Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with the Department for Transport to invest up to £140 million in innovation projects. As part of the Zero Emission Road Freight (ZERFT) Demonstration programme, this competition will focus on the largest heavy goods vehicles (HGVs). The programme will support government’s commitment to end sales of all new, non-zero emission HGVs by 2040 and enable continued cross border freight.
The Zero Emission Road Freight programme competition is funding demonstrations across three strands:
- Zero emission road freight battery electric truck demonstration
- Zero emission road freight hydrogen fuel cell truck demonstration
- Zero emission road freight battery and hydrogen demonstration.
The aim of the three competitions is to kick-start the deployment of long haul zero emission HGVs, with a multi-year demonstration of 40-44t battery electric trucks and/or hydrogen fuel cell trucks, including the development of the required business models for scalable deployment and a network of dedicated infrastructure.
Innovate UK said: “We expect to fund up to five demonstrations covering all technologies that are in scope, across the three strands of this competition. We are looking for projects that include multiple vehicle and infrastructure suppliers and that demonstrate a wide range of duty cycles with multiple freight operators. The programme will fund costs associated with project delivery, vehicle access and recharging or refuelling infrastructure during the period from when the project starts, up until 31 March 2025. All vehicles and infrastructure funded must be demonstrated for five years.”
It offers this guidance to applicants: “Your proposal must define the zero emission road freight demonstration which you will conduct. The demonstration will collect data to inform future policy decisions and infrastructure choices. For battery-only or hydrogen-only proposals, your project’s total grant funding request must be £20m-£90m. For a combined proposal (that is, a fleet including both types, which can be on different vehicles) it must be £30m-£140m. This can cover up to 80% of capital costs and up to 70% of R&D costs, depending on business size.”
“Your project must:
- start on 1 March 2023
- claim the grant funding by 31 March 2025
- complete your project and five-year demonstration of all vehicles funded by the programme no later than 31 March 2030
- carry out all of its project work in the UK
- intend to exploit the results from or in the UK.
To lead a project, your organisation must be a UK-registered business of any size, or a research and technology organisation (RTO), and collaborate with other UK registered organisations.”
If the lead organisation is an RTO, it must collaborate with two or more businesses. Collaborators can include UK registered businesses of any size, charities, academic organisations, not for profit, public sector or RTOs.
Non-UK businesses can apply to this competition in reference to activities they are considering undertaking in the UK. The business must be registered in the UK before any funding can be awarded.
An eligible organisation can lead or collaborate on any number of applications.
Further details:
Hydrogen-only projects: Your project’s size must enable a demonstration of at least 25 trucks split between at least 2 operators and supported by at least 2 hydrogen refuelling locations. Your application must meet this scale and have a grant funding request of between £20 million and £90 million.
Battery-only projects: Your project’s size must enable a demonstration of at least 25 trucks split between at least 2 operators and supported by at least 3 recharging locations. Your application must meet this scale and have a grant funding request of between £20 million and £90 million.
Combined projects: Your project’s size must enable a demonstration of at least 40 trucks split between at least 4 operators and supported by at least 3 recharging or hydrogen refuelling locations. Your application must meet this scale and have a grant funding request of between £30 million and £140 million.
A presentation held on 18 August has been posted here: https://ktn-uk.org/events/zero-emission-road-freig...