Construction and building materials supplier Tarmac is developing a charging network across London and the South East to support the introduction of five electric HGVs (eHGVs) for construction-material deliveries.
The vehicles will transport cement, asphalt, aggregates and concrete blocks to construction and major infrastructure projects.
Tarmac’s latest sustainability reporting says the fleet will comprise four Renault Trucks vehicles and one DAF.
Charging infrastructure supplied by Voltempo is planned for Tarmac’s Paddington concrete plant, Harper Lane asphalt plant, Linford blocks plant and Northfleet HGV base in Kent.
The network will also incorporate a charging hub operated by Fleete at the Port of Tilbury.
A 250kW DC charger at the Paddington plant is intended to allow vehicles to recharge while materials are being unloaded, reducing the amount of operational time lost to charging.
At Northfleet, a Voltempo HyperCharger megawatt charging system will be capable of delivering up to 1MW to one eHGV or dynamically distributing the available capacity across as many as six vehicles.
The project forms part of the eFREIGHT 2030 consortium and is supported through the UK government’s Zero Emission HGV and Infrastructure Demonstrator programme.
The Department for Transport and Innovate UK programme is backed by up to £200m across four demonstration projects.
According to Tarmac, the network had been designed to combine road and rail freight. Materials arriving at its Paddington facility by rail will be transferred to eHGVs for onward delivery to customers in London.
The five vehicles are also expected to join Tarmac’s eDiscovery Programme, through which supply-chain partners can lease an electric truck for six months to test its performance before making a longer-term investment.
Ben Garner, logistics director at Tarmac, said: “These significant new additions to our electric fleet together with a London-wide charging network mean that we’re scaling electrification and helping customers cut carbon across construction logistics.
“With material deliveries coming into our Paddington facility via our rail freight network, onward journeys can now be made by eHGV – providing customers in London with a leading, low-carbon and multimodal logistics offer.”
The project builds on Tarmac’s introduction of the UK’s first fully electric ready-mixed concrete vehicle in 2022. The company now reports that five electric concrete mixers are operating across the UK.
While the new charging network was expected to become operational in early 2026, Tarmac’s latest sustainability material described the five-vehicle deployment and associated charging network as being developed.
Decarbonising heavy urban freight involves much more than replacing diesel vehicles with electric ones. Charging locations, grid capacity, loading and unloading schedules, vehicle utilisation and connections between rail and road must all work together.
Urban Logistics, taking place at Excel London on 9-10 June 2027, will bring fleet operators, construction logistics users, vehicle manufacturers, charging providers and infrastructure partners together to address these practical challenges and accelerate the deployment of cleaner commercial transport in cities.
Find out more at urbanlogisticsexhibition.com
