing the mass transition of the HGV sector before it has even begun, while holding back uptake of electric vans given they would use these same facilities.”