Haulage depots are waiting years for the grid connections they need to run electric trucks, while much of the capacity already allocated on the network sits unused. That is the warning from freight infrastructure body TwentyForty, whose new report, 12 Pillars of Change: Power In, calls on the incoming government to change how grid capacity is allocated. Alongside the report, TwentyForty has published a free Operators' Guide setting out what fleets can do in the meantime, under the rules as they stand.
The report's headline findings are stark:
- Freight depots face waits of up to 2035 for more power, while data centres that use less than a fifth of their capacity remain at the front of the queue.
- TwentyForty calls on the incoming government to fix who gets additional grid capacity, and in what order.
- A free Operators' Guide sets out what fleets can do under current rules to cut the cost and the wait for depot power.
Booked capacity versus real demand
The report analysed more than five million half-hourly meter readings from all 96 data centres on UK Power Networks' distribution network, which serves London, the East and South East of England. The typical site drew just 18% of the capacity it had reserved over three years, yet places in the connection queue are allocated on the booked figure, not the real one. Freight depots, whose trucks mostly charge overnight when the network is quietest, are queuing for grid upgrades behind reservations that are proven to go largely unused.
A timing mismatch for fleets
The timing problem is acute for fleets. A depot grid connection takes 18 to 36 months to build, while a truck procurement cycle takes a matter of months. The report warns that once the running cost of an electric HGV falls below diesel, a large share of the fleet could switch within one or two buying rounds.
What TwentyForty wants government to do
TwentyForty is asking government and the regulator to require electricity networks to offer flexible connections to depots; to recognise freight within the criteria that decide which projects get strategic grid priority; and to give commercial tenants a statutory right to install charging where they pay for it.
What operators can do now
None of that will arrive before many operators need power, which is why the report is accompanied by a companion Operators' Guide. Every action in it is something an operator can take now, with the local electricity network or the open market, and none depends on a policy change.
The guide's central point is to ask the connection question first. It advises operators to get a budget estimate from the network operator before costing chargers or ordering vehicles, because the connection is the longest item on any electrification plan.
It also highlights several facts that operators may not be aware of, for example that a network operator cannot legally refuse to connect a site, and that both the connection quote and date are negotiable. Furthermore, most reinforcement costs are capped and spread across all billpayers rather than charged to the depot, while flexible connections, which use the network's quiet hours, can be requested by right.
The guide describes batteries and other behind-the-meter fixes as a workaround for a problematic connection process, not a substitute for fixing it, and warns that some isolated sites will never be able to connect in a way that is economically viable.
"Government has to fix who gets the power and in what order"
Jamie Sands, Founder of TwentyForty, said:
"The grid is handing its scarcest resource to whoever asks for it first, not those that will use it. Most trucks charge overnight, when the network is quietest, but depots are waiting in a queue for increased grid connectivity behind reservations for capacity that are pure speculation.
"Government has to fix who gets the power and in what order, and the report clearly puts that case forward. However, hauliers cannot put their fleet plans on hold while Whitehall consults. The Operators' Guide covers what hauliers can control today, while the report deals with what they can't."
The 12 Pillars of Change: Power In report and Operators' Guide can be downloaded from the TwentyForty website. TwentyForty has also created a chat tool, so that users can find specific information and get early advice based on the report and Operators' Guide.
