GF Decarboinsation Hub: ZEHID and eFreight 2030 updates

Research and innovation are key to making zero-emission trucks a reality. At GREENFEET's Decarbonisation Hub at the 2025 Commercial Vehicle Show, Andy Eastlake was joined by Innovate UK's Simon Buckley and Voltempo's Neil Durno to discuss how current demonstrator programmes are going

Watch the full video here.

Heavy good vehicles are difficult to decarbonise due to their size, weight, and often long-range needs. As such, a substantial amount of funding has been ploughed into research and innovation in this area.

This has lead to some ground breaking projects focused on reducing emissions from trucks. Now the focus is very much on how to reach zero emission trucks, and the most recent government funded programme is the Zero Emission HGV Infrastructure Demonstration (ZEHID) programme.

With £200 million government funding, the aim of ZEHID is accelerate the deployment of zero-emission HGVs  and the infrastructure necessary to support them, including charging and fuelling stations. The goal is to demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of zero-emission HGV technology in real-world application.

Talking about the progress of the ZEHID programme, Simon commented: "Those in the project have got two years to get all the infrastructure in the ground and get all the vehicles ordered. And then we're going to have five years of demonstration and data, and we're going to disseminate that through the industry. We're at the start of that journey.

"The projects started in 2023 or 2024, and they're all going to have everything installed and all the vehicles on the road by the end of this financial year - so March, 2026."

Neil Durno from Voltempo, the organisation behind the eFreight 2030 project, joined the conversation to explain the aims of the project - which is to demonstrate the viability of zero emission trucks, with major logistics providers and high street names involved.

Commenting on the collaborative nature of the project, Neil said: "There is no competition, we're all coming at it from a different position, and we share a lot of information. The seniors meet quite periodically in order to have productive conversations in terms of furthering the whole project."