UK to Establish New Fund to Support Low Carbon Vans

7 November 2007

The UK Department for Transport (DfT) is launching a new fund—initially worth £20 million (US$42 million)—to procure lower carbon vehicle models for use in public sector fleets, thereby using the public sector’s purchasing power to kickstart the market.

Should initial trials be successful, an additional £30 million has been earmarked to be used to develop the program further.

Bringing cleaner, greener vehicles onto the market as soon as possible is a priority for the Government, but we want to direct our efforts where they will have the biggest impact in reducing emissions and tackling climate change.

Vans account for around 15% of carbon emissions from road transport, but currently there are no mass market low carbon models on offer to the UK van buyer—although the technology to create them exists. By using the public sector’s considerable purchasing power, we aim to give investors and manufacturers confidence in the existence of a market for lower carbon vans, to encourage them to bring them to market more quickly than they would do otherwise. This could have a big impact in cutting carbon emissions on our roads.

—Transport Minister Jim Fitzpatrick

The DfT will shortly issue a competitive tender to appoint a partner organization with specialist technical and commercial expertise on low carbon vehicles to deliver the program. The appointment is expected to be made in early 2008.

The bulk of the funding will be used to procure lower carbon vans in the first instance, with smaller demonstrations of lower carbon minibuses, all-electric vans and, potentially, plug-in hybrid cars.

Initial public sector participants are expected to include the Metropolitan police, Environment Agency, Transport for London, the Royal Mail, HM Revenue and Customs and the Government Car and Despatch Agency. All these organizations have significant vehicle fleets, suitable for fleet demonstration.

Subject to funding availability, DfT will seek to involve a larger number of public sector organizations in the programme. This could include local authorities, other government bodies, and possibly wider public sector organizations such as schools and hospitals.