Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what forecast they have made of the energy infrastructure investment required over the next 30 years to support freight transport and decarbonisation.

Through the Freight Energy Forum – a commitment in the Future of freight: a long-term plan (June 2022) - the Department will work with stakeholders from the freight and energy sectors to understand the infrastructure requirements across the freight system and to develop a specific Zero Emission HGV Infrastructure Strategy. The Strategy will ensure the delivery of the recharging and refuelling infrastructure required to meet the 2035 and 2040 phase out dates for non-zero emission HGVs. The Strategy will complement the zero- emission road freight demonstrator (ZERFD) programme. ZERFD will demonstrate multiple zero emission HGV technologies at scale on UK roads to identify how they can each best be used to decarbonise the heaviest HGVs. The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles is working with fleets and industry bodies, such as the EV Fleet Accelerator and the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association, to understand the diverse charging requirements of fleets and how these can be factored into local planning and strategies.

Energy network operators are responsible for ensuring future demand can be met and they are incentivised to do so through the regulatory framework set out by Ofgem, the independent regulator. Since 1 April 2023 Ofgem has decided to socialise all the distribution network reinforcement costs for demand connections and to socialise a greater proportion of these costs for generation connections.