Studies to help UK zero emission road transport

The Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership has detailed how biofuels and electric vehicles will both prove crucial to slashing automotive emissions

The conclusion of two major new reports published yesterday, provide a detailed roadmap for decarbonising the UK's road transport sector, outlining how a wide array of green automotive technologies will have to be pursued in the coming decade in order to ensure the sector delivers its share of national emissions cuts.

The roadmaps were produced by consultancy Element Energy and were commissioned by the industry and government-backed Low Carbon Vehicle Project (LowCVP). Their goal is to answer two inter-related questions: how can the UK best meet its legally-binding EU target to source 10 per cent of transport fuel from renewable sources by 2020; and how will the use of green fuels evolve after 2020 as the UK strives to meet its overarching target of cutting economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions 80 per cent by 2050. The findings represent good news for a host of green auto technologies, as well as a wake-up call to policy-makers.

The first roadmap, entitled Options and Recommendations to meet the RED transport target, explores four strategies for the UK to meet the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) targets: continuing with the current approach of relying on blended conventional and biofuels, increasing the use of biofuels in trucks and buses, increasing the use of biofuel blends with a higher percentage of biofuel on forecourts, and using higher blends at both forecourts and depots.

The report concludes that in all scenarios the UK will have to make much wider use of so-called "double-counting" fuels and technologies – advanced biofuels made from used cooking oil and other forms of waste material or electric vehicles that under EU rules are allowed to count double towards the 2020 target – if it is to meet its legally-binding goals. "The implied uptake of new blends/vehicles and/or supply of double counting suggest an ambitious implementation programme and incentives will be necessary," the report adds.

It also argues that while compliance with the targets is likely to be determined by the UK's ability to make wider use of biofuel blends – such as E10, which blends 10 per cent ethanol into petrol, and B7, which blends seven per cent biodiesel into diesel – increased investment in next generation low carbon automotive technologies will be required to both address concerns about the impact of biofuels on food supplies and ensure emissions from transport continue to fall through the 2020s and 2030s.

"The analysis shows that vehicles powered by renewable electricity are unlikely to make sufficient inroads in the time available to meet the 2020 target even with proposed multiple counting of the EV contribution," the LowCVP said in a statement. "However, it says that encouraging the deployment of electric and biomethane vehicles, together with the increasing range of niche options available is key to helping alleviate the risks of reliance on E10 and B7 to meet the target."

It also noted that other forms of so-called advanced and drop in fuels need to be pursued, including hydro treated vegetable oil (HVO), biomass to liquid (BTL) and ethanol made from waste or ligno-cellulosic material (E2G), if the industry is to satisfactorily respond to concerns about biofuel crops undermining global food supplies.

This focus on next generation technologies is picked up by the second report, entitled A fuel roadmap for the UK, which details how carbon emission-free urban logistics will have to be in place by 2030, followed by the complete phasing out of conventionally fuelled cars in cities before 2050. In addition, it predicts that electric and hybrid technologies will slash emissions from commercial vehicles through the 2020s, while biomethane and LPG powered trucks are also expected to "have a key role to play in road transport in the time horizon to 2030".

Celine Cluzel, lead author of the report at Element Energy, said the roadmaps highlighted the scale of the challenge faced by the automotive sector. "Meeting the UK's carbon reduction targets calls for a transformation of the powertrains and fuels used in the vehicle fleet," she said in a statement. "While industry players have divergent views on technology choices and policy instruments, it was very encouraging to see that all the stakeholders we consulted during the project support and want to play a role in that transformation."

The reports were welcomed by Clare Wenner, head of renewable transport at the Renewable Energy Association (REA), who said the new roadmaps highlighted the need for the government to set more formal targets for the decarbonisation of the road transport sector.

The REA has been campaigning for some time for ministers to clarify renewable fuel targets through to 2020 under the government's Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO), the setting of post 2014 targets for which has been repeatedly delayed due to the long-running debate in Brussels over the rules for the bloc's biofuel targets.

However, with the EU recently agreeing a compromise agreement on the extent to which first generation biofuels will be allowed to count towards renewable fuel targets the REA is now calling on ministers to bring an end to the confusion surrounding the RTFO and adopt their own roadmap for the industry through to 2020.

"For investment and jobs in both current and advanced biofuels, the single most important step the government can take is to set out a trajectory in the RTFO towards the 2020 target," said Wenner. "These new analyses published should help kick-start the debate on how to do this in a way that maximises economic benefit for the UK and environmental benefit for us all. There's no time to wait, and now there's no need to wait. Government must seize this opportunity to get green transport back on track."

Any move to increase the UK's use of biofuels will inevitably face criticism from some green groups who insist that too many first generation biofuels are continuing to eat into available agricultural land, pushing up food prices, and contributing to deforestation in a way that pushes up greenhouse gas emissions. But Wenner insisted UK biofuel producers were achieving "exceptional greenhouse gas savings and producing home-grown animal feed as well as sustainable biofuel". "We do science and engineering very well in the UK, so with the right support for advanced biofuels, we could become a key player in this cutting-edge sector," she added.

The roadmap towards a greener transport sector is increasingly clear, even if different companies and interest groups may disagree on some of the forks in the road. The question now is whether government and industry can identify the best route to their final destination – a decarbonised road transport sector by 2050.

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