What does Tevva do?
Tevva is a technology company and truck manufacturer. Best known for creating Britain’s first 7.5t-electric truck, we specialise in producing zero-tailpipe emission Electric Vehicles and long-range Hydrogen Electric vehicles. Our unique approach blends both battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell technology.
What was Tevva’s involvement with the recent COP 28 summit?
We were honoured to participate in one of the first speaker briefings, ‘Accelerating the Transition Through Road Transport’. It was a privilege for a startup from Tilbury to be invited to share the stage with several heads of state and CEOs of the world’s largest companies to discuss how collaboration can accelerate the adoption of zero-emission vehicles. It shows that we’re doing important work and how seriously many political and business leaders are taking transport decarbonisation.
How can the Government help with the adoption of zero-emission trucks?
Tevva continues along its road, producing battery-electric trucks at our London facility and delivering them to eagerly awaiting customers.
But we need help to scale up and carve a pathway towards greater adoption of zero-emission vehicles. Simply put, we believe that further government action is required to ensure that the UK achieves its net zero goals in the best and fastest possible way for the good of the environment, economy and British people.
We certainly do appreciate the British government’s support to date, but for this country to accelerate EV adoption and meet its net zero goals, more is needed.
Brexit put us in a position where we were theoretically free from the ‘shackles’ of the European Union (EU) and free to pass our own legislation and create our own targets.
Yet the financial incentives on offer for truck adoption in the UK are paltry compared to those found on the continent. As a vehicle manufacturer, Tevva can offer customers a maximum discount of £16,000 for one of our 7.5 tonne battery electric trucks.
Yet, if you compare this support to what’s on offer in other European countries, you’re left feeling that the UK could do more. In Germany, for example, the government provides 80% of the price differential between diesel and battery-electric trucks; in the Netherlands, it’s 45%. That’s potentially between £50,000-£90,000 per truck more than the UK offers.
Is the UK doing enough with regards to charging infrastructure?
In Germany right now they’re building Europe’s first public charging corridor for electric trucks along major logistics routes. In the UK you’d struggle to find a single dedicated electric truck charging facility en route to any delivery.
No one said the electrification of trucks was going to be easy, but it is inevitable, and the technology has developed to a point where an electric truck is a viable proposition for many fleet operators. Yet our ambitious targets in the UK are not backed up by the right actions to enable, incentivise and de-risk the shift. It’s imperative that these actions and policies are put in place to facilitate the journey to net zero, by this government or the next.
Stuart Cottrell, Head of Energy Services and Government Partnerships at Tevva
