Industry trials of trucks are set for support from Government and will benefit from £9.5m invested by the Department for Transport and the Technology Strategy Board. Companies wishing to take advantage of the funding have until June 20 to bid for up to £750,000 each.

“Almost a quarter of carbon from transport in this country comes from heavy goods vehicles, so this is a key area for us to tackle. These trials will show us how low-carbon technologies perform day-to-day in the real world, providing vital data to build operator confidence in these green trucks and allowing us to make policy choices based on hard evidence,” said Minister Penning.

Trials will run for two years and data collected over this period will be used to inform Government policy on low-carbon road freight. To qualify for the competition, vehicles must deliver carbon savings of at least 15% compared with the equivalent conventional vehicle. A variety of technologies are eligible for funding under the rules of the competition including natural gas-powered, dual fuel or hybrid trucks of over 7.5 tons and electric vehicles over 3.5 tons.

Furthermore, natural gas refueling infrastructure funded by the competition will be made accessible to other commercial and public-service vehicle operators, helping to build a network around the country.

Source: Department for Transport