Spare a thought for the “little ‘uns”

Former Commercial Motor Editor, Brian Weatherley, takes the pen for this week’s commentary, sharing his observations on the journey to Net Zero for the small fleets.

Looking for insights into the O-Licence landscape? Then Logistics UK’s regular analysis of the data within the annual Report of the Traffic Commissioners is a very good place to start. In its latest examination of O-Licence records, as of 22 March 2024 the trade association estimates that of the 67,418 licences currently in issue, around 70% belong to O-Licence holders who run 1-5 vehicles. Conversely, while just 1.5% of O-Licence holders run fleets with 50 or more vehicles, they account for 32.2% of all the 378,005 HGVs in circulation.

That polarization shouldn’t surprise anyone, it’s been like that for years. But what those figures do confirm is that despite the ongoing growth of big fleets, there are still an awful lot of small operators in England, Scotland, and Wales, including many Own-Account Operators―the classic butcher, baker, and candlestick maker―running five or fewer trucks as an adjunct to their business, rather than their primary function. So how will they transition to zero-emission operations?

Most of them will be towards the end, if not THE end, of the queue of zero emission vehicle adopters. For good reason. Unlike the big hitters, they’re unlikely to have an ESG agenda or the money to support ‘toe-in-the-water’ ZEV trials. There’s little incentive for them to switch to a ZEV when diesel trucks continue to serve them well. Moreover, the current price tag of a battery-electric truck will hardly persuade the average small operator to drop the ‘tried-and-trusted’. They’ll be looking to eke out every remaining mile from their diesel trucks, well beyond 2035 and 2040.

But why worry about small fleet operators? Surely the biggest challenge in the transition to zero emissions is to convert the 242,418 trucks held by fleets of 11 or more―and especially the 121,828 within that figure run by the previously mentioned 1.5% of O-Licence holders with fleets of 50 or more.

Here again I’m indebted to Logistics UK for their number crunching, because the 90,444 vehicles run by fleets with five or fewer trucks (the aforementioned 70% of all O-Licence holders) represent almost a quarter (23.9%) of all trucks on the road. That’s a lot of lorries that will eventually need to be replaced by ZEVs.

So, what should the transition roadmap look like for small operators? Presumably, it will start with the same footsteps as for any other operator. Namely, educating them as to the who, what, why, when, where, and how of zero emission operations, the actions that need to be taken, and the options available both now and in the medium-term future to reducing their Carbon footprint. In short, the kind of information Freight carbon Zero provides every week.

Only therein lies a challenge. As any manufacturer will confirm, finding those small companies, the OAOs with five or fewer trucks, never mind communicating with them, isn’t easy. Their vehicles don’t stand out on the road. Many of them don’t belong to trade associations, or even read road transport magazines. Trucks aren’t their primary business. Indeed, for some, they’re a necessary burden. So, who should start that conversation with them?

As the DfT knows where every single O-Licence holder ‘lives’ (or at least the Traffic Area Offices should do) it’s the obvious body to start the process. Except there’s no point in launching a nationwide small-fleet decarbonization campaign if all the hurdles to ZEV adoption―price, range anxiety, residual value uncertainty, and a lack of any significant national Charging infrastructure—remain. Did someone say chicken and egg? And yet, if not the DfT priming the information pump, who then? The Federation of Small Businesses? They presumably have members running trucks.

While 2035 and 2040 are significant end-dates for new diesel engine truck sales, it’s important to recognize they don’t mandate the end of diesel truck operations. And we shouldn’t forget that. However, the large metropolitan authorities that run our major cities may have other ideas in mind when it comes to zero emission road transport. With a mandate from local voters to deliver cleaner air, who’s to say they might decide to introduce their own zero emission rules within an altogether different timetable? And many of the trucks working or delivering into those cities affected by tougher emission rules will inevitably belong to small operators. Food for thought?

Small businesses are the life blood of the nation’s economies, and that goes for small truck fleet operators too. They’ve a major part to play in the transition to zero-emission transport. And we shouldn’t forget that.