Current grid connection processes mean many operators’ EV investments are blocked and will remain so even after fossil fuel vehicle sales end, according to new analysis by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

Around 5.1 million vans and 626,000 trucks are currently on UK roads, while commercial vehicles make up 14 per cent of all vehicles on the road, their higher mileages and energy demands make them responsible for more than a third of all road transport CO2 – and almost an eighth (12 per cent) of the UK’s carbon footprint.

However, companies currently face waiting times of up 15 years for grid connections, one of the biggest barriers to EV adoption, and that makes a deadline of 2035, when the sale of new, non-ZEV vans and HGVs under 26 tonnes is due to end, and of 2040 when all new HGVs sold in the UK must be zero emission, impossible to meet unless changes are made.

The Government recently announced that it will fast-track grid connections for data centres, wind farms and solar power installations, but the SMMT believes that this preferential treatment must also be afforded transport depots if the UK’s net-zero and air quality improvement ambitions are to be realised.

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