UK: Freightliner and synthetic fuel developer Zero Petroleum have announced a partnership which aims to achieve fossil-free locomotive operation by 2040 and overall net zero by 2050.
They are also looking at non-road mobile machinery and other vehicles.
Zero has developed proprietary Fischer-Tropsch process technology to produce non-biological synthetic fuels using renewable electricity, carbon dioxide from the air and hydrogen from water. It has opened a small-scale factory in Bicester, and plans to build a commercial-scale production plant from 2026. Other organisations it is working with include Rolls-Royce, Boeing and the Royal Air Force.
‘The technology which Zero is developing is industry leading and has the capability of accelerating both our customers’ and our own journey to Net Zero’, said Freightliner Group CEO UK/Europe Tim Shoveller on April 4. ’Rail freight is already a more sustainable alternative when compared to road, reducing carbon emissions by as much as 76%. By working with Zero, this alternative fuel has the potential to reduce carbon emissions much further.’
