The UK took two meaningful steps forward in its transition to zero emission heavy vehicle transport last week, beginning with the opening of the nation’s first electric truck-dedicated charging hub. I was delighted to attend the launch at Lincolnshire’s Port of Immingham – the UK’s largest sea port by cargo tonnage – meeting with the site’s infrastructure provider and seven different HGV manufacturers, all of whom were present with their own zero emission models.
The new hub has eight bays with 400 megawatt charging ports, which can charge a normal truck within 45 minutes while the driver takes a break with the option of using on-site amenities such as hot food, toilets and showers. The infrastructure provider is planning to open a total of 1,700 such hubs across Europe by the end of 2030, including more in the UK, so we now have a real-life sample of what zero emission trucking will look like in the near future. Manufacturers are already providing a broad range of attractive models for operators to decarbonise, so doing the same with accessible, affordable public HGV infrastructure can only help encourage more fleets to switch.
Government has world-leading ambitions to decarbonise the HGV sector, with every new truck weighing up to 26 tonnes required to be zero emission from 2035 onward, so it is important that progress is happening sooner rather than later. We saw more of that last week with Innovate UK hosting its Zero Emission HGV and Infrastructure Demonstration (ZEHID) Progress Summit, providing an update on four schemes receiving a share of £200m funding from government. The big news came with the announcement by Minster for Future Roads, Lillian Greenwood MP that government will fund a game-changing 50 HGV-dedicated electric charging stations, and four hydrogen refueling stations, at strategic locations in England, Scotland and Wales.
The infrastructure, along with up to 330 zero emission trucks will be funded by the ZEHID programme, will provide an opportunity to trial electric and hydrogen trucks in real life scenarios, gathering data and insights so that businesses can plan to decarbonise with complete certainty. Some of the infrastructure will operate as shared charging, based at private HGV operator premises, and the hydrogen fuel for the refuelling stations will indeed be green hydrogen.
Today, a hugely successful SMMT Electrified 2025 took place with an exciting range of speakers and a panel on HGV decarbonisation. An update on the event will follow in next week’s edition.
