2026 Agenda
Wednesday 7 October
TEP, Birmingham
Light sandwich buffet to be served
Welcome and housekeeping from event host.
Group is divided into three groups for study tour sessions and cycles around the different stations – 45 minutes per station.
Station 1: Energy Park tour
Group will walk out to the park and have short presentations from representatives on different fuelling types and vehicles.
- Further details to follow shortly.
Station 2: Classroom sessions
Three 15-minute deep-dive technical presentations
- Further details to follow shortly.
Station 3: Innovation centre tour
Tour of the innovation centre learning about some key industry developments:
- Further details to follow shortly.
Thursday 8 October
Millennium Point, Birmingham
The Motor Transport Decarbonisation Summit 2026 will focus on the practical delivery of the road freight industry's transition to net zero.
Across the day, the programme will examine four issues increasingly determining fleet investment decisions: affordability, confidence, infrastructure and commercial reality.
Rather than advocating a single technology, the Summit will explore how different solutions are developing and what operators, policymakers, manufacturers, infrastructure providers and the wider industry need to do next.
Opening remarks will assess the pace of change over the past 12 months and set out why the decarbonisation debate is moving from ambition towards implementation, commercial viability and operational delivery.
How far have we really come?
Where does UK road freight decarbonisation actually stand in 2026? The opening keynote will examine progress in zero and lower-emission fleet adoption, infrastructure deployment, government policy and investment, while considering operator confidence and the barriers that continue to constrain the transition.
Speaker: Richard Smith, Managing Director, RHA
Shaping the transition
The newly announced Top Five Motor Transport Decarbonisation Power Players come together to discuss what they are seeing at the forefront of the transition. Rather than concentrating on their individual achievements, the discussion will consider what has changed over the past year, where genuine progress is being made, what is still getting in the way and what government and industry need to prioritise next.
A focused comparison of how freight decarbonisation is being approached regionally and internationally. Transport for the South East will examine the role of regional infrastructure, energy and land-use planning, while the ICCT will provide a European perspective on policy, infrastructure deployment and market development. The presentations will be followed by audience Q&A.
Speakers:
- Kate Over, Transport Strategy Manager – Freight and Rail, Transport for the South East
- Sarah Wixey, Associate, Steer
- Eamonn Mulholland, Senior Researcher, International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT)
What is the demonstrator programme teaching us?
Innovate UK will use the Summit to launch the first programme-wide ZEHID Annual Report, prepared with WSP.
The session will present emerging evidence from across the Zero Emission HGV and Infrastructure Demonstrator programme and consider what the findings mean for the next phase of zero-emission HGV deployment.
The focus will be on the practical lessons now emerging from real-world operation, including vehicle deployment, infrastructure, data and operator experience, and how that evidence can inform future investment and programme design.
As battery electric commercial vehicles begin to progress through their first ownership cycles, battery condition, residual value and confidence in the used market are becoming critical commercial issues.
This session will focus on practical mechanisms that make electric HGVs easier to finance, own, operate and remarket.
Speakers:
- Adam Purshall, Fleet, Procurement & Operational Systems Director, Menzies Distribution Solutions
- Jessica Tomkins, Supply Chain Projects Director, UK, DP World
- Michael Ayres, Managing Director, Flexible Power Systems
- Innovate UK
There is unlikely to be one technology capable of meeting every commercial vehicle duty cycle.
This session will move beyond arguments about technology winners and losers to consider where battery electric, biomethane, biofuels, hydrogen and renewable liquid fuels can work commercially.
The focus will be on operational suitability, infrastructure, affordability and how operators can make investment decisions while technologies and policy continue to evolve.
Speakers:
- Chris Ashley, Head of Policy, RHA
- Tim Campbell, Director, Campbells Consultancy
- Jonny Williams, MD, ViGo Bioenergy
- George Hobbs, Head of Data & Analytics, VEV
- Amy Stokes, Decarbonisation Director, Volvo Trucks
The Summit closes with a live, podcast-style conversation between industry leaders who have spent years working at the sharp end of freight decarbonisation.
With no presentations and no slides, the discussion will ask what the sector has learned, what it has got wrong, where investment should now be focused and how AI, autonomy, infrastructure and new operating models could reshape freight by 2030.
The final challenge: what is the single most important thing that needs to happen in the next five years.
Speakers:
- Andy Salter, Director, Salter Advisory
- Sam Clarke, EV Entrepreneur, Advisor and Brand Ambassador
- Justin Laney, Chief Logistics Officer, Electric Freight Systems
- Professor David Cebon, Director, Centre for Sustainable Road Freight, University of Cambridge
- Jamie Sands, founder, TwentyForty and Head of Solutions, Welch Group
A summary of the principal messages from the day and the priorities emerging for operators, policymakers and the wider road freight industry.