Government offers £9.5m incentive to encourage fleets to go low-carbon

INDUSTRY trials of low carbon trucks will benefit from £9.5m support from the Government, Transport Minister Mike Penning has announced.
 
Truck operators and logistics firms are being invited to bid for a slice of the funding as part of a new competition.

The ‘Low carbon truck demonstration trial’ is aimed at creating fleets of low-emission HGVs as well as supporting infrastructure developments such as fuelling stations and electric recharging hubs.

Mr Penning said: “This competition will help drive down emissions from trucks. Almost a quarter of carbon from transport in this country comes from HGVs, 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.

“The investment in gas refuelling infrastructure will also give haulage firms a push to buy gas-powered HGVs – leaving a legacy that will support low-carbon transport well into the future.”

Companies wishing to take advantage of the funding have until June 20 to bid for up to £750,000 each.

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 gas-powered, dual fuel or hybrid trucks of over 7.5 tonnes and electric vehicles over 3.5 tonnes.

The DfT said gas refuelling infrastructure funded by the competition would be made accessible to other commercial and public-service vehicle operators, helping to build a network around the country.

Greenhous DAF moves into vehicle testing

BLACK COUNTRY-based Greenhous DAF has invested in becoming an Authorised Testing Facility for commercial vehicles. The move is in response to plans from VOSA to close down all of its existing MoT sites in the next two years.

Greenhous DAF has sealed a deal with VOSA which will see its Willenhall site become an ATF from May 3. The business is currently in negotiations with the agency to have its Shrewsbury site assigned the same status.

Wayne Fletcher, service director at Greenhous DAF, said: “MOTs for commercial vehicles are not carried out in the same way as they are for cars and vans – they have to be taken to an authorised VOSA testing facility.

“There are around 90 of them across the UK. However, VOSA plans to close them all down in the next couple of years and we recognised an opportunity to provide a facility for our customers.

“We have an excellent relationship with our customer base and when we identified their desire for a convenient, accessible resource that would see their vehicles undergo VOSA testing here onsite, we went out of our way to make it happen. We are at the forefront of the industry in providing this service.”

Van hire firm sees online rentals increase 200%

Cannock-based vehicle hire and fleet solutions firm Northgate Vehicle Hire has seen a 200% increase in website bookings for retail hire.

The firm relaunched its retail hire offering following increased demand from people looking for van hire for personal use.

Jonathan Pearce, marketing manager at Northgate Vehicle Hire, said: “The retail hire re-launch involved us introducing standardised pricing across the board.”