Industry leaders in haulage, including RHA members, have launched a cross-industry action group focused on the decarbonisation of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs).
The new HGV zero taskforce will bring together some of Europe’s largest hauliers including XPO Logistics, Eddie Stobart and others, to accelerate the decarbonisation of their fleets across the continent.
Within the first six months of the programme, the group will develop solutions to tackle issues that have so far hindered low-carbon HGV rollouts.
This will include: shared infrastructure mapping: To support the utilisation of charging infrastructure across common geographies and lanes; innovation discovery: To map the innovative transition landscape for HGVs; and a joint action plan to prioritise and breakdown shared infrastructure barriers and co-create a deployment roadmap for viable HGV projects.
The group will develop a roadmap including solutions to overcome costly and risky challenges around long to medium-haul vehicle and fuel technology, multi-fuel charging infrastructure, multi-modal efficiency, and value chain collaboration.
Dr Nicholas Head, Environmental & Sustainability Lead – UK and Ireland, XPO Logistics, said: “HGV decarbonisation is a systemic critical challenge that we must address innovatively and as an industry.
“That’s why we are particularly excited to be working with a diverse group of organisations, including our haulage peers and global shippers, to develop joint solutions that will further accelerate the sustainability of HGV transport.”
RHA View
Speaking about the news, Policy lead – Environment at the RHA, Chris Ashley, said: “We strongly support the Government’s Zero Emission Road Freight Trial and welcome initiatives such as HGV zero.
“It is vital that our sector can test zero emission HGVs in real-world conditions as they become available so that they can be introduced at scale in due course.”
The news comes as the RHA launches its #RHAEnvironment campaign to champion the industry’s move towards net zero, bringing together members, politicians, policy makers, manufacturers, trade bodies and the wider industry to focus on solutions to help you invest with confidence in new technologies. Watch video presentation here
Getting involved
RHA has published a downloadable briefing document on its website which explains what the campaign’s about and how you can get involved. You can download the members pack which has posters and social media assets supporting the campaign by clicking here
