UK Government Extends Plug-in Truck Grant
An announcement on social media on the 1st April, (hopefully not an April Fools’ Joke), by the Roads Minister, Lillian Greenwood stated that the Plug-in Truck Grant would be extended for another year.
Originally launched in 2012 with the intention of closing the gap between the cost of traditional diesel heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and ultra-low emission electric vehicles, the grant offers up to £25,000 against the purchase price of a vehicle over 12 tonnes and £16,000 for vehicles between 4.25 and 12 tonnes.
The fund of £6m forms part of a £200m investment to promote the roll out of zero emission HGVs and install new infrastructure.
According to the Road Haulage Association (RHA), there are presently just 300 electric registered HGVs on UK roads from a total of around 500,000. The rate of growth should accelerate and in Jan 2024 Amazon, the online retailer, committed to buying nearly 150 electric HGVs.
Lillian Greenwood said, “With freight making up 20% of road transport emissions, decarbonising the sector is crucial... to drive down our transport emissions”. Companies should therefore look to ways to decarbonise their fleet in the short term and not just wait for replacement low-emission vehicles to make the difference.
For logistics businesses, decarbonising fleet operations has shifted from being optional to essential, with a need to drive both sustainability and profitability
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Companies should plan for a future transition to zero-emission vehicles, whilst using route optimisation software to increase delivery density and decrease mileage and emissions in the short term and embed operational efficiency for long-term success.
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