The UK Government has recently announced new funding of £200 million for zero emission trucks in the UK freight industry. This investment, to be delivered in conjunction with Innovate UK, will help to drive innovation in this sector and aims to enable the roll out of over 350 zero emission trucks across the country, along with almost 60 new refuelling or charging sites.
Zero emission vehicles are typically electric or hydrogen powered, the latter usually utilising fuel cells, although hydrogen, combustion engines, or even ammonia fuelled systems, can also be used. This investment would allow these technologies to be better optimised for the freight sector.
Recipients of this funding include four innovative green projects:
Voltempo in Birmingham, whose eFREIGHT 2030 project is aiming to create electric vehicle charging hubs specific for HGVs;
GRIDSERVE, whose Project Electric Freightway project is looking to expand their charging network into the HGV market;
Project Zero Emission North (ZEN), which aims to build up to 70 battery electric HGVs and 30 hydrogen fuel HGVs; and
Protium, whose Freight and Hydrogen Aggregated Logistics (HyHAUL) project aims to roll out 30 hydrogen fuel cell HGVs to haulage operators by 2026, and a further 300 vehicles by 2030.
In addition to that £200m, the UK Government, through their Freight Innovation fund, is also making available a further £2.4 million to drive innovation in the freight and logistics sectors, these funds being made available to up to 10 successful SME applicants.
#innovation #transport #netzero #hydrogen
The £200 million commitment ministers are putting into this demonstrator significantly helps to de-risk the transition to net zero. The real-world demonstrators will answer many of the practical questions operators have and, in turn, give our members the confidence to invest in the zero emission lorries needed to drive down carbon emissions from our sector.
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