Grid reform could push eHGV chargers behind data centres, warns Logistics UK

The group said “freight electrification is not a niche sector concern; it is a prerequisite for the UK meeting its road transport decarbonisation commitments”. While EV charging is identified as a potential beneficiary of demand connection reform, a consultation from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) indicates that data centres may be prioritised due to their importance to the government’s industrial strategy.

The government and the GB National Energy System Operator (NESO) say the existing “first come, first served” system for demand connections has been overwhelmed by applications for new data centres, many of which are unlikely to be built. In response, ministers plan to move to a “first ready, first connected” approach, mirroring reforms already under way for generation connections.

Lamech Solomon (pictured), head of decarbonisation at Logistics UK, told FCZ the proposals risk “systematically underestimating and overlooking” future demand for eHGV charging. This is despite the fact that much of this demand is predictable in both location and scale, meaning grid capacity could be allocated with a high degree of confidence that it would be utilised.

He said: “While we welcome the government’s efforts to reform the connections queue and tackle speculative data centre applications, that alone is not enough.”

Solomon added: “Freight electrification is critical national infrastructure. The government cannot credibly commit to decarbonising road freight while simultaneously allowing the grid connection regime to be dominated by data centre demand. Logistics UK’s research suggests eHGV demand is being chronically underestimated in strategic planning documents and, if it is not explicitly protected or prioritised, it will simply lose out to better-resourced data centre applicants by default.”

Logistics UK said grid capacity should be allocated “ahead of need” along key freight corridors. Historically, regulator Ofgem prevented network companies from investing in advance to avoid passing unnecessary costs on to consumers, but that position has shifted as efforts to accelerate grid expansion have intensified.

Solomon said: “The government needs to actively designate eHGV charging infrastructure along known freight corridors as ‘strategically important demand’, and plan grid capacity ahead of need.”

He added that the creation of NESO, with its strategic planning role, enables earlier investment: “The ‘Plan’ reforms being led by DESNZ include proposals to introduce new prioritisation mechanisms for strategically important demand projects and to move to a more strategically aligned process for managing connections. Logistics UK is arguing that eHGV charging along established freight corridors qualifies as strategically important demand and should be nominated into the accelerator process accordingly.

“Freight corridor charging is an obvious candidate: the locations are predictable, well evidenced and aligned with government policy targets in a way that speculative data centre applications are not.”

Launching the consultation, which closes on 15 April, DESNZ said the transmission demand queue currently stands at 96GW, with a further 29GW at distribution level. It added: “The extreme rate of this growth – 460% in six months at transmission – suggests that speculative activity is materially inflating the demand pipeline and obscuring the true level of viable future demand.” Analysis indicates this surge is largely driven by data centre applications, with around 140 currently in the queue.

In its Industrial Strategy, published in June 2025, the government set out plans for a Connections Accelerator Service (CAS) to support a limited number of strategically important demand projects, building on an earlier “triage” approach used to back flagship schemes. It said the initiative had already secured or safeguarded more than £35bn of investment across sectors including data centres, gigafactories and steelworks.

However, in its November 2025 paper “Delivering AIGZs”, the government also pledged to “manage speculative data centre demand, ensuring only the most strategic and credible projects are taken forward”, while creating mechanisms to reserve future capacity “for AI Growth Zones, amongst other strategically important projects”—prompting concerns that sectors such as transport could be deprioritised.

More broadly, Solomon said Logistics UK is “concerned that the scale of electricity demand from eHGV charging is being seriously underestimated in the current grid connection debate”. The organisation’s 2025 research suggests electric HGV charging could require around 32TWh annually—equivalent to roughly 85% of current UK nuclear output—highlighting the scale of demand that risks being overlooked.