https://ift.tt/3zdA0Hu To Launch UK’s First Commercial Use Of Fully Electric HGVs – Cryptovibes.com – Daily Cryptocurrency and FX News

From January 2022, Tesco supermarket’s Magor distribution center in Wales will be served by two 37-tonne lorries

The first fully-electric HGVs to be used commercially in Britain will be launched by Tesco. The equipment will serve its distribution center in Wales. From January, goods will be transported from a rail freight terminal in Cardiff to the company’s hub in Magor, about 30 miles away, using two 37-tonne lorries.

Britain’s biggest supermarket said on a single charge, the vehicles can travel about 100 miles, making the relatively short distance of the round trip an ideal route to test how further these vehicles could be rolled out in the fleet.

About 65,000 miles of haulage journeys otherwise made by diesel vehicles are expected to be made by the first two, from the Dutch manufacturer DAF, cutting an estimated 87.4 tonnes of CO2 emissions a year.

Looking at all emissions from the UK transport, the sector that now contributes the most to greenhouse gases, HGVs contribute about 16%. HGVs are a more challenging proposition than cars to electrify owing to their battery weight and range requirements.

In the United Kingdom, smaller electric lorries have gone on sale, and 20 are taking part in the Department for Transport trials with the NHS and local authorities. A study into using railway-style overhead electric cables to power HGVs on motorways has also been commissioned by the DfT.

The first country at the Cop26 climate summit last month to commit to making all new goods vehicles weighing 26 tonnes and under zero-emission by 2035 was Britain. It is not until 2040, a decade later than the UK’s target date for phasing out the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, that the largest HGVs will not need to be zero-emission.

In the supermarket’s efforts to become net-zero by 2035, Jason Tarry, the chief executive of Tesco in the UK and Ireland, said that starting to convert its distribution network, one of the largest in the UK, would play a significant role. He stated:

“We’ve already made progress by starting our switch to electric home delivery vans and rolling out electric vehicle charging points for our customers. I’m excited that Tesco can also lead the way in electric haulage innovation, helping to tackle this last source of road transport emissions.”

With more trucks also running on renewable biomethane fuel, its freight partner, FESW said it planned to create a low-carbon fuel hub in Cardiff.