Video: SMMT and DAF at GREENFLEET's Decarbonisation Hub

Sukky Choongh, environmental manager at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), highlights the challenges facing the UK automotive sector when it comes to environmental targets, and Phil Moon from DAF discusses how the company is progressing towards zero emission vehicles.

Watch the interview here.

Speaking to sustainable transport expert Andy Eastlake at the GREENFLEET Decarbonisation hub at the 2025 Commercial Vehicle Show, Sukky Choongh from SMMT said: "Our role is to convene manufacturers and others together and speak to government so that we can have a policy that works for everybody and is achievable. That’s where the strength of our body comes in; we gather information from our members and feed that back to government, working collaboratively towards practical, effective policy.”

While the push for net zero transport is non negotiable, Sukky raised that this can't come at a fatal cost to businesses and OEMs. She said: “There’s no doubt that environmental improvements come at a cost – but it shouldn’t be one that puts operators out of business or makes it impossible for OEMs to operate in the UK.”

Sukky praised the industry’s innovation, pointing to OEMs developing not just goods vehicles but highly specialised trucks like cement mixers and recovery vehicles, all aligned with sustainability goals.

However, infrastructure remains a critical hurdle. “If you want to get a grid connection, it’s about a 15-year wait. Even with everything in order, it’s still a three or four-year wait,” Sukky said. “That’s why we’ve called for transport depots to be prioritised in the government’s energy infrastructure plans.”

Phil Moon, marketing manager at DAF trucks, later joined the discussion to share how DAF is progressing to zero emission trucks. In the meantime, however, the company is making its ICE fleet as low carbon and efficient as possible, with its vehicles also able to run on renewable fuels such as HVO.

Phill commented: "Wherever possible, we want to move to tailpipe zero emission. We've been producing electric trucks since 2018, but it's been a slow journey. We're just rolling out our latest iteration of that, we've got an electric XB range of products from 12 to 19 tonnes, we've got XDs which are available in a range of configurations, as well as our XF - and we've got one on display at the Commercial Vehicle Show. Quite importantly, at lot of those XDs and XFs are going to be used in the ZEHID programme. That's an exciting and important initiative."