Zero Emission Road Freight Demonstrations: battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell trucks

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The Department for Transport, in partnership with Innovate UK, is launching the Zero Emission Road Freight (ZERFT) demonstration programme. This £200 million investment will demonstrate the leading zero emission technology options in on-road operations in the UK, collecting evidence to influence and inform the rapid decarbonisation of the UK’s long haul HGV sector. The programme is focussed is on the largest, most difficult to decarbonise, heavy goods vehicles – typically those weighing 40-44tonnes.

To deliver the Government’s net zero ambitions and enable the phase-out of the sale of new non-zero emission HGVs by the announced 2035/2040 dates, a decision is needed around the mid-2020s on which technology mix and supporting infrastructure is needed to support zero emission HGVs in the UK.

Battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell articulated HGVs are proven to function on a technical level and there has been some early commercialisation. A large multi-year on-road demonstration will deliver a better understanding of the operational impacts, infrastructure requirements and costs of these vehicles. This demonstration and the resultant learning will encourage public and private investment in R&D, business model development, infrastructure, and ultimately, will encourage vehicle adoption.

Come and find out more about the demonstrations and how they will work. The event is suited to organisations and RTOs of all sizes who want to be involved in zero emission truck deployment.

Further phases of the ZERFT demonstration programme will be announced in due course.

Click here for details of the available funding. The competition opens on 15th August 2022 and closes on 12th October 2022.