‘Poo-powered’ electric HGVs join United Utilities fleet

Electric heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), which are powered by poo, are joining the United Utilities fleet in a trial funded by the Department for Transport (DfT).

The water company is taking part in the £100 million ‘Electric Freightway’ project,  led by Gridserve and funded as part of the DfT and Innovate UK Zero Emission HGV and Infrastructure Demonstrator programme. 

United Utilities joins a consortium of 33 companies, including Sainsbury’s, Amazon and the Royal Mail, that are taking part in the project, which aims to lay the foundations for the biggest and most advanced electric HGV (eHGV) charging networks in the world. 

The United Utilities vehicles will be based at the company’s bioresources centre in Manchester, where they are used to transport sewage sludge, a by-product of sewage treatment, from other wastewater treatment facilities across the North West for processing at the Davyhulme site.

The vehicles are then charged up at Davyhulme, using the renewable electricity which is produced on site from the processed sewage sludge.

Tom Lissett, bioresources and green energy director at United Utilities, said: “This is a really exciting development and an important step towards our net zero carbon targets. 

“A lot of people don’t realise that at the end of the wastewater treatment process we are left with a sludge which is used to generate renewable energy. We call this ‘black gold’ because of the renewable energy we can release when it is processed.” 

He added: “Using the vehicles to collect the sludge and then using the clean energy it generates to charge their batteries is a great way of maximising the potential of that resource. 

“We’ve recently trialled one electric HGV, so we know it is a good solution for us.”

The biogas generated in the anaerobic digestion process goes to a combined heat and power unit where it is converted into 100% renewable energy which will be used to power the HGV charging points. 

Future of roads minister, Lilian Greenwood, said: “Decarbonising road freight is key to reducing transport emissions, and it’s fantastic to see the Department’s Zero Emission HGV and Infrastructure Demonstrator programme support United Utilities and Volvo roll out zero emission trucks.

“We’re investing up to £200m to help rollout hundreds of zero emission lorries and install new charging infrastructure, supporting high paid jobs and making the UK a green energy superpower as part of our Plan for Change.”  

The project will also see the introduction of high-power charging bays which will be installed by Gridserve later this year, to ensure maximum uptime for the eHGVs. 

United Utilities will share learnings and data with Hitachi ZeroCarbon through the Electric Freightway programme, which will provide insights to help support the UKs transition to electric vehicles.