Government announces £20m funding for 20 low carbon freight projects

Thu 12 January 2017 View all news

The Government has announced the winners of a £20m programme to cut carbon emissions and improve air quality in the freight sector which accounts for about 30% of the UK’s CO2 road transport emissions. Succesful projects include electric vans and lorries running on hydrogen dual-fuel.

The funding, which is being delivered by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) and Innovate UK,  is being awarded to 20 firms who set out plans for innovative ways to deploy low and zero emission commercial vehicles.

The aim of the competition is to demonstrate new technologies and to encourage the widespread introduction of low and zero emission vehicles to UK fleets.

Innovate UK’s Manufacturing and Materials Director Simon Edmonds said: "These 20 projects around the UK will spearhead the uptake of the next generation of innovative low emission freight and fleet vehicles.

"The impact will benefit the environment, particularly in our big cities."

The initiative is intended to build on the results of previous low carbon projects with OLEV, and the data collected from this new trial will help future development and commercialisation of these vital technologies.

There were over 40 applications for the scheme – and the winners include:

  • A scheme to increase battery range for electric vehicles.
  • A partnership led by ULEMco from Liverpool will receive £1.31 million to carry out trials using innovative hydrogen dual-fuel technology, and UPS will get £1.33 million to invest in smart charging of its electric vans which run in central London.
  • Air Liquide Group, which receives the largest amount of funding - £2.57 million – for its project trialling biogas in 86 lorries ranging from 26 tonnes to 44 tonnes. In addition, 5 refrigeration units will use a prototype liquid nitrogen system.

The LowCVP is working closely with OLEV, the Department for Transport and Transport for London (through TfL's LoCITY initiative) to cut emissions from the freight sector. The Partnership has re-formed its Commercial Vehicle Working Group in order to intensify the focus on this important area of road transport emissions. (See related story.)

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