Planning software provider Dynamon is launching a trial of electric heavy goods vehicles (eHGVs) that will see them ‘pushed to their limit’ to prove they have a place in logistics fleets in the next ten years.
The eFREIGHT 2030 project, which Dynamon claims is the most ambitious trial of its type to date, will see eHGVs taking on roles that diesel trucks usually complete to prove the business case for their use. The trial will also provide a publicly accessible network of 1MW eHGV charging hubs across the UK.
The trial will be funded by the Department for Transport in partnership with Innovate UK and will cost £63 million.
Several major fleet operators are taking part in the trial, including Expect Distribution, Kuehne+Nagel, Maritime Transport, Menzies Distribution, Welch’s Transport and Wincanton Group. The full rollout of vehicles in the trial will begin in 2026, with Dynamon working to plan and deliver infrastructure in the interim period.
“This isn’t about giving electric HGVs easy routes and light schedules for demonstration purposes,” said Angus Webb, Dynamon CEO. “It is about stress testing them in hard-working environments in which they will have to deliver results. The trial will prove what happens when you max out e-HGVs on a daily basis.
“Because of that, a huge amount of planning needs to go into this project so that when they hit the road, they are maximised in terms of their performance, that the operators have the right HGV configuration for the role, and the infrastructure is in place to support them and get the job done.
“That’s where Dynamon comes in: our software can help our partners to plan exactly every element so they can push these trucks as hard as possible and prove that when the correct strategy and support is in place, electric can work cost-effectively.”
Urgent need, but major opportunities
Although HGVs only make up 1% of vehicles on British roads, they are heavy emitters and contribute 20% of the country’s transport emissions.
As such, the UK Government announced last year that it will put £200 million of funding into four demonstration projects designed to boost industry uptake of EHGV’s, which put 370 vehicles into action on UK roads.
There could be strong economic incentives for investment in the sector, too. Late last year, the Green Finance Institute declared that decarbonising HGVs could be a £100 billion opportunity, but noted that to date, progress had been disastrously slow. The November 2023 report called out industry failings, highlighting that “a failure to overcome barriers puts the transition to a zero-emission road freight and logistics sector at risk”.
