Three years ago, the UK became the first major economy to pass a law requiring the UK to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. With the publication of the Government’s ‘Ten Point Plan’ last year, the implications for road transport became clearer as a rapid move to zero tailpipe emission vehicles and clean energy to power them was signalled.
On ‘transport day’ at the Glasgow climate summit last year the Government confirmed its plans for all new heavy goods vehicles sold in the UK to be zero emission from 2040 (and sub-26 tonnes from 2035). Alongside the 2030/5 commitment to phase-out sales of new petrol and diesel cars and vans, this allowed the Government to trumpet an end to sales of all vehicles with tailpipe emissions within 20 years.
So, the winds of change are blowing hard and long. My organisation, Zemo Partnership, has responded by rebranding/renaming the organisation (we were formerly Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership) to reflect the drive for zero emissions as well as announcing an acceleration programme to help make change happen faster.
The electrification of transport in all its forms dominates the Government’s Transport Decarbonisation Plan (published last July) and, though there are doubters about the prospects for electrifying some freight applications, recent studies have been bullish about the chances of technical advances and cost reductions leading to inroads into every area of the truck sector.
A report from the US Dept of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, for example, said that zero emission freight vehicles are becoming an increasingly realistic prospect due to dramatic declines in battery prices and improvements in their energy density.
Some significant electric trucks are on the market already. Scania, Renault, Tevva, Daf, Mercedes, Volvo and others have launched small, medium and large electric trucks and more are promised from these and other manufacturers. New entrants like Volta Trucks (which last year launched four fully electric trucks up to 19 tonnes), Tesla and Rivian are well advanced with introduction plans.
Zemo Partnership (as LowCVP) was a leading partner in the Low Emission Freight and Logistics Trials (LEFT) which reported at the end of 2020. LEFT was a £20 million Government-funded programme (2017-2020) to cut emissions and improve air quality by focusing on emissions-busting technologies for trucks and vans (and their fuels).
These industry-led trials included everything from renewable hydrogen fuel and battery electric trucks through to biomethane, kinetic energy recovery systems; even lightweight and aerodynamic trailers were tested. Trials took place in all driving operations to show how low and zero emission alternative technologies can make a difference, both now and in the future, in UK fleets.
The report categorised technologies as ‘Revolutionary’, ‘Transitionary’ or ‘Evolutionary’ depending on their potential contribution to net zero.
Because, for some operators, ‘revolutionary’ technologies – including battery electric vehicles - are not yet perceived to be viable, especially for long-haul and heavier trucks, Zemo has been working with the Government on the next major phase of zero emission truck trials (ZERFT) while also raising awareness about how, in the short to medium-term, significant emissions cuts can be achieved through the widespread adoption of renewable fuels for freight uses.
Last year, Zemo Partnership revised its Renewable Fuels Guide (co-published with Cenex) which aims to give fleet operators an overview of the range of low carbon and sustainable fuels currently available in the UK.
Zemo followed this up with another study published last year detailing the range of high blend renewable fuels (HBRF) available now to the heavy duty vehicle sector.
The study – including fuels such as biodiesel, hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) and biomethane - showed that there are very significant opportunities for sustainable, renewable fuel adoption by heavy duty vehicles and, in particular, trucks and coaches which are currently responsible for around 5 per cent of the UK’s total GHG emissions.
High blend biodiesel has already made significant inroads in the bus market while both biomethane and HVO adoption in HGV fleets have shown encouraging recent increases, driven partly by requirements for carbon reporting and GHG emissions improvements.
Our studies show that renewable fuels can realise greenhouse gas well-to-wheel emissions reductions of over 80 per cent. Using these fuels at a market average blend of 30 per cent HBRF, used in place of fossil fuels (both diesel and natural gas) by 2030, the sector could save an additional 46 million tonnes of GHG emissions over the next decade, with savings continuing to 2050 given the long use life of combustion vehicles. The biggest opportunities are in the heaviest vehicles with the longest journey profiles, which also produce the most GHG emissions and are the most difficult to move to zero emissions.
To provide operators with better information about the fuels they’re using and to support the HBRF report, Zemo also recently launched a new Renewable Fuels Assurance Scheme (RFAS) for high blend renewable fuels. The scheme gives fleet operators robust information about the greenhouse gas (GHG) and wider sustainability performance of renewable fuels supplied in the UK.
A unique feature of the scheme is a ‘Renewable Fuel Declaration’ which fleet operators receive with batches of the renewable fuel purchased. The declaration includes a colour-coded GHG emission savings banding system, similar to energy efficiency labels, encouraging fleet operators to strive to achieve higher savings.
A key consideration in terms of renewable fuels is, of course, the compatibility of the vehicles and concept of ‘drop-in’ fuels. With the retail market currently limited to 10 per cent ethanol in petrol and 7 per cent FAME in diesel (due to vehicle warranty specifications) delivering renewable drop-in solutions (like HVO) enables much higher blends and, consequently, greater GHG savings. The ability to deliver these to depots or retail forecourts will certainly feature in Zemo’s future work and the overall long-term strategy for renewable fuels, currently under development in DfT.
While renewable fuels are a practical, near and medium-term alternative to fossil fuels for some operators, hydrogen has been widely promoted as an option, particularly for hard-to-electrify vehicles such as long-distance HGVs and coaches (and, perhaps, aeroplanes, trains and ships).
Zemo has recently been focusing on the prospects for hydrogen as a transport fuel and working to determine what will be needed for it to make a useful contribution to decarbonisation.
The work shows that while renewable hydrogen (as well as renewable electricity and renewable combustion fuels made from waste-based feedstocks) can greatly reduce emissions compared with their fossil-powered counterparts, there are major variations in the effectiveness and efficiency in terms of cutting emissions depending on the choices made over the full life cycle. Significantly, the work showed that the well-to-wheel energy efficiency of hydrogen vehicles is lower than diesel internal combustion (IC) or battery electric vehicles and those using renewable fuels in IC engines.
Consequently, we believe that hydrogen vehicles will need to demonstrate considerable complementary benefits such as longer range, superior payload or lower operating costs to compensate for the increase in energy consumption compared with other zero emission powertrain solutions such as battery electric vehicles or even electric road systems.
So, it’s clear that freight operators will face increasing pressure to adopt zero emission solutions but, where electric or other zero tailpipe emissions options are not yet available (or viable), by using existing verified renewable combustion fuels they can dramatically decarbonise and potentially reduce locally polluting emissions from their current operations.
For more information, visit: www.zemo.org.uk