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Held over three days, the Commercial Motor Show will put exhibitors in front of an audience of thousands of commercial vehicle buyers and operators, all without the need for social distancing.
In addition to seeing the latest vehicles, products and services, visitors to this free-to-attend event will be invited to sit in on a wide range of interactive webinar sessions covering a range of topical issues.
The event will be opened by Baroness Vere, parliamentary under-Secretary of state for transport.
The morning session on the first day of the virtual conference on 29 September will take as its theme the effect of the pandemic on the logistics sector and how major industries such as retail, infrastructure and hospitality are likely to fare as the lockdown eases.
Rental and leasing association the BVRLA will explain how contract hire companies can help hard-pressed operators renew their fleets.
The lockdown has accelerated the trend away from high street retail towards online shopping, especially in clothing and fashion, and Dino Rocos, non-executive director of Clipper Logistics and former COO of the John Lewis Partnership, will analyse this phenomenon and whether bricks and mortar shops will make a comeback.
He will be joined by Tony Mannix, chief executive of Clipper Logistics, the leading player in fashion logistics, to assess the impact of Covid-19 on the transport industry.
Steven Cleary, sales director of Wincanton, will be speaking in the keynote session on the morning of 29 September, looking at the role of infrastructure spending in helping the UK recover from the pandemic.
The afternoon of the first day will then turn to the government’s Road to Zero strategy and the likely role of biofuels, hydrogen and battery electric in overcoming the tough challenge of decarbonising heavy trucks, as the the Covid-19 pandemic is widely expected to give the government’s net zero carbon emissions strategy a big boost.
David Cebon, professor of mechanical engineering at Cambridge University, will compare the efficiency of hydrogen fuel cells with battery electric vehicles, while Brian Robinson, head of commercial vehicles at the LowCVP, will review the role of biofuels.
Rob Fowler, CEO of electric vehicle start up manufacturer Volta, will give an update on the company’s plans for a range of purpose-built battery electric trucks while Graham Cooley, CEO of ITM Power will put the case for hydrogen as the fuel of the future.
