Energy Systems Catapult was part of the eFREIGHT 2030 consortium, funded by DfT and Innovate UK under the Zero Emission HGV and Infrastructure Demonstrator (ZEHID) programme. The outputs from the ESME Road Freight model were used to compile a list of recommendations for different stakeholders in decarbonising the UK HGV fleet. These recommendations were reported in The Road Ahead: National system impacts of HGV decarbonisation.

This consortium included a mix of industry leading fleet operators, chargepoint providers, and vehicle manufacturers. The depth of knowledge within the consortium was drawn upon to update the assumptions and data within the ESME Road Freight model.

Several scenarios were agreed with the consortium, focussing on different incentive packages for zero-emission HGVs as well as looking at how the time and location of charging may impact the wider infrastructure requirements.

The expanded functionality of ESME Road Freight was used to simulate fleet purchasing choices out to 2050 based on a range of incentives for zero-emission HGVs. Our cost and performance data was used to estimate the total cost of ownership for a set of powertrains across different vehicle categories. Then the wider system and policy implications were assessed, resulting in a set of recommendations for driving uptake of zero-emission HGVs.

The work also analysed charging infrastructure and energy demands for the zero-emission HGV transition, based on the chosen scenarios. By looking across depot and en-route locations, the impacts of increased en-route charging on fleet operations and infrastructure requirements were assessed. ESME Road Freight also created possible energy demand profiles, allowing us to look at different managed charging solutions and the wider network implications.

UK Energy Research Centre commissioned Energy Systems Catapult and the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK to explore different pathways for reducing freight emissions from Heavy Goods Vehicles.

With little industry momentum and a severe lack of workable low emission prototype vehicles, the challenge was to develop an accurate and usable modelling tool to provide evidence that encouraged the UK transport sector to embrace cleaner alternatives.

Rather than focus on vehicle weights (like most existing models), we focused on the specific use cases (e.g. long-haul vs. local depot deliveries) to identify the technical specifications needed to achieve zero emissions and the infrastructure that will need to be in place to support the vehicle uptake.

The tool was used to engage the Department for Transport on:

• Including operators’ decision parameters and behaviours into modelling to better inform policy interventions and align operators’ choices with the required deployment of technologies and infrastructure.
• Assessing how policy decisions can support freight operators and  infrastructure roll-out to facilitate carbon-free powertrains.

Following project completion, we’ve used the tool to engage with the UK Department of Transport and wider industry to explore how they could benefit from enhanced freight modelling to inform policy making.