A zero emission future for road transport takes a big step forward with a new roadmap from the UK government. The recently unveiled Road to Zero policy sets out specific aims to position the UK at the fore of designing and building zero emission vehicles. It’s a bold ambition and one that other governments could model in the years ahead. However, it entails significant challenges for a range of players, particularly within the van segment.
Specific Road to Zero targets include ending the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars and vans by 2040. By the same time, the majority of new cars and vans must be 100% zero emission and all must have significant zero emission capability. As a stepping stone, the government wants at least 50% and up to 70% of new cars to be ultra low emission by 2030, with up to 40% of vans meeting this criteria. The term ‘ultra low emission vehicle’ (ULEV) is generally expected to mean emissions of less than 50g/km over the WLTP cycle from 2021 onwards.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has been working with the government on its air quality strategy. Its Commercial Vehicle Manager, Nigel Base, has described the 2030 van market target as “one of the more challenging objectives” in the roadmap. “This goes far beyond the targets that all other European countries require,” he stated. At the moment, ULEVs make up just 0.3% of new van sales in the UK. This means that it would take a nearly 144-fold increase in sales to reach the 2030 target.
The Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP) is bullish on the van target, which it regards as lagging behind other road transport segments so far. LowCVP’s Andy Eastlake, Managing Director, believes this is an area where rapid progress is particularly needed. “We believe that there is a potential to make significant progress in cutting carbon and polluting emissions from the van sector,” he told Automotive World. “Smaller (Class 1) car-derived vans should be easier to tackle as technology developed for cars can be applied directly to these vehicle types. Larger vans developments will be driven by fuel costs, capacity and flexibility.”
Eastlake goes on to suggest that range extenders like those announced recently by Ford and the London Electric Vehicle Company could be a compelling proposition, potentially meeting Clean Air Zone or even Zero Emission Zone requirements, but retaining operational flexibility.
Cenex, the UK’s first centre of excellence for low carbon and fuel cell technologies, particularly welcomed the incorporation of vans in the Road to Zero strategy. “The proposed target of 40% of the van market being ULEV by 2030 can be debated, but the need for zero tailpipe emission capable vans for delivering goods in towns and cities is agreed by all parties,” its Chief Executive Robert Evans commented.
He believes that the uptake of zero emission capable vans will be driven both by the rate of new model launches – whether they be plug-in hybrid, pure battery electric or fuel cell electric – and by the policies that cities and government adopt. “Overall the key challenge in this area is to reduce emissions without compromising day-to-day operability for the end user, and this is coupled with showing the economic case for ULEV vans by demonstrating their lower cost of ownership when compared to a diesel equivalent,” added Evans.
As SMMT’s Base is keen to emphasise, the industry shares the government’s aims of achieving zero emission transport. His concern is that the targets must be “tempered with realism.” As Base elaborated: “The transition to zero emission faces many challenges which should be overcome in collaboration between government and industry. We need realistic ambition levels and measures that support industry’s efforts, allow manufacturers time to invest, innovate and sell competitively, and provide the right incentives and infrastructure.”
Infrastructure concerns were also raised by Amy Stray, an Energy Specialist at international legal practice Osborne Clarke. She notes that today’s electricity networks are already under pressure, even with the low EV penetration levels. “EVs are an important part of this [Road to Zero] strategy; however the UK does not yet have the infrastructure to deal with this change,” she observed. “It’s important to note that uptake of EVs – and their charging requirements – has consequences for the electricity grid.”
Meanwhile, the government aims to support industry in meeting these targets through a range of measures worth £1.5bn (US$1.9bn) by 2020. These include continuing grants for plug-in cars, vans and motorcycles through 2020, ensuring 25% of central government vehicles are ultra-low emission by 2022, increasing the grant for workplace chargepoint installations from £300 to £500 and launching an Electric Vehicle Energy Taskforce to ensure energy supply can meet vehicle demand.
