Transport, Economy and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee

20 October 2022

Report of the Corporate Director Business and Environmental Services

Low & Zero Carbon Emission Transport Update

1. Purpose of Report

1.1 To provide background and an update on activity to move transport – both public and Council’s own fleet - in North Yorkshire towards low and zero carbon emission. Whilst Active Travel options are relevant to the overall agenda of reducing transport emissions, that subject is not explicitly covered in this report.

2. Background

2.1       Over the past two years, the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (Y&NY LEP) has been leading the development of a ‘York and North Yorkshire Routemap to Carbon Negative’. This ‘routemap’ will provide a clear, co-owned plan to achieve net zero by 2034 and carbon negative by 2040. This focus on transformative decarbonisation has also been at the heart of the c£750 million, 30-year Devolution Deal for York and North Yorkshire that was announced by Government on 1 August. The York and North Yorkshire Routemap to Carbon Negative: (approved by LEP Board) Scale of ambition to achieve net zero by 2034, and carbon negative by 2040 has the following priorities and actions for the period 2022-2027 which include:

1. Decarbonise & increase use of public transport

Increase the use of public transport, whilst also decreasing carbon emissions through electrification and emerging hydrogen technology.

2. Enable the shift to low carbon vehicles

Develop the infrastructure and support behaviour change to enable the transition to shared ownership/mobility schemes, electric vehicles (EVs), electric bikes and other micro mobility devices.

3. Enable cleaner logistics

Develop the infrastructure to support the public sector and businesses utilise low carbon freight options, such as electrification of fleets, use of bio-fuels and emerging hydrogen technology, alongside freight modal shift to rail and local delivery logistics.

2.2       More specifically the Routemap sets out its ambition targets for Transport as one of the highest emitting sectors including:

· Roll-out of battery electric buses, ensuring they account for 25% of the fleet by 2030 and 95% by 2038.

· Roll-out of battery electric vehicles, ensuring they account for 33% vehicles on the road by 2030, and 76% by 2038 (Battery electric vehicle sales to be in the order 20,000 per year by 2038)

· Sales of zero emissions heavy goods vehicles increasing from around 250 per year in 2030 to close to 700 per year by 2038

2.3       Public Charging Infrastructure - In April 2020 North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC), jointly with the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) commissioned the Electric Vehicle Charging Deployment Study, funded by the NYCC Beyond Carbon Pump Priming fund. The study identifies measures NYCC and the district/borough councils and National Park Authorities (NPAs) can, or should, be taking to overcome barriers to electric vehicle charge point (EVCP) rollout. Those barriers can be described broadly in three categories:

1. Grid connection and capacity,

2. Rural nature of North Yorkshire, and

3. Volume of on-street parking in the county.

The study also identified the number of EVCPs required between now and 2030 based on a forecasted uptake of Electric Vehicles (EV).

2.4     The next phase of work is to establish where charge points should be located, how we can overcome the aforementioned barriers to delivery and what policy changes need to take place to achieve this; The development of this strategy commenced in October 2021 and is expected to be completed in October 2022, we then expect to launch a public consultation for the study in late 2022 with a view to the County Council adopting the strategy later this winter. It is anticipated that once the strategy has been adopted a recommendation will be made to the Executive of how much budget should be allocated to EV Charging.

2.5     Separately, to address the prevalent issue of EV connectivity, particularly in rural areas, NYCC wrote to ask the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to work with us on a “Rural Connectivity Electric Vehicle Pilot” to address the challenge of poor connectivity and the resulting lack of opportunities for our communities that live in the rural areas of North Yorkshire. Our suggestions on how this could be achieved include:

· Developing an ‘on-demand’ transport model

· Developing EV mobility hubs

· Joining up investment opportunities between the public and private sector to upgrade existing DERV (diesel) buses to zero exhaust emission buses

· Developing a community transport and / or internal fleet initiative

BEIS advised us to speak to our Distribution Network Operator (DNO), Northern Powergrid, as BEIS have seen some really successful partner projects between DNO’s and Local Authorities (LA’s). Conversations with the DNO are ongoing but it is clear they do not have infrastructure delivery funding to help make the significant infrastructure upgrades and subsequent grid connection and upgrade costs in North Yorkshire, especially for our most deeply rural areas. 

2.6       Public & Passenger Transport - Earlier this year NYCC were successful in a joint bid with the Harrogate Bus Company to the Government Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas fund (ZEBRA) to improve commercial local bus services. Harrogate Bus Company already run 8 battery electric buses on four bus routes and this £20M scheme will see their entire Harrogate local bus operation converted to electric vehicles along with upgrades to charging infrastructure in their depot and for ‘opportunity charging’ at Harrogate bus station.

2.7       There are approximately 250 operators across North Yorkshire who are currently providing home to school contracted transport services under contract to NYCC. Typical vehicles operated by the sector have an older age profile which reflects the financial pressures currently being experienced both by transport companies and local authorities. Continual procurement for Home to School transport will have a negative impact on both emissions and air pollution but the Council currently spends £28m on Home to School Transport and that cost would significantly increase if there was to be a change to our vehicle requirements. There would also be an issue in securing tender prices as many of our transport providers are small/medium providers who do not have the funds to replace vehicles with newer ones especially given the significant impact that both Covid and the current economic climate continues to have on the transport industry.

2.8       However, it is acknowledged that this issue needs further consideration in the future in relation to a longer-term strategy to reduce the impact of this type of transport on the environment. Electric vehicles with the high seating capacity and the necessary range and performance for many of our requirements are not currently available but the development work and experience from the ZEBRA project, particularly around the introduction of larger battery electric double deck buses, will be used to inform longer term planning for our contracted services.

2.9       The NYCC fleet is currently 407 vehicles. The cars and vans are used by various services in the course of their business. The level entry minibuses are used by Integrated Passenger Transport (IPT) to operate local bus services where accessibility is important. The other minibuses are used by IPT for social care and school services. A large number of NYCC vehicles are based at employees’ homes. This is an important consideration for electric vehicle charging. The remainder of the vehicles are based at corporate sites.

2.10 The choice of power source will be dependent on the weight of the vehicle, journey length and ancillary power requirements of the vehicle. Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) will undertake shorter, low-power requirement journeys. Other technology will be required to vehicles that cover greater distances or use greater amounts of power. Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (ULEV) and zero roadside emission vehicles are currently available to replace cars, car-derived vans and light vans, however, the large van market is not yet fully developed and manufacturers are indicating 2023-2024 for vehicles to be available with a suitable payload.

2.11     For level-entry minibuses, used in local bus services, ULEV and zero emission vehicles are available but the range is not great enough to allow for their use on current routes even with en-route charging. There are no accessible minibus ULEV / zero emission options currently available as these vehicles are built on large van chassis. This is a niche market. There are few options for large goods BEVs for uses such as refuse collection. These vehicles have a low range and are expensive. Without an extensive charging infrastructure and a change to operating models, pure BEV is likely to be suitable only for short journeys. Large Goods vehicles powered by battery motors but that use hydrogen fuel cell technology to recharge whilst on the move will be available from 2027-2028. This will offer a zero emission option for routes where the power requirement is high. There are discussions planned with vehicle suppliers to identify the power requirements of various waste collection routes to inform the most suitable mix of new refuse collection vehicles. The ULEV replacement of the agricultural vehicles have not been fully investigated.

2.12 Hydrogenated vegetable oil, HVO (100% bio-diesel), has been trialled by Scarborough Borough Council and Selby District Council. The proponents of HVO claim an 88% reduction in emissions.

· The results of these trials have not highlighted any maintenance or fuel consumption performance issues,

· The reduction in emissions is in reportable emissions rather than actual emissions. The actual reduction in emissions is 12% (Energy Saving Trust),

· The estimated increased fuel cost to North Yorkshire Council for a wider roll out of HVO would be £2m per annum for NYCC and NY Highways.

· The Energy Saving Trust advise caution and further investigation into the source of HVO supplies. The have identified that even waste cooking oil certified from the EU is potentially driving deforestation in South East Asia through the palm oil industry.

2.13     Availability of charging infrastructure is also a challenge for fleet. There are plans to install 12 x 7.2kW electric vehicle-charging points at County Hall. These are due before February 2023. This will accommodate the 10 x BEV’s on order for the NYCC pool car fleet, also with an expected delivery date of February 2023. The charging point technology will allow for the tracking of the power used and other information. Cars and light vans that are due for replacement are assessed for viability of replacement with battery electric vehicles using a specific decision making process (available to see on request).

2.14     There is also a home electric vehicle charging point policy near to approval which will allow for the installation of charging points at employees’ homes at Council expense. This is subject to property suitability and acceptance criteria to prevent unnecessary or short-term installations. The main barriers to installation of charging points at employee homes are a lack of off street parking, a lack of adequate supply to the property and ownership type. This will reduce the speed of the roll out of battery electric vehicles. A survey has been launched via the Council’s intranet so users of home-based vehicles can feedback on the details of their properties. This is to identify suitability for home charge points. Supply reviews are being undertaken at a number of Highways depots to explore the feasibility of the installation of a limited number of 7.2kW overnight chargers for vehicles based at those sites. There are plans for Property Services and Fleet to co-ordinate a survey of vehicle parking locations at all North Yorkshire Council sites to identify the power required for charging vehicles based at those sites.

3 Devolution

3.1 The aforementioned work aligns with/supports the transport based Devolution proposals to Government. The proposals are:

1. A devolved 5-yearly Integrated Transport Settlement for the YNY region to invest on a more strategic and longer-term basis in our transport priorities and support our region’s economic and spatial plans for growth.

2. Funding to accelerate the transition to zero exhaust emission public transport across our region

3. Funding for the rollout of publicly available EV charging facilities across our region

4. Revenue funding settlement for bus services to support COVID-19 economic recovery

5. Enhanced joint working and transport powers, covering:

a. Statutory Transport Plan Powers

b. Bus Franchising Powers

c. A Devolved Mayoral Transport Settlement

d. Enhanced joint Working with Highways England and Network Rail

3.2       There are two asks relating to low carbon sustainable travel which aim to help the area achieve its aspiration of becoming a carbon negative region. Those asks are related to publically available EV charging infrastructure and also Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) public transport facilities. Both asks have significant challenges associated with delivering EV infrastructure particularly in rural areas.

3.3       The evidence included in the Devolution case for change, to government, to rollout publicly available EV facilities across our region, was largely derived from, and has been refreshed alongside, updates to the Electric Vehicle Charging Deployment Study. It was also influenced by the report produced by North Yorkshire’s Rural Commission; Rural North Yorkshire: The way forward.

4 Funding for a rollout of EV charging facilities

4.1       Both the Devolution deal, and the Strategies being established for public charging infrastructure, fleet and passenger transport seek to address the following problems:

1. Reliance on petrol and diesel vehicles,for both private transport as well as public transport and the movement of goods leading to local air quality problems and high carbon emissions, because of the inability to switch to low carbon vehicles because of a lack of EV Charging infrastructure

2. Congestion, which exacerbates our air quality and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission challenges, as well as posing a cost to businesses, commuters and our economy. Both Harrogate and Scarborough also suffer from significant urban congestion issues, which constrain the economy and lead to air quality issues. Lower, but still significant levels of congestion are also experienced in some of our smaller towns including four declared Air Quality Management Areas.

3. Poor interurban connectivity(especially east-west) both within the region and into neighboring regions and the rest of the country. This results from a combination of journey distance – with some of our towns being nearly 50 miles from the core strategic transport network (East Coast Mainline/A1(M) – and sub-standard highway infrastructure which leads to long and unreliable journey times. Relatively minor incidents on the network (road and rail) can exacerbate these issues.

4. Poor rural connectivity and lack of alternatives to the private car, due to the very sparse population in these areas, which prevents many of our rural areas from fully contributing towards and benefitting from the economic prosperity of our region.

5. Poor resilience of our road networkdue to flooding and landslips at a relatively small number of key locations where there are very limited alternative routes; and

6. Poor access to the rail network, which means we are not making best use of the good rail connectivity enjoyed by much of the region.

4.2       Additionally, the Electric Vehicle Charging Deployment Strategy recognises that the electric grid infrastructure in our numerous large and small towns is likely to be the greatest constraint on a wide scale rollout.

4.3       Through devolution it is felt we can address private sector/commercial market failures by targeting investment towards the places that need it most and make strategic, holistic investments to encourage EV usage in our region. We have already started this process through seeking to establish network plans for EVCP rollout, which considers the priority of residents, tourists, and businesses.

4.4       On 24 March 2022 The Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund was launched, it is a £400m capital grant scheme administered by Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) and supported by the Energy Saving Trust, Cenex and PA consultants. LEVI is intended to encourage large scale, ambitious and commercially sustainable projects that leverage significant private sector investment. It is the intention that the LEVI will support a transition towards local charge point provision secured on a commercial basis without public funding. To test the design of the new scheme Government have launched a £10 million pilot competition, which they expect will fund between 3 and 8 projects in 2022/23 and 2024/25. This is a great opportunity to start delivering on the Council’s asks of Devolution and to BEIS and addressing the aforementioned challenges.

4.5       We have been successful in our bid (More information can be found in the BES Executive Report from 16 June 2022) for £2m which focuses on delivering solutions using renewable energy that are aesthetically sympathetic in deeply rural areas where grid upgrades would otherwise be prohibitive and unattractive to the private sector for investment. If successful, we will co-locate Electric Vehicle Charge Points (EVCP) with battery storage powered by renewables. We are committing to deliver 70 chargers (10 chargers per district) over four rural sites in each of our seven Districts/Boroughs.

5.0       Next Steps for North Yorkshire County Council

5.1       The North Yorkshire Council Climate Change Strategy Consultation Draft will be considered by Members in December 2022. This will outline the Council’s response both to the Routemap and to the Climate Emergency declared in July 2022. The EVCP Strategy and various activities will be instrumental in decreasing the causes of climate change and ensuring a fair geographical transition to the low carbon economy.

5.2       We will continue, through the governance structure and with our colleagues at the LEP, to ensure that the Electric Vehicle Charging Rollout Study aligns with the devolution ambitions.

5.3       The EV Infrastructure Rollout Strategy work is expected to be complete in October 2022. We expect that this will go to public consultation in autumn, and then inform some policy changes, which will affect how we rollout EVCPs at scale, particularly for our residents. Additionally, we will undertake a network planning exercise across North Yorkshire, which will lead to mass rollout of EVCPs. The contracts for EVCPs that have already been developed by Districts and Boroughs, primarily in public car parks in market towns and urban centres, will novate to NYC and form a part of the network plans.

5.4       The EV Infrastructure Rollout Strategy is a 10-year plan (2020-2030), front loaded with the majority of EVCPs delivered in the first five years, whilst the Devolution deal is a 5 year plan set to commence spend in 2024.

5.5       Following receipt of the final strategy document NYCC will need to make some decisions on next steps and establish an EVCP budget. There is an opportunity, during this time, for the Council to consider funding or part funding the aforementioned EV rural connectivity pilot in the first couple of years.

5.6       For commercial local bus services, over the next two years 20 new single deck and 19 double deck battery electric buses will be introduced on routes in the Harrogate district area which will include the four declared air quality management areas in Ripon, Harrogate and Knaresborough, and will result in immediate air quality improvements in these locations. The Council is also working with other commercial bus operators to explore how they can be supported in a similar way.

5.7       For the Council’s own fleet, there are discussions planned with waste vehicle suppliers to identify the power requirements of various waste collection routes to inform the most suitable mix of new refuse collection vehicles.

5.8       There is an electric car and an electric van on order for to allow for operational trials with services. This will assist to breakdown misconceptions around the reliability and range of battery electric vehicles. A vehicle replacement strategy is required to address alternative fuel opportunities in the new fleet, to provide best value for investment, to meet operational requirements and to equalise the average age of vehicles across the new Council. This strategy will be completed in 2023-2024.

5.9       There is an Energy Saving trust review of the fleet underway that is expected to report later this year. The conclusions and the recommendations of the report will influence the vehicle replacement strategy. The fleet management section will work with Property Services to implement a survey of the new Council’s sites to identify the power required at corporate sites to charge the vehicles based there and work will be undertaken to identify the mix of alternative fuel vehicles required in the future fleet between pure electric and hydrogen fuel cell electric.

5.10     NYCC is also proposing an exploratory study into winter service decarbonisation and how we can look to reduce the environmental and carbon impact of this service. That work is coupled with a trial this coming winter season, where NY Highways has added two gritters each with an electric body to its fleet. The vehicles have an anticipated fuel saving of up to 20 per cent compared to standard, diesel-powered gritters.

5.11     A timeline/next steps for public charging infrastructure is listed below:

Year	EV Strategy	Devolution
2020	· Electric Vehicle Charging Deployment Study completed	· Early discussions begin
2021	· EV Infrastructure Rollout Strategy begins	· LGR/Devolution discussions ongoing, initial asks prepared
2022	· EV Infrastructure Rollout Strategy completed · Public Consultation takes place · Council adopt EV Rollout Strategy · Council to agree EV budget / Next Steps	· Finalised Devolution asks presented to Government
2023	· EVCP Rollout begins 22/23 · Potential EV Rural Connectivity Pilot	· LGR
2024		· Mayoral Elections / earliest devolution spend opportunity
2025	· Half way point for strategy – review point
2026
2027
2028
2029		· Mayoral Elections
2030	· Ban on Sale of ICE vehicles begins

Report Authors:

Keisha Moore, Transport Planning Officer

Andrew Sharpin, Operations and Fleet Manager

Andrew Clarke, Public and Community Transport Manager

Jos Holmes, Climate Change Policy Officer

Date: September 2022

Background papers relied upon in the preparation of this report: None

6. Key Implications

Local Member

All

Financial: As this is an update report there are no financial implications arising directly from the report. The individual strategies referred to within the report have financial implications attached to them which have been / will be the subject of decision reports as appropriate.

Human Resources: none

Legal: none

Equalities none

Performance: none

Risk Management: none

Environmental Impacts/Benefits including Climate Change Impact Assessment: No Impact