Last week I was delighted to attend events on truck decarbonisation and diversity and inclusion which, while not sharing many commonalities besides both taking place on the top floors of skyscrapers, demonstrate just how quickly our industry is changing today, on multiple fronts.
SMMT hosted its annual LGBTQ+ and Allies Workshop in Birmingham with more than 40 different members across industry, discussing a wide range of subjects – from setting up LGBTQ+ employee network groups to lesbian, trans and intersectional inclusion, as well as using the correct pronouns, supporting colleagues who experience prejudice or discrimination, and many more topics which are important to making the workplace more inclusive and successful for everyone.
It was fantastic to have a number of speakers who are familiar to the commercial vehicle sector, including Kate Thompson from Volkswagen UK and Amy Carter from DAF Trucks, speaking about how the automotive industry has evolved and the contributions being made to that progress. Diverse and inclusive (D&I) workplaces are not just socially important but are proven to make businesses more productive, creative, attractive to new recruits and, therefore, more successful. D&I means everyone is able to bring their true selves to work and thrive, so this event was really important as SMMT seeks to help members to find ways to deliver best practice. We must show our industry is a place where anyone, with the right attitude, can succeed.
Back in London, I was delighted to join senior industry leaders and stakeholders attending a logistics operator discussing the new delivery of its first ever heavy vehicle electric truck, which will be used to make deliveries of beds. The operator discussed how partnership is the new form of leadership, as we must all have the trust to collaborate and solve problems together as new solutions come thick and fast. With the operator having had the vehicle for a few weeks now, it is already receiving customer requests to have their deliveries as zero emission, and as they have a royal warrant, they could be delivering to Buckingham Palace at some point, no doubt to the pleasure of the King as a keen environmentalist.
Importantly, the delivery cycle of the vehicle demonstrates how urban logistics electrification works in reality, with overnight electric depot charging available nearby. More widely, however, the UK is not in pole position in the rollout of heavy vehicle infrastructure, lagging behind other countries with similarly ambitious decarbonisation agendas. For hydrogen, the vehicle technology has arrived, but supplying the fuel is crucial. It was good to see some progress in that direction in yesterday’s Budget – the first to be delivered by a woman Chancellor since the role was created some 800 years ago – with government investing in 11 different green hydrogen projects around the UK.
However, as SMMT set out in its HGV zero emission infrastructure paper published at the Commercial Vehicle Show this year, delivering infrastructure must be a top priority for more operators to be confident to place orders. That means more electric charging points, at depots, shared hubs and public service stations, which must suit the greater size and power demands of heavier vehicles.