Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a scheme to financially incentivise fleet companies to transition to zero-emission heavy goods vehicles.

The Government is already providing £582 million to continue plug-in vehicle grants until 2022-23, including the plug-in truck grant. The plug-in truck grant reduces the purchase price of zero emission commercial vehicles. Grant rates for eligible trucks are set at 20% of the purchase price, with up to £25,000 of funding available for the largest HGVs. Decarbonisation of HGVs is at an earlier stage of development compared with cars and vans due to the different challenges of long-haul and heavy freight. To address this, we announced that we are investing £20 million this year in planning for zero emission road freight trials which will support UK industry to develop cost-effective, zero-emission HGVs and their refuelling infrastructure in the UK. These will advance R&D in the technologies of hydrogen, catenary electric and battery electric HGVs allowing us to begin the commercial roll out of the new technology before the end of the decade. We keep all policies under review.