In a transformative year for sustainable logistics, Voltempo has been at the forefront of electrifying the HGV sector. Through launching and leading the eFreight 2030 ZEHID consortium, its innovative charging infrastructure, and a commitment to decarbonisation, the company has been instrumental in breaking down barriers and accelerating the transition to zero-emission freight transportation.
FCZ asked Voltempo to review the progress made across the sector in decarbonising road freight and for reflections on what lies ahead. Michael Boxwell, Chief Executive Officer at Voltempo Group shared his thoughts.
Most significant breakthrough?
We have started to see a big uptake in the demand for decarbonised logistics from end-customers, with a particular push for logistics companies to present their own plans and roadmaps on how they can move to a zero-carbon logistics future, and an interest in collaborating to help reduce emissions. This is a big step forward in winning the hearts and minds of the freight logistics sector.
Biggest win for the sector in 2024?
The ZEHID consortiums have brought the industry together with real world actions, getting electric vehicles on the road and commencing the build out of dedicated HGV charging hubs at key locations across the country. These activities are helping both large operators and smaller SMEs take their first steps into operating electric HGVs and I am particularly excited that SMEs are a major part of the journey. It is telling that in the Electric Freightway consortium, the first operator to go live with electric HGVs was A.F. Blakemore & Son. With eFREIGHT 2030, the first operator was Welch’s Transport. Small logistics operations are the lifeblood of this industry and the early fears that the ZEHID projects were only going to benefit the larger players is not being borne out in reality.
Missed opportunity by industry of 2024?
We were unable to update legislation on electric HGVs around weights and lengths that would have unlocked one of the barriers for electric HGV adoption. The work continues and we are hopeful that major progress can be made in 2025.
Most proud of?
Creating and running the eFREIGHT 2030 consortium has been an incredible journey. The experience of building a collaboration from across the freight industry working towards a common goal has been an amazing privilege. The collaborative approach is working, with companies who would usually see themselves as competitors working together to create a nationwide HGV charging network and learning from each other on how best to decarbonise their vehicle fleets.
A lot of the work goes on in the background. I am also incredibly proud of the team of dedicated people who work at Voltempo, creating our multi-bay megawatt charging system and developing the sites across the country ready to install our systems during 2025.
2025 and beyond
Looking at the bigger picture - optimistic or pessimistic?
I see some huge opportunities for our industry over the coming years, and believe that 2025 could be a pivotal year for decarbonisation. We are gradually overcoming the barriers for electric HGV adoptions, streamlining the infrastructure progress, reducing costs for vehicles and infrastructure, working closely with the government to get the legislation changes we need.
New vehicles are coming online with the first electric trucks from DAF, Scania and MAN arriving during 2025, while the rollout of the charging and hydrogen refuelling networks from the ZEHID consortia will continue throughout the year. By the end of 2025, virtually all the fleets within the ZEHID programmes will have received their electric and hydrogen vehicles and will be learning how the vehicles work in practice. This will build up confidence in the technology and how to best operate these vehicles, enabling fleets to understand how best to roll out zero-emission HGVs going forward.
Finally, more and more customers are demanding zero-emission road freight as part of their tenders. We have already seen how this has driven the uptake of electric buses, and can expect this would have a similar impact on the freight logistics sector.
