Small trucks – between 4.25 and 12 tonnes – can receive up to £16,000 and large trucks (over 12 tonnes) up to £25,000 off the price of an eligible vehicle. A total of 250 small truck grants will be available to industry – limited to 10 per end customer – with 100 large truck grants also provided (limited to five per end customer).
To both reduce the physical testing burden on industry and to improve access to the plug-in truck grant, type-approval ‘VECTO’ simulations – in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/2400 – are also now accepted forms of evidence to demonstrate a vehicle’s zero-emission electric range performance.
In announcing the news, Lilian Greenwood, minister for the future of roads, said: “This is brilliant news, as we continue to make it cheaper, smoother and easier to make the switch to zero-emission trucks.”
The grants will help the UK as it works towards its lofty ambitions, which include for the majority of new HGVs to be zero emission by the same 2035 date as cars and vans. This certainly looks ambitious on the face of it, even with the current update, with many believing further substantial support is needed.
In the last month since we last went to press, there has also been potentially seismic news after global trade was turned on its head, when the US government led by president Donald Trump introduced a raft of tariffs.
The initial tranche of tariffs announced was mind-boggling, but after the markets collapsed, Mr Trump had a rethink and, on 10 April, the US paused tariffs for 90 days for all countries, but kept a universal 10% tariff in place while negotiations occur, apart from for China, with the two now locking trade horns.
The automotive industry has been particularly targeted, and a 25% tariff has been imposed on car imports into the US and the majority of car part suppliers from 3 May. Industry leaders believe this comes at the worst possible time due to the multiple current headwinds. Time will tell what impact all this will have on the UK road transport and logistics industry.
