Primary objectives for 2020 include: that all new buses must meet the new Low Emission Bus criteria; and that 5% of new trucks and vans are to be officially low carbon.
Priorities include the establishment of a market for accredited low-carbon commercial vehicles, collaboration to break down the barriers to an EV-ready power grid and support for low carbon L-category (micro) vehicles.
On the commercial vehicle front, LowCVP managing director Andy Eastlake (who will be delivering the keynote at the IRTE Conference in September) says one of the main tasks will be to “fill the data gap” to help kick-start the market for greener trucks and vans.
These, he observes, have lagged progress in other transport sectors, mainly due to “a lack of robust assessment methods”.
LowCVP will focus on delivering a robust definition of a low carbon truck to establish potential Green Truck programmes and support, he says.
This will build n LowCVP’s established accreditation process for low carbon and fuel-efficient retrofit technology, and will include working with local and national initiatives, such as TfL’s LoCITY.
Another key project will be to showcase progress around green buses, building on progress to date, which has seen more than 25% of new buses sold in 2015 being low carbon-accredited.
LowCVP, he says, aims to further promote the low emission bus market and to communicate best practice. The organisation has already started on a programme of dissemination part-funded by the industry with the first report “The Journey of the Green Bus” published last February.
Additionally, though, LowCVP pledes to help meet European objectives for sustainable fuel in freight and passenger transport.
LowCVP will continue to work to break down the barriers to widespread low carbon electricity deployment in transport, and to support sustainable biodiesel and biomethane use, he asserts.
There will be particular emphasis on the development of a framework to support the introduction of sustainable low carbon advanced fuels and the requirements beyond 2020 to engender investor confidence in the fuels sector, he adds.