As the UK haulage industry moves to electrification, the key consideration will not actually be range, but time stopped. Downtime is not only the cost of the charge, but the expense of the driver not driving after his break, the knock-on effects to logistics, and consequently the hit to productivity.

Range for an electric HGV at the end of the decade will not be a problem, in itself. If an HGV has a range of 250 miles, at an average speed of 50 mph it’s going to be able to run for up to five hours, so beyond when the driver would have to stop for a break anyway, and also cover many of the routes required of it in the UK in one go, too.

The big question is what happens when it has to stop, and how best hauliers can make use of that downtime. Every second should be spent getting as much power into its batteries as possible, in the most cost-efficient way.

In its Rapid Charging Fund announcement, the Government said it would be committing £950m to improve charging infrastructure on the motorway and major A roads’ network, and that by 2035, it expected around 6,000 high-powered, open-access charge points across England’s motorways and major A roads.

Big numbers sound good. But crunch the data for actual charging requirements on the ground, and a different picture appears.

Firstly, it’s worth looking at the requirement for charging HGVs, and then how you supply this demand. Scania, for example, expects that half of all its vehicle sales by the end of this decade will be powered by electric, and claims its current electric models can be fully charged in less than 90 minutes at 375kW.

But the question will be: where can you get 375kW charging speed available for every charging point, and how can you guarantee there will be enough network capacity not just when one is hooked up, but multiple vehicles all demanding the same amount, at the same time, easily drawing multi megawatts from the supply?

If you have a motorway service station with charging facilities for 15 HGVs, all with 500kWh batteries, who turn up during the day and need to be back out on the road an hour-and-a-half later fully charged, you’ll need somewhere between 4MW to 5MW of power, depending on how much the batteries were depleted when the trucks arrived.

And what about truck stops? Usually, they’re large concrete pans, surrounded by fencing with stopover facilities, near the main A road network and offer parking for dozens of lorries. They’re often not run by large multi-national service station companies, but by local, independent businesses or local authorities. The DfT estimates there are around 21,000 lorries parked up each night within three miles of the strategic road network. They’re going to need a lot of chargers, in the right places. Where, and how will this fit into the overall charging network?

This is where availability of funding will be key, because these stops provide an essential service for the haulage industry, but are not set up to provide the vast amounts of power their customers might want overnight.

In terms of requirements, filling a 500kWh battery pack overnight at a work depot in say, 10 hours requires charging speeds of at least 50kW per vehicle. It is possible. But a site that has 20 trucks parked up overnight charging, would need in excess of 1 MW power to be available for the full period to charge.

That’s a lot of power, but actually it is possible to produce, and without the need to build new substations or infrastructure costing hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of pounds and taking years to implement next to every place HGVs park up, whether it’s Aunty Annie’s A1 Truck Stop or a motorway service station. This can be done with smart charging networks.

In smart charging networks, capacity is created in the AC distribution upstream, on both low voltage (as supplied to houses and small businesses) and medium voltage (supplied to larger businesses and factories) supplies, but the real benefit results in adding resilient and flexible DC capacity downstream (locally, at the site, in other words), using battery storage, solar PV, green fuel generators or various other forms of generation, which are then linked to a network of chargers and battery storage.

This capacity is used and held for when it’s really needed, providing speeds into the multi MW range which will reduce charging times to a fraction of what they are today. This is in line with market expectations within the next one to two years as the MegaWatt Charging Scheme (MCS) comes to fruition to facilitate the charging of fleets of larger vehicles such as trucks and buses.

At TPS, our Smart Fleet system, with its Velox chargers and Potenza inverter, will deliver these solutions now for both combined charging scheme (CCS) and future MCS charging without the huge cost and engineering needed to upgrade power supply infrastructure in these often remote, or logistically awkward locations. Charging huge batteries efficiently, in large numbers at the same time, on the road network is doable. Additionally, our Smart Fleet system has bi-directional capabilities which means it can export power back to the grid, the local consumer loads and even other electric vehicles when needed.

By applying new technologies and different thinking to the approach to charging infrastructure - in particular using the power of smart networks and clever management in support of the grid – it is possible to deliver all the power the haulage industry needs to keep rolling effectively and efficiently, wherever and whenever trucks may be stopping.

Carlos Neves, CEO, Turbo Power Systems

The post Electric HGVs will require a lot of power to recharge – but there are smarter ways appeared first on Motor Transport.

Shortly after it entered insolvency proceedings, administrator David Kemp said many haulage firms had struggled during 2022, blaming rising fuel prices and the professional driver shortage as well as many companies in the industry operating under the pressure of thin margins."

motortransport.co.uk 8 September 2023

So, we have:

“Rising fuel prices”;
“Professional driver shortage”;
“Companies operating under the pressure of thin margins”.

Let us take the first point, “rising fuel prices”. Not a lot the industry can do here it’s been a contentious issue for many years and every transport operator is in the same position.

Despite the decades of grumblings from the RHA, the government appears not to be doing much for the industry concerning fuel prices, and why would it? The tax the industry pays is considerable. Transport is, in the the words of Sir Humphrey from Yes Minister, “a vote loser”.

Moving onto “professional driver shortage”. During the RHA international conferences in the 1980s the issues of driver shortages within the next three decades was mentioned. It was suggested that the trade bodies form a section, funded by the industry, to take a “road show” similar to those of the high-end consultants such as PwC and EY to visit universities to interview interested and suitable candidates.

This road show would take the industry into schools and collages to enthuse and entice young people into the industry. Did anything happen? No of course not. Now there is a 50,000+(TBC) driver and general staff shortage in the UK alone.

Onto “companies operating under the pressure of thin margins”. So why is this? Are there more transport companies in the market than needed? If that was the case, why is there a driver shortage?

The bulk of the road transport network is operated by companies that operate one to 10 trucks. By the very nature of the operation the vehicle can only work for 25% of the seven-day day week.

Just imagine a Boeing or Airbus arriving in Heathrow and the pilot telling the ground staff “park it over there and I’ll be back in 12 hours after my break”.

Of course not; if airlines worked like that they would be bankrupt in a week. The plane lands, is cleaned, refuelled, reloaded, recrewed and off within an hour or so.

The industry needs to become more efficient if margins are to be increased and for that more staff are needed. There is the problem - where do they come from?

I am not staying these are the only issues and solutions but for the industry to improve, root and branch changes are needed, someone has to start the process.

Graham Manchester, former haulier, Poole

The post Root and branch changes required if haulage industry is to survive appeared first on Motor Transport.

The GNSS annual market is now valued at over €150bn (£129bn) through the explosive growth of location-based services offered through smartphones, watches and automotive vehicles. Services like Google Maps, Waze and Uber have become part of our everyday lives and our transport, logistics and financial systems are highly dependent upon these services.

Despite its remarkable capabilities, GNSS does face certain limitations, with one of the most significant challenges being multipath interference. This occurs when satellite signals reflect off buildings, metalwork or other reflective objects before reaching the receiver in your smartphone, watch or automobiles. These reflected signals can cause significant inaccuracies in the measurements, which degrades the overall performance of a position calculation. Performance degrades significantly the more reflective objects that are in the environment in which you find yourself, typical of dense modern cities.

With couriers working daily in the hardest GNSS environments, it becomes almost impossible for companies to know exactly what’s happening as drivers are dispatched. Logistics businesses require systems that function seamlessly in all operational environments, so that end user customers receive the highest level of customer service.

Amazon alone ships 1.6m packages per day. Those parcels need to be delivered to the doors of customers, many of which live and work in modern dense urban jungles. Each driver is required to deliver between 250 and 300 packages a day to over 200 stops. Efficiency is absolutely key to success.

The cost of poor positioning can be substantial. Errors in positioning result in significant economic consequences from inefficient routing, increased fuel consumption, delays to delivery schedules and lower customer satisfaction.

Current GNSS receivers need to supply higher levels of accuracy, reliability and security across these critical industries and in all environments — suburban, urban and skyscraper jungles. This challenge can be solved by upgrading the way that GNSS receivers interpret satellite signals; a simple but seismic change for this foundational technology.

Using modern signal processing and machine learning techniques, the problem of multipath and spoofing can be solved, dramatically improving the performance for smartphones, wearables and vehicles in the deepest of urban environments.

Scott Pomerantz, CEO, FocalPoint

The post Satnavs have changed our world – but could still do better appeared first on Motor Transport.

The need to drive decarbonisation has never been greater. Increased energy costs – which still remain above pre-pandemic levels despite the drop of wholesale gas prices by 46% since last June – along with volatile weather conditions has sparked alarm bells across the globe.

While UK prime minister Rishi Sunak MP has recently sanctioned hundreds of new oil and gas licences for the UK, potentially bringing the country’s 2050 net zero target into question, our industry must continue pressing on with its sustainability targets.

To assist in driving the industry forward in matching the UK’s goal of bringing down greenhouse emissions to net zero, the Cold Chain Federation launched its own ‘Net zero project’ in 2020, which aims to help the industry meet the challenge of decarbonising the UK economy.

Data on the impact the cold chain sector has on the UK’s overall carbon footprint is not clear-cut, but it has been estimated that food refrigeration systems – which are a major element of the wider cold chain network – account for approximately 2% to 4% of total greenhouse gas emissions in the UK.

With this in mind there is a responsibility on the industry to press forward with sustainability plans, not only to help fight to climate change but also to future-proof temperature-controlled businesses in the years and decades to come.

The need to invest into alternative means of energy has never been greater. With environmental sustainability high on the global agenda in a bid to tackle the ever-worsening climate crisis, the industry has a responsibility to play its part in helping to drive forward its sustainability plans.

Understandably as a consequence of the rise in inflation and interest rates, investment into alternative energy sources may have to be put on hold for the time being for some temperature-controlled operators, but compromising on sustainability plans altogether is very much a false economy.

We are noticing year on year that, as the nation becomes more acutely aware of the harm greenhouse gases causes to the environment, more onus is being placed on the industry to think greener in every aspect of operation. This is particularly apparent with regards to buy-in from customers both existing and new when they learn of our ongoing investment programme into renewables.

Therefore, while safeguarding the environment is a significant benefit of considering alternative sources of energy, there can also be long-term financial benefits for operators. Implementing energy-saving measures can lead to reduced operational costs over time through lowering energy bills, as well as provide operators the opportunity to identify areas within their business which are inefficient, replacing them with more sustainable processes, systems, or technologies.

Maximising efficiency and investing in alternative energy will be key to offsetting emissions for temperature-controlled operators in the UK and beyond, and capitalising upon new and innovative technologies is a fundamental driver for reducing carbon emissions – something that our company has successfully integrated into its operation in recent years, and is already experiencing tangible benefits as a result.

As a progressive business, we have consistently explored sustainability opportunities when available and conducted an ongoing investment programme in its site facilities to ensure maximum energy efficiency is retained.

This has included converting our entire lighting system across both our sites to LED as well as upgrading the insulation used to line the building to better thermal performance panels, ensuring as little cold escapes as possible. This year, we will be introducing a number of ground breaking renewable energy processes to further reduce our greenhouse emissions as well as general dependency on non-renewable energy sources.

John Davidson, MD of temperature-controlled solutions specialist JS Davidson

The post Cold chain must remain focused on net zero target to reap sustainability and efficiency rewards appeared first on Motor Transport.

Our industry will face many challenges on the road to decarbonisation. However, I believe that our greatest challenge is not one of technology but one of un-indoctrinating the indoctrinated.

The commercial vehicle industry, like the wider automotive industry, is being forced by governmental legislation towards a series of impending cliff edges aimed at enforcing the predominance of battery vehicles. However, the legislative foundations are extremely unstable, with a focus solely on tailpipe emissions rather than lifecycle emissions. Many questions are now being asked about the UK government’s current trajectory – even from within government.

Many operators are now realising that an internal combustion engined vehicle (ICEV) fuelled by HVO has lower CO2 lifecycle emissions than a battery electric vehicle (BEV), while also being more cost effective and operationally efficient. This begs the question, why is the UK government proposing to ban the sale of new ICEVs to enforce BEVs?

It’s time for the commercial vehicle industry to speak up and make its voice heard. Our future should not be focused on obtaining a tick in the box against some spurious ESG target, it must be focused on keeping the country moving in the cleanest, most cost effective, most operationally efficient, least taxpayer reliant way.

Perhaps it’s now time to take off our lithium stained spectacles to reflect on what reality would look like if the UK’s proposed move to battery electric vehicles, through banning the sale of vehicles powered by internal combustion, was to be actually implemented. The following memorial prayer by a reformed and repentant battery electric vehicle activist may give us some idea.

"We commend to you our loyal servant the internal combustion engine. Like most things in life the ICE wasn’t perfect, but it had many great qualities and had mobilised humanity for over a century. Despite being developed into one of the cleanest propulsion technologies available, with better lifecycle CO2 emissions than many BEVs and almost no NOx, the ICE was condemned in a senseless sop to the asphyxiating stench of political correctness.

We would ask for guidance on what we should do now. We put our faith in batteries but now find we haven't the grid capacity to charge them. BEV range remains restrictive, while age related battery degradation and cold weather conditions continue to magnify this weakness. We didn't think through the implications of the additional time required for battery charging in comparison with vehicle refuelling, or the massive volumes of roadworks and associated disruption resulting from the implementation of a charging infrastructure.

We completely underestimated society's annoyance at all these compromises. Worse still, all this sacrifice has been for nothing since carbon dioxide levels have actually risen as a result of the massive emissions inherent in battery manufacturing and the fact that the unilateral focus on BEVs completely undermined the implementation of other more readily available clean technologies.

The enforcement of BEVs on society has been an unmitigated disaster which has cost taxpayers dearly and not only starved many genuine environmental projects of funding, but also other worthy causes such as health and education.

Forgive our arrogance. BEVs had a bright future and a vital role in mobility, but we squandered the opportunity believing instead that batteries were the all-encompassing silver bullet solution. Other propulsion technologies invited us to work with them to secure a cleaner future, but we shunned their approaches. Our goal wasn't lower emissions; batteries had lived in the shadow of the internal combustion for over 125 years and were going to have their day in the sun, regardless of the cost to humanity. With most other propulsion technologies now outlawed or politically undermined, we effectively stand alone and have come to understand the wisdom behind the saying, 'it is much easier to oppose than to govern'.

Forgive our financial recklessness and the £600+ million per week deficit in UK government revenues, resulting solely from the loss of fuel duty and VAT on fuel duty. We're afraid to mention the additional lost revenues from the VAT charged on the fuel itself, let alone the losses from road tax.

We even tried to suppress the financial losses incurred by UK business when we undermined the ICE without a viable option. We refused to wait on the introduction of the much superior (and less infrastructure reliant) solid-state battery technology and threatened to libel the government as 'anti-environmental' if they did not squander countless £billions of taxpayers' money to support current technology lithium-ion liquid electrolyte (mobile phone) battery propulsion.

Forgive our hypocrisy. We were happy to lambast VW while simultaneously encouraging BEV manufacturers to mislead the public with 'Zero Emissions' marketing and vehicle badging. We knew that our 'Zero Emissions' messaging completely failed to recognise the emissions from battery manufacturing and disposal, or the inconvenient truth that a major portion of the electricity used to charge BEVs is generated using fossil fuels, or even the fact that BEVs produce non-exhaust emissions from tyres, brakes and road wear. However, we continued unabated and now appreciate that our misleading propaganda was a distortion of the facts much greater than dieselgate. We were finally forced to admit that a BEV is not a 'zero emissions vehicle' but rather a significantly different 'zero tailpipe emissions vehicle'.

Forgive our duplicity. We complained when others ridiculed the limited range of our BEVs while responding with nebulous statements about improved versions being in the pipeline. We used old technology propaganda to undermine the latest Euro-6 ICE variants. We labelled clean diesel "dirty" while suppressing our struggle to find an environmentally friendly way to manufacture and dispose of batteries. We thought we could dupe society by peddling the concept of using redundant BEV batteries for static storage, however society soon realised that these enormous quantities of dead batteries would ultimately need to be dealt with.

Forgive our greed. We wanted complete market dominance and we wanted it given to us on a plate. We demanded high taxation on fossil fuels, while insisting on subsidies for BEVs. We demanded government funding for BEV development while simultaneously petitioning for the funding ladder to be pulled up on other propulsion technologies.

We were terrified by the threat posed to batteries by clean ICE (especially when fuelled by HVO, synthetic fuels, biofuels, natural gas or hydrogen) and unrelentingly petitioned for its destruction. We even believed hybrids were too much of a compromise. In our world no other technology was acceptable and we didn’t care if genuine environmental projects were underfunded as a result of our greed, just as long as taxpayers' monies were diverted to us. It had to be pure battery or nothing, whatever the cost to society.

Forgive our naivety. We believed evangelist Elon and his Teslanic teachings. We were oblivious to China’s cunning strategy for automotive world domination through its use of the BEV as a Trojan horse and completely failed to recognise the significance of China's stranglehold on the battery supply chain. While the general public remained unaware that politicians had been subverted by Big Battery, we successfully petitioned government to legislate batteries into a position of prominence and now find that the UK automotive industry is now effectively under the control of China.

Forgive our intolerance towards any other propulsion technology. We admit our attacks on the internal combustion engine and hybrids were only the start. Hydrogen Fuel Cell was also on our target list, because Elon said it was 'incredibly dumb' and we believed him. We recognised that the term 'battery vehicle' didn’t resonate with society, so we aggressively marketed BEVs as 'electric' while simultaneously promoting the view that Fuel Cell and Hybrid Electric Vehicles were not worthy to be called ‘electric’.

Forgive all our sins. We got so caught up in trying to establish battery propulsion and eliminating all alternatives that we lost sight of the economic, social and technical realities. We lost sight of the truth and are truly sorry for orchestrating this disastrous strategy.

Help us to see there’s no one size fits all solution, to accept that other propulsion technologies can deliver significant benefits and to work in harmony with them to deliver a truly cleaner and financially viable future for all."

Geoff Potter
MD, Gray & Adams (Ireland)

The post A tribute to the (very much alive) internal combustion engine… appeared first on Motor Transport.

The driver shortage which reached its peak in autumn 2021 is an obvious one for our sector. The good news is that government help through HGV skills bootcamps has seen this stabilise as record numbers have taken their tests.

But since then, a shortage of technicians has emerged which could have huge implications for commercial vehicle firms if we don’t fix it.

Over the last 20 years there’s been a focus on getting more people into universities. This is a good thing but it’s often been to the detriment of vocational training. Non-academic routes are seen by some as inferior so it’s no surprise that so many of the occupations highlighted as having shortages are the ones dependent on vocational training.

These are often treated as second class and aren’t well promoted to young people.

Heavy vehicle technicians have mainly followed a traditional apprenticeship path through the local college. But this has changed. Your local college at best only provides light vehicle training.

Heavy vehicle apprenticeships tend to be residential courses run by a dwindling number of training providers. Vocational training, without the same standing as university routes has suffered from funding cutbacks, and colleges and training providers struggling to keep up with the changing technologies and cost of new equipment.

Over the next five years technicians will likely need to learn how to maintain various types of vehicles from diesel to electric and hydrogen. Without investment in training we will see less and less provision available.

What do we do about it? We’ve been working with the trailblazer group to gain a sustainable level of funding for the Heavy Vehicle Technician apprenticeship.

We welcomed the government’s increase to £20k but it still doesn’t cover the true cost. Unless the apprenticeship is funded at it’s true value of £23k we fear more training providers will leave the market.

Training new technicians is not a quick process, unlike HGV driving it can’t be completed in a 16-week programme. But we could help our qualified technicians by freeing up their time.

Investment in bootcamps for tyre fitters or vehicle inspections could be an interim measure which has the benefit of providing an introductory route into the sector.

Then there’s the qualified technicians already working in the sector that will need upskilling as the numbers of alternatively fuelled vehicles increase.

If we can get a heavy vehicle technician route alongside the new light vehicle technician T-Level we will have a better chance of attracting college students into the HGV, bus and coach route.

We’re working with the Department for Education, Department for Work and Pensions, Department for Transport, training providers, colleges and industry to scope out the best routes.

We’ve long called for Apprenticeship Levy reform which is key to offering the short entry level courses or opportunities to upskilling.

Without new people being trained the technician shortage will worsen, and it will be harder to keep commercial vehicles on the road.

Sally Gilson

Policy manager - skills at the Road Haulage Association (RHA)

The post We need urgent help with our growing HGV technician shortage appeared first on Motor Transport.

Predicting requirements seven or eight months ahead is always a nightmare, and this year looks particularly fraught. There is, of course, a cost of living crisis but strangely, although full figures are not yet in, it looks as though consumer spending in the Easter peak held up much better than expected – indeed, anecdotally it appears that some retailers and suppliers were short of stock as demand exceeded their somewhat gloomy expectations.

Price inflation remains painfully high, but may decline rapidly over the course of the year. Or we may be trapped in a rerun of the high-inflation Seventies – both views are available, often from the same economic forecasters.

One rather firmer prognostication is that e-retailing seems to have found its new natural level – around a quarter of retail trade. So omnichannel is the way forward for many retailers, with the additional complexity that this brings to warehouse space planning.

Given the uncertainties, many firms will have held back on committing to space for the winter peak, and some, with pressure on margins and anticipating subdued trading, will have decided not to renew leases on some of their existing estate.

That in itself is no bad thing – in our experience it very rarely makes sense for a business to scale its ‘permanent’ warehousing facilities to accommodate the highest peaks in demand. This ties up capital, or drains cashflow, whilst making an inefficient use of scarce and increasingly expensive labour and other resources during the off-peaks – which for many firms is most of the year.

And this year, particularly, is not a good time to be entering into long-term space commitments. Despite some big names, especially in e-commerce, rationalising their warehousing estate, quality space is still in short supply, whilst landlords are facing eye-watering increases in the interest they are paying.

Unsurprisingly this is reflected in rents; the agents Colliers report that in 2022 there was a year-on-year increase of 10.5% in rents for large (100,000sq ft plus) units, and 13.2% on smaller and multi-let facilities and, say the agents “these will continue to rise, albeit at a slower pace”. Meanwhile, the bills for rates, electricity and other utilities, insurance and all the other costs of operating even a half-empty warehouse continue to increase.

The solution is to adopt strategies that embrace and make a virtue of short-term leasing. While the headline rates per square foot may look high, the business is only paying these for the time that the space is needed, and in practice rates are often highly competitive as the space provider is keen to see any return on what is otherwise an underutilised or idle asset.

Nor is the renter paying throughout the year to heat, light, staff and otherwise maintain largely empty space. And often, if a business moves in to take up another company’s spare capacity (which may be because that company is over-provided, or because its peak requirements are at a different time of year) many of the operating costs, perhaps even including labour and IT, are already paid for, so the renting company is charged something closer to the marginal rate rather than the full cost. It can even be that facilities are available already equipped with levels of productivity-enhancing IT and automation that the business would struggle to resource or justify on its own account.

However, the flexibility offered by a strategy that includes short-term lets isn’t just for Christmas. It can allow a supplier or retailer to experiment – with new product lines, with new regional markets or new customers, with new distribution chain architectures, with different blends and approaches to the physical store/e-commerce balance – at relatively little long-term risk.

Such a strategy may even lead to semi-permanent arrangements: an understanding that the business is minded to take the same space for the same three months every year.

Bis Henderson Space has many years of experience in helping companies ‘right size’ their peak space requirements, and then securing the right temporary space: right in terms of cost, location, and facilities, from bare sheds to space in fully-manned and equipped distribution centres. We have built an extensive network of space partners who, sometimes occasionally, sometimes predictably year-on-year, have more warehousing than they need. They are often keen not only for the extra income but for the productivity and efficiency improvements – such as being able to maintain a fully employed permanent staff – that full occupation of their facility can yield.

We help companies find and implement mutually beneficial deals surprisingly quickly – but be warned: an increasing number of companies are now actively seeking the benefits of including short-term accommodation as part of their warehousing strategy – and Christmas is closer than you think!

Steve Purvis, MD, Bis Henderson Space

The post Banish the nightmare of predicting and right-sizing peak warehouse space appeared first on Motor Transport.

With Traffic Commissioners responsible for licensing and regulating operators of HGVs, PSVs and local bus services, any company operating either goods vehicles or buses will be affected by the review and its recommendations. If they’re adopted, they’ll amount to the single greatest change to the transport regulatory regime this century.

What are the key takeaways?

Traffic Commissioners are still very much required

In August 2021, the DfT launched a consultation on the future of the Traffic Commissioner function. All options were on the table, including whether Traffic Commissioners were even required at all.

To this point, the review is clear: they are. And this should come as no surprise. The document notes the volume of both freight traffic and bus journeys in the UK, and the resulting "significant public interest in ensuring [these] industries are well regulated".

This is hard to argue with. One only needs to compare UK road safety statistics with those of other jurisdictions with less-robustly regulated transport industries for the benefit of our current system to become clear.

Individual Traffic Commissioners to be replaced by a single tribunal

This does not, however, mean business as usual going forward. The Review recognises that the current model as it stands is outdated and in need of reform, noting that its organisational structure holds "no exact equivalence across government, representing a significant divergence from centrally produced guidance and…best practice".

The solution, it says, is to create a single specialist tribunal, to be led by a tribunal president, rather than a senior Traffic Commissioner.

The practical effect of this would be to give the Traffic Commissioners far greater powers over how their public inquiries and regulatory proceedings would be run. There would be the introduction of tribunal rules and the power to make costs orders against frivolous applicants and those operators who fail to comply with the directions of the tribunal.

Such changes would bring the Traffic Commissioner function much more closely into line with other equivalent licensing tribunals. It also raises the prospect of the new Tribunal having greater ‘teeth’ to take action against operators who fall short of the high standards expected.

Higher fees for larger operators

On the question of fees, the review is again straight-talking, describing the current structure as "flawed".

The fixed fee per licence model receives particular criticism. Under the present system an operator spends £257 to apply for a licence, £401 at the point of issue, and a further £401 once every five years to continue the licence. This is the same fee whether an operator runs one or 1,000 vehicles.

Aside from obvious arguments over fairness, there is a more pressing need to consider a reform to the current fee structure: in 2020/21 the licensing service income was just over £13m, whereas expenditure over the same period was almost £18m. The proposal is that this deficit is paid for by the industry, including through the introduction of graduated fees.

Whilst it would take changes to primary legislation to implement these fee reforms, it is not hard to see how the DfT might decide to take this forward as a priority, if for no other reason than to balance the books. If so, this would certainly mean increased costs coming down the line for larger fleet operators.

A new blueprint for the future?

This is not the first review to recommend reform to the Traffic Commissioner function. Previous recommendations have either not been taken up or have been watered down so much that they have amounted to no more than tinkering around the edges. With the need for primary legislation change, a general election on the horizon and limited parliamentary time available, it remains to be seen how many of these latest recommendations will become reality.

If there is to be prioritisation, it seems likely that the DfT will want to focus on licence fee reform. This may well be seen as the magic bullet that would address many of the other problem areas with the current system and result in a cost-neutral regulatory regime funded in an equitable way by the industry that it supports.

We’ll all be following closely.

Chris Powell, principal associate and road transport regulatory specialist, Weightmans

The post Is fundamental reform of our Traffic Commissioner regulation regime on the horizon? appeared first on Motor Transport.

With a professional relationship that spans almost 10 years and shared values regarding the impact their operations will have on future generations, it was during a production meeting in 2022 to discuss the question of sustainability that the shared initiative was brought to fruition.

KB Event introduced non-palm oil HVO to its operation – the first event haulier to do so – in 2018. Although this alternative is more expensive than traditional diesel, since rolling out HVO biofuel to its client base, KB has seen a growing increase in those choosing it as a more responsible way to fulfil their events.

Although the cost increase taken over the total cost of an event or tour is not in any way prohibitive, it is, unfortunately, still a budget consideration and often agencies and management companies are left with a difficult decision when trying to meet cost expectations versus striving to produce a sustainable event.

However, in a bold first move from a UK event agency, Showcase has committed to running all of its events – regardless of whether or not their customer foots the bill – on non-palm oil HVO.
Showcase MD Ben Collings insists this is not a “PR stunt on the back of an industry buzz-word” but is a “moral commitment to securing my children’s and grandchildren’s future and about the impact Showcase is having on that”.

I recently spoke about sustainable events at the Green Events and Innovations conference in London, telling delegates that Showcase is as passionate about the question of sustainable events as we are. They, like us, continue to do everything they can to proactively minimise their impact on the environment, rather than simply reacting to industry pressure and the latest hot topic.

We are pleased to add Showcase to KB Event’s growing list of HVO biofuel clients and to see the continued shift towards more sustainable events across the marketplace. Working with Showcase on this campaign was a no-brainer for us and we are hugely proud to continue to be their nominated trucking supplier.

Richard Burnett, MD, KB Event

The post Showcasing our commitment to more sustainable live events appeared first on Motor Transport.

Van fleets are struggling to make the zero-emission transition and the 2030 Phase Out target for internal combustion engine vehicles is at serious risk. Fleet-friendly public charging infrastructure is scarce and operators are struggling to find electric vehicles that can match their diesel counterparts when it comes to cost of ownership, payload or range.

Improvements are materialising but incentives still play a vital role in supporting the move to zero-emission vans. That is why the recent extension to the Plug-in Van Grant is a positive step. In extending the number of vehicles a single ‘end user’ can order with the grant in a year, the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) has shown that the government is listening to the concerns of this sector.

While the extension will be welcome news to the largest fleet operators, it is not a silver bullet. Many of the barriers to adopting electric LCVs are felt most strongly by SMEs and sole traders. They will be unaffected by the extension to the grant, while still having to justify a closing TCO gap as soaring energy prices eat into the cost benefits that electric vehicles have held over ICE for years.

At a time when demand for electric vans needs to ramp up to meet Phase Out targets, vehicle suitability and choice, alongside running costs and charging possibilities are putting the brakes on.

The BVRLA continues to campaign on this topic and is in regular contact with OZEV and other bodies to share the concerns of van operators and drivers. We have a raft of research projects, such as our Fleet Charging Guide and Road to Zero Report Card, that shine a light on these concerns and offer up tangible solutions. Those reports quantify the sector’s challenges and arm us with the tools we need to support government in making decisions that benefit van operators of all shapes and sizes.

An example of where this has led to genuine change is the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate. Coming into force next year, the ZEV Mandate will encourage manufacturers to produce more affordable and capable electric vans. The current concerns over the number of suitable electric vans in the UK market have been considered as part of the mandate’s development. The initial annual targets overlooked the lack of suitable options available in the UK. With the BVRLA’s input, policy makers have changed the timings and key milestones to better match when more capable electric vans are due to be launched.

This will help to address issues around supply.

Greater choice in the market should see more use cases met and allow prices to come down. In the meantime, we need to see a huge effort in rolling out a more affordable, reliable and accessible van fleet-friendly charging infrastructure. We need a new Electric Van Plan.

Gerry Keaney, BVRLA chief executive

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