Analysis to provide costs, efficiencies and roll-out trajectories for zero emission HGVs, buses and coaches

The Committee on Climate Change will publish its recommendation on the level of the Sixth Carbon Budget in Autumn 2020. This will provide ministers with advice on the volume of greenhouse gases the UK can emit during the period 2033-37. It will also set the path to the UK's new net-zero emissions target in 2050, as the first carbon budget to be set into law following that commitment.

The surface transport sector was the largest-emitting sector in the UK in 2018, accounting for 23% of UK greenhouse gas emissions. Achieving deep emissions reductions in the surface transport sector will require the use of zero-emission vehicles, which make use of electricity or hydrogen from an increasingly decarbonised power sector.

Whilst battery electric vehicles are the most promising technology option for the light duty vehicle sector, the most cost-effective technology to decarbonise the heavy duty vehicle sector is not yet clear. Given the need to reduce transport emissions to zero wherever possible, the CCC have identified the following likely technology options:

It should be noted that the CCC recently conducted a review of the uses of biomass in a low-carbon economy, which found that there was no long-term role for the use of biofuels in road transport, and therefore the use of biofuels is explicitly excluded here.

The heavy vehicle sector is defined here as consisting of trucks with a maximum operating weight of over 3.5 tonnes, buses and coaches. Three types of HGV must be considered: small rigid vehicles (gross vehicle weight (gvw) < 16 tonnes), large rigid vehicles (gvw>16 tonnes) and articulated vehicles (consisting of a separate tractor and trailer of any weight), as well as buses and coaches. Zero emissions in the context of this specification refers to zero emission vehicles at the tailpipe (e.g. tank-to-wheel). *** - See Specification for more detail ***