UK Electric Road System

Our study examines the feasibility of an Electric Road System (ERS) which comprises overhead lines providing a power source to 44T electric trucks.

This is the first step to removing diesel trucks from our roads by 2035, and thus meeting the Government's '10-point' net-zero plan for climate change. Industry is responding to the challenge laid down by successive climate change summits and activists like Greta Thunberg.

Our world class team includes Costain, Siemens, SPL, Scania, Cambridge University, Herriot Watt and Arup. It has already proven the technology in Sweden and Germany. The next step is to demonstrate an economic and carbon friendly end to end solution.

In addition, we shall look at the wider environmental impacts and public opinion. This will include road users, emergency and breakdown services. Our system needs to earn the confidence of users by being safe.

We shall work alongside Highways England to create a safer road system which is easily maintainable. We shall also look to minimise disruption during construction. We shall examine opportunities afforded by 5G to develop systems that prevent congestion and accidents.

We shall engage with single truck operators and fleet owners to ensure that there is a smooth transition to electric trucks. Our initial modelling shows that it offers better value than the existing diesel system. By working with road hauliers, we shall demonstrate this in terms of logistics and costs.

The study will create the vision of the UK leading ERS expansion in Europe. This will be good for UK based businesses, good for UK jobs and good for the regeneration of the North.

Another big winner are our school leavers and schoolchildren. We shall create links with schools to allow them to share this eco-journey. In the short term, we shall engage with them at COP26 with proposed competition winners joining us for a day at the exhibition. Longer term we shall identify skills programmes with institutions like the Doncaster based, National College for Advanced Transport & Infrastructure.

Let's not forget the opportunity to retrain people in new skills which are relevant to a potential £20bn market.

We wish to develop financial and transport models that prove the logistics and economics of the system. This will demand new innovative approaches by attracting private sector investment. The outcome will be win-win. The winners will include HMRC, road users, the environment, job seekers and long-term investors.