A look at some of the success and challenges of 2024
Casting our minds back to early January, the Vehicle Emission Trading Scheme (VETS), otherwise known as the zero emission vehicle mandate, came into effect with the target of 10% of all new van sales being zero emission in 2024. There was some optimism that with the conditions – in particular the rapid rollout of van-suitable and affordable public charging infrastructure – that target could be achieved. As we saw throughout the year, however, such ambitions were not met as EV confidence to switch remained too low, undermined by a continued absence of a chargepoint plan.
Industry can’t deliver the transition on its own as we need support from infrastructure providers and indeed government – collaboration which is just as crucial for automated vehicles. There was huge excitement in Spring this year when SMMT held Connected 2024 and soon after the Automated Vehicles Bill received royal assent, promising to unlock the massive safety and economic benefits of self-driving passenger cars and public transport services. While it is a shame that the first fully automated bus service in the UK – CAVForth, in Scotland – has not received the ridership expected and will be stopping in 2025, the scheme has this year proved self-driving buses can be a reality on UK roads.
Decarbonising buses is naturally more urgent and it’s been very promising this year that the UK has the largest zero emission bus market in Europe. Demand for zero emission trucks, meanwhile, represents just 0.5% of the new HGV market and given we’ll be just 10 years away from the sector’s 2035 target, action in 2025 will be crucial. As SMMT set out in our HGV decarbonisation paper published at the Commercial Vehicle Show in April, and in our bus infrastructure paper the following month, the right heavy vehicle measures can keep the UK on the transition to net zero.
There are always opportunities to do so and yesterday it was announced the Bus Services Bill will be put before Parliament, with the aim to create better bus services across the UK through franchising – and it is positive that policymakers are considering how the scheme can facilitate further zero emission bus rollout.
There is one open goal that government is yet to act on, however – that being proposed legislation to provide a derogation for driving 4.25-tonne alternatively fuelled vehicles, which had the green light before the general election. The measure could provide a much needed boost for electric van and minibus uptake by safely allowing more operators and their drivers to use the latest, greenest technology. We must pull every lever in 2025 to make success happen, so that every sector in our commercial vehicle industry can thrive.
