Project JOLT (Joint Operator Logistics Trial) launched on 26 March, 2025 in the UK. Its aim is to establish whether electric road freight transport can become commercially viable.

Some of the UK’s best academic minds are working closely with industry to understand how diesel lorries can be replaced with electric.  The project is a consortium of potentially 15 fleet operators, 4 truck manufacturers, several technology providers and two universities. The collaborative research exercise is answering the question “how can the move to net zero be derisked”.

The consortium is led by Professor David Cebon of the Centre for Sustainable Road Freight. “We are sharing trucks and chargers on a three-month basis and testing a range of logistics operations,” he said. “We are pooling the anonymised data to develop new sustainable models of working.  By sharing the data in this way, we maximise the learning.  By sharing the resources, we minimise the costs for everyone involved.”

Some operations can easily substitute eHGVs for their diesel equivalents. However, for long distances, weight constrained loads and flexible working, eHGVs experience viability difficulties around payload, range, charging time and again, electricity supply. These have the potential to impose a financial impact on the operations or to derail the energy transition altogether.

The project launch included a webinar in which The Mover took part.  The webinar was attended by representatives from fleet operators, manufacturers and academia and moderated by Simon Flint, Head of Marketing and Communications for JOLT. Much of the discussion related to long-haul, heavy trucks and the issues around recharging networks and vehicle costings. However, on behalf of the moving industry, Steve Jordan, Editor of The Mover, wanted to know whether the project was likely to provide any information about residual vehicle values as the moving industry tends towards low mileage operation and, therefore, longer vehicle retention. 

Simon said that the thing that will have the greatest effects on residual values will be battery performance. “So far the indications are that batteries are holding up better than originally thought,” he said. “We are also looking the factors that cause batteries to degrade.”

For example, he said they have discovered that holding a battery at full charge for long periods causes faster degradation.  So operators would be better to charge vehicles just in time to use them rather than the night before. The panel also commented that there is research on opportunities for batteries to have options for second-life use, thereby increasing their residual value.

The project is already gathering data and JOLT is expecting to begin making its conclusions public by July 2025.

Photo (left to right): Mark Lea (Nestle, driver); Virginia Bath (University of Cambridge); Dave McGhin (Nestle); David Cebon (University of Cambridge); John McPhillips (William Jackson Food Group); John Miles (University of Cambridge); Philip Greening (Heriot Watt University); Justin Laney (John Lewis Partnership); Dave Wake (John Lewis Partnership); Michael Ayres (FPS).