Some of the UK’s best academic minds are working closely with industry to understand how a major greenhouse gas contributor – the diesel lorry – can be replaced. 44t trucks, alone, are responsible for 5% of UK’s greenhouse gases.
In a consortium of potentially 15 fleet operators, four truck manufacturers, several technology providers and two universities. The collaborative research exercise is answering the question “how can the move to net zero be derisked”.
The consortium is led by Professor David Cebon of the Centre for Sustainable Road Freight. The fleet operators are drawn from across the logistics industry and include John Lewis Partnership, Nestle, William Jackson Food Group, Welch Group, Howard Tenens and Knowles Logistics.
Many organisations have ambitious net zero corporate targets and are now looking for a route map to achieving this. Yet, it is not straight forward, and senior managers are unlikely to agree to a plan which costs more money and is potentially less efficient than existing operations.
David Cebon outlines the concept: “We are sharing trucks and chargers on a three month basis and testing a range of logistics operations. We are pooling the anonymised data to develop new sustainable models of working. By sharing the data in this way, we maximise the learning. By sharing the resources, we minimise the costs for everyone involved.”
The data miners are extracting their “precious metal” from consortium members who are using the leased trucks and chargers. A second source of data comes from eHGVs, that are owned by some of the fleet operators.
For some journeys, there is no issue as eHGVs can be substituted for their diesel equivalents. The immediate problems are ones of energy supply and the cost of the vehicle.
However, for longer distances, weight constrained loads and flexible working, eHGVs experience viability difficulties around payload, range, charging time and again, electricity supply. These have the potential to impose a financial impact on the operations or to derail the energy transition altogether.
Nestle's Joe Hurst stated: "Project Jolt is helping us make informed decisions about our future business plans."
Project Jolt by gathering multiple data on a spectrum of journeys can use sophisticated modelling methods to forecast this impact and indeed the steps required to reduce it.
Justin Laney of John Lewis Partnership, said: “The collaborative approach is allowing us to leverage our combined knowledge to create a rounded view of this exciting new technology."
Interestingly, Welch Group, a consortium member, is already on board with the concept of optimisation with its Urban Consolidation Centre which has reduced 46% of its journeys. It is using triple shift electric vehicles around the Cambridge area using fast charging at its depot.
Project Jolt is also looking at battery health and degradation. With the battery being a large weight and financial component of the truck, its performance will affect the residual value. Creating a secondary market will be crucial to the success of adopting eHGVs. The residual value will be determined by the value of the battery.
Amy Stokes of Volvo said: “Project Jolt’s major benefit is the bringing together all of the supply chain to find solutions to the immediate electrification issues."
By modelling the industry using data gathered from consortium members, Project Jolt will be able to predict the impact of better batteries, faster warehouse charging, lower capital costs of trucks, improved driving techniques and potential legislation changes. The culmination of all of these is to establish whether eHGVs can deliver net zero cost increase in addition to net zero carbon.
Sands of Welch Group concluded: “The pace of derisking decarbonisation in Project Jolt is essential to the industry finding acceptable solutions."
