Sharing zero-emission HGV infrastructure: a game-changer for accelerating adoption?

With looming emissions targets and sales restrictions, the UK is well on the way to decarbonising passenger transport and reducing emissions from light logistics vehicles. However, removing fossil fuels from heavy goods vehicles and operations still presents a significant challenge.

Heavy vehicles see a very different use pattern to an everyday family vehicle, with more time on the road and fewer places to fuel up. It’s often necessary for heavy vehicles to recharge and refuel at a depot, meaning that the decarbonisation of heavy vehicles will require wide-spread electrical and hydrogen infrastructure deployment within the next two decades.

This is a mission for many industries; to meet UK climate commitments, a rapid decarbonisation of HGV fleets at scale is required, including streamlining and simplifying infrastructure installation. To this end, the Department for Transport has invested £200mn in the ZEHID programme, which is delivered through Innovate UK.

NB: The language and learnings in the rest of this article will focus mostly on electrical infrastructure. While a lot of the lessons and examples also apply to hydrogen refuelling stations, fewer of these are being constructed as part of this programme and we are yet to draw specific lessons from them.

Hurdles to HGV infrastructure

The need for a zero-emission future is clear. The UK government is funding technology demonstrators and offering subsidy schemes. Technology providers are lining up around the block to help turn that vision into reality. So, what’s the hold-up?

• Cost. Freight, like many sectors, operates on narrow margins. The capital investment required to replace vehicles, install chargers, pay for charger management, and potentially upgrade a connection to the power network is an additional burden on companies.
• Grid connection lead time. Where a new grid connection or upgrade is required, the timeframe is largely out of operators’ control. Distributed Network Operators (DNOs) need to update the UK power networks to deal with heat, transport, and other services electrification while new energy demand for data centres booms. A depot may wait months or years to begin work.
• Disruption to operations. Tight margins in heavy logistics also mean that depots and other sites are squeezed for maximum output, operating around the clock and with no wasted space. Finding time and space to perform the required works, while not impossible, is yet another hurdle for companies wanting to make the transition, though some innovators have developed above-ground solutions for cable channels to minimise earthworks.
• Space requirements. Beyond the space required to carry out installation works, simply finding the space to charge vehicles is a challenge. Heavy vehicles have large batteries that take longer to charge than a diesel tank takes to fill (though megawatt charging can reduce this difference in some instances). With clever planning, space requirements can be minimised by placing chargers in locations where vehicles already need to dwell, such as loading/unloading bays.

This is not an exhaustive list of challenges, but hopefully it demonstrates the type of reasons that mean fleet operators are not jumping at the chance to re-power their depots.

Sharing is caring (and rewarding for you too)

There are many ways that the government can help industry overcome these hurdles and roll out a nationwide network of charging infrastructure, including dedicated funding and regulatory change. The Energy Networks Association and DNOs are working on streamlining connections, through a series of local, regional and national plans. The ZEHID programme is also injecting £200 million into creating that initial spine of infrastructure throughout the UK.

Industry can also play a role in easing the up-front challenges of installing new charging infrastructure, by facilitating the sharing of private chargers. For example, bus operators such as First Bus have made their high-speed chargers available to approved fleets while the buses are on duty during the day. Sharing private infrastructure in this way can reward both owners and users, just a few examples of which are outlined below.

• Lower capital expenditure. Sharing infrastructure with one another means that companies do not have to invest in as many locations, charging kits, and can reduce the need to upgrade the size of your connection to the grid. All of this can reduce the total spend to electrify fleet operations.
• Higher charger utilisation. Unlike diesel (and other liquid fuels), electrical charging infrastructure is not limited by the volume of fuel you have onsite, but by the size of the electrical grid connection. An empty charging bay might mean a waste of that connection. Two companies with complementary power requirements or charging schedules might be able to use chargers when they would otherwise be sitting idle, which can lead to…
• … better returns on investment. Imagine you are a fleet manager. Any time you charge your own fleet at your own depot, you not only save pounds on fuel but also by not paying a premium rate for electricity at a public charger. Other operators who charge at your depot might pay a smaller premium, lowering the total ownership cost for your infrastructure. Alternatively, you may decide to let others charge at no markup because you wish to use their chargers to give your fleet…
• … an extended range of operation. One of the most common concerns voiced by industry when discussing eHGV adoption is the limits on range before needing to recharge. Vehicle efficiency, battery capacity, and charging speed have already reached a point where this should not concern operators for most use cases but sharing charging infrastructure can give an extra layer of comfort to operators. Being able to access quality charging on a less-frequent delivery route, or on a trip that goes beyond back-to-base operations without investing in new land or equipment, means that fleets can electrify sooner and with more confidence.
• Resilience. Speaking of confidence, what happens when a depot’s charging infrastructure is out of commission? With a diesel vehicle, this isn’t a (large) concern – just nip to the nearest public refuelling spot. With zero-emission vehicles, there may not be enough public chargers or refuellers around to keep operations rolling. Sharing agreements can help provide fleet managers with contingency plans to charge at nearby depots in emergencies. The more of these agreements there are, the less impact a depot outage would have on any single other depot.
• SME benefits. There are many uses for heavy road freight in the UK, beyond freight. Even within the haulage industry however, most companies are small and medium-sized enterprise (the RHA estimates that 95% of the logistics and coach sectors are SMEs). Companies with a handful of trucks that don’t have the space or the finances to bankroll a large upgrade to their depots. For these operators, a network of depots around the country means that they can electrify in confidence without overextending. Co-location of large depots with common freight destinations, such as ports and airports, means that SMEs would not have to divert their routes far if they could find a depot nearby willing to share.
• Driver comfort. While megawatt charging is fast becoming a reality and will reduce truck charge time to mere minutes, the operations of many vehicles does not require that speed of charging. Overnight storage, vehicle loading times, and driver breaks all provide plenty of time for lower power chargers to recharge an HGV battery. Ensuring that drivers have access to places to rest and refresh is critical. Private charging providers like Milence and Aegis are looking to provide driver facilities, but sharing infrastructure with other hauliers who already must look after their own drivers means that there could be facilities available.

So why doesn’t everyone do this?

With such a plethora of potential benefits, opening up one’s chargers and collaborating with a wide network of peers to access more infrastructure seems like an easy win for operators. As part of ZEHID, operators involved are required to open their sites to others on the same project. Indeed, we are seeing those involved with the programme proactively engaged and willing to adopt this approach.

That said, the reality of what it would mean to open both depots and infrastructure to external parties is becoming apparent as the sites are delivered and vehicles are purchased. Below are just a few of the key barriers identified in project discussions so far:

• Uncertainty of charger availability for both depot owners and visitors alike. Fleet managers need confidence when they deploy their drivers around the country. Confidence that their drivers won’t need to wait any longer than necessary for a charger to become free, and that a charger is fully functional. Any delays or needing to reroute a vehicle to another charging location could lead to driver overtime or missed deliveries. The freight industry runs on small margins, and so operators may decide to invest in their own infrastructure for security or simply stall on transitioning to zero-emission vehicles at all in the hopes of more affordable or reliable technology in the future.
• Liability. As stated above, installing high-speed charging infrastructure is an expensive exercise. Heavy vehicles, on busy or unfamiliar worksites, create potential for damage to this expensive equipment. Beyond the price of repairing or replacing kit, the resulting charger downtime would layer on additional cost for the owner. Ensuring that liability is correctly assigned ahead of time gives operators peace of mind, but it is not a trivial exercise. One site manager may be uncomfortable with drivers that haven’t gone through a familiar training programme, while another may want to see a higher liability excess than another. As sharing becomes more widely adopted in industry, balancing these requirements while still enabling cooperation will become easier.
• Site access. Depot charging and refuelling infrastructure, by definition, sits alongside an organisation’s daily operations. Just having untrained drivers or staff from a potential competitor near their operations is enough to give a site manager nightmares. Managing access in such a way that chargers are available without opening up the full site is a tricky balance. In Scotland, First Bus have installed a movable barrier on their Caledonia bus depot that allows public access to a bank of chargers between 9am and 4:30pm, while preventing access to the wider facility. While this may or may not be possible with freight or other operating models, it does give an example of one approach to dealing with this problem.
• Driver facility quality/sharing. The availability of driver facilities presents a similar problem. Rest facilities may be located through a restricted access area, which adds a layer of complexity to sharing. Additionally, site operators may not want their drivers sharing facilities or being near drivers from other companies – especially competitors. Ensuring that drivers are provided with a high standard of facility, while not putting site owners at a significant inconvenience, is essential for long-term success of infrastructure sharing.

As mentioned, despite all these challenges the ZEHID programme and its members are making great strides towards demonstrating how the next generation of zero-emission freight can function with sharing infrastructure. Platforms with live information and booking systems can ensure operators get the information they need for efficient management, and standard liability agreements help to circumvent the need for complex legal discussion.

One size does not fit all

In this article, we have really only talked about sharing infrastructure from one angle: sharing the on-site chargers, which are installed and connected at an owner’s expense. However, there are many other ways that zero-emission fleet operators can cooperate for better infrastructure.

• Coordinated grid connections. Many depots are collocated due to proximity to other infrastructure, such as ports. They may even share a common landowner, in the case of some logistics parks. In this case, a coordinated conversation with the local DNO to discuss the current and future energy requirements on site could be of significant benefit. The DNO could plan to deliver the upgrade in the most time and cost-effective way, instead of dealing with a series of individual connection requests.
• Time-managed connection sharing. Another way to take advantage of collocation is through time-sharing an existing power connection. Grid connections are defined by the maximum amount of power that can be drawn. If, say, you need 5MW between 5-6pm but only 1MW at all other times, you need a 5MW connection. If your neighbour needs 10MW between 7-8am, and 3MW for the rest of the day, they need 10MW. Normally, this would mean that the two of you need a 15MW connection.
  However, if you communicate your time-based requirements with your DNO then they may be able throttle connections, so everyone gets their maximum power requirements at the right time with only a small (or even no) upgrade to the network. In the example above, this would mean the total connection was only 11MW. Needing less capacity in this way can speed up any connection upgrades and bring down the total cost.
• Third-party charge point operators can deal with the connection, construction, installation, and maintenance, all while owning the infrastructure on fleet operator’s land. While not for everybody, this approach can mean saving the initial expense (and headaches of navigating the systems involved) and instead pay a pre-negotiated rate for charging at a convenient location while the third party takes on the risk of installation and maintenance.

So, you’re thinking about getting involved…

If any of the content in this article is of interest to you, then please reach out to Innovate UK Business Connect. If you’d like to hear more about the ZEHID programme, feel free to sign up to the mailing list to get updates on progress, reports on programme findings, and notifications of events.

Author: Jesse Prendergast, Knowledge Transfer Manager – Transport Infrastructure