Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to increase the proportion of road freight journeys made in vehicles powered by renewable energy.

Decarbonisation of the UK’s road freight sector will play a critical role in delivering on our climate ambitions. The Government is rewarding the supply of renewable fuels for use in road transport, including heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), through the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation scheme. We have also made funding available through multimillion-pound industry demonstration competitions, such as the Future Fuels for Flight and Freight Competition (the F4C), which support projects capable of producing low carbon waste-based fuels for use in aviation and HGVs.

The Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution announced that we are investing £20m this financial year in planning for zero emission road freight trials which will support UK industry to develop cost-effective, zero-emission HGVs and their refueling infrastructure in the UK. These trials will advance research and development in the technologies of catenary electric, battery electric and renewable hydrogen-powered HGVs, allowing us to begin the commercial roll-out of the appropriate new technologies before the end of the decade.

We will also be consulting on a date for phasing out the sale of new diesel HGVs to drive innovation and development and increase the uptake of zero emission alternatives within the HGV sector.

In November 2020, HM Treasury published the National Infrastructure Strategy. This confirmed that the £950m Rapid Charging Fund (RCF) was to be made available to future-proof electrical grid capacity at service areas on motorways and major A-roads. Whilst the RCF is currently targeting cars and vans, the additional electrical capacity will support charging infrastructure for zero emission HGVs. We are currently analysing the demand from zero-emission HGVs at Motorway Service Stations and considering how the infrastructure installed as part of the RCF can be used by zero emission HGVs in the future.