Last month, Transport for London launched its new campaign to minimise environmental damage caused by idling commercial vehicles and encourage truck and van drivers to manage their fuel more efficiently, and industry experts report that the new campaign is in full swing.
The DfT has been pushing for UK road haulage changes such as encouraging drivers to switch to biofuels or electric vehicles, taking steps to earmark funds to continue their partnership with the Technology Safety Board in developing further incentives. Suitable refuelling infrastructure needs to be developed for the emerging breed of trucks and vans powered by alternative fuel sources, Roads Minister Mike Penning added, remarking that the nation’s dependence on petrol and diesel fuel has been crippling drivers almost as high car insurance and commercial van insurance rates have been.
The TSB’s Low Carbon Vehicles Innovation Platform has been the research and development programme responsible for developing low carbon emission technologies for the Gorvernment, and is currently jointly funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the TSB, and the DfT. Launched nearly five years ago in September of 2007, the platform has since been the source of various research projects with an aim towards low- or zero-emission technologies.
Industry experts say that, given the funds to construct the infrastructure essential to refuel low and zero emission vehicles are made available, progress can be made to reduce the amount of carbon pollution and to also make commercial transport much more affordable as well.