Electric Freight Vehicles in Central London: Local Grid Capacity

CRP has produced, on behalf of the Central London Sub Regional Transport Partnership, a report on the issue of local electricity supply in the transition to Electric Freight Vehicles (EFVs). This report is based on CRP’s extensive project delivery experience in this area, as well as background enquiry and discussions with stakeholders involved in energy, regulation, policy and industry. Currently, freight operators wishing to incorporate electric vehicles into their fleet face the prospect of needing to upgrade the local electricity grid connection where there is insufficient spare capacity for the charging requirements of freight vehicles. This can be costly, legally complex and disruptive, and act as a deterrent to the uptake of EFVs, as well as jeopardise any positive business case. If the benefits of the projected growth in EFVs are to be realised in terms of reduced transport based emissions, this is one of the issues which needs to be addressed, but which is currently not well understood. The report finds that the market is starting to develop models which can address this, but at all levels better understanding of the issue is necessary, along with the range of solutions available. The report is available to download from the CRP website.

For further information please contact CRP’s Tom Linton-Smith.