Shipping and logistics company DFDS is charging up change with near-zero-emission deliveries throughout the United Kingdom, one of forty countries that have signed the Global Memorandum of Understanding on Zero-Emission Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles (Global MOU) to achieve 100% new zero-emission truck and bus sales by 2040. DFDS is committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, a goal that dovetails with the Global MOU.
In 2024, DFDS joined the UK’s Zero Emission HGV & Infrastructure Demonstrator ZEHID Programme, a massive £200 million initiative to accelerate the deployment of near-zero emission trucks and buses. Through this initiative, DFDS secured funding to purchase and deploy eight Volvo FM Battery Electric trucks with 4×2 tractors. Equipped with 540kWh batteries, these trucks can travel up to 300 kilometers on a single charge and achieve 490 kW of continuous power, the equivalent of 666 horsepower.
As part of the project’s next phase, DFDS will install seven new charging stations, each strategically located and designed to maximize the new trucks’ delivery territory. As of May 2025, three of the charging stations – Sandhills, Grimsby and Simonswood – have been installed. The others – Ballymena, Shetland, Killingholme, and Peterborough – will be completed by the end of the year. In total, there will be 22 charging outlets across the seven charging stations. Most chargers will have a charging speed of 2.5 hours with DC charging.
Beyond serving as a powerful example of charging up change, this public-private partnership offers key lessons that will inform the UK’s transition to ZE-MHDVs and ability to achieve its zero-emission truck and bus sales targets. Among the positive findings: DFDS’ new trucks are experiencing greater mileages and lower kWh/mile averages than was simulated. As a result, the company is re-evaluating its approach toward permissible transport runs and on-road charging infrastructure requirements.
The automotive, logistics, and charging industries support the UK’s transition to ZE-MHDVs. In February 2025, more than 20 companies and organizations – including Siemens, Maersk, and Heathrow Airport – asked Transportation Secretary Heidi Alexander MP and other key policymakers for regulation to decarbonize the HGVs and buses in the U.K. The country’s existing regulations include requiring all HGVs up to 26 tonnes to be zero-emission by 2025 and heavier HGVs to do the same by 2040. The country also offers a Plug-In Truck Grant program.
As reflected in the automotive, logistics and charging industries’ call for more regulation in the UK, a growing number of businesses around the world now recognize the “quadruple A” proposition of zero-emission trucks and buses: They are Advanced, Affordable, Available and Adopted:
- Advanced: ZE-MDHVs on the market are state-of-the-art. They are designed to reduce pollution, fuel costs, and vulnerability to global shocks such as extreme weather events, energy price spikes, and major power outages. They are operationally superior to diesel trucks and buses offering a smoother and quieter ride as well as advanced safety features, and lower fuel and maintenance costs.
- Affordable: By 2030-2035, the vast majority of ZE-MHDVs will be cheaper to own and operate than traditional MDHV models.
- Available: Today, there are nearly 960 ZE-MHDV models on the market globally, a nearly 50% increase from 2021 when 570 models were available . In the Netherlands, model availability of zero-emission medium-and heavy-duty vehicles rose from 51 models in 2021 to 92 models in 2025. To see how other countries are growing their zero-emission model availability, explore Drive to Zero’s Zero-Emission Technology Inventory (ZETI) Data Explorer.
- Adopted: In 2024, more than 250,000 ZE-MHDVs were sold around the world.
To learn more about the UK’s partnership with DFDS, please check out the Charging Up Change spotlight, Partnership is Leadership: Electrifying U.K. Freight, on the Drive to Zero website.