Coach decarbonisation as reliant on skills as technology, RHA finds

Workforce factors are as much of a challenge to coach decarbonisation as those relating to technology, a report from RHA has concluded.

Driving the Transition: Preparing the road transport workforce for Net Zero sets out the skills that coach, HGV and van operators will need if decarbonisation is to be what the trade body says is “practical, achievable, and commercially viable.”

Its contents are based on interviews with operators, manufacturers and sector bodies. Noted is that the transition to zero- and low-emission vehicles will involve a workforce transformation, and not just changes to vehicles, chargers, and grid connections.

“The prize is to ensure that all existing businesses, both large and small, have the skills, capability and resources that allow them to introduce zero- and, as appropriate, low-emission vehicles into their fleets,” the report says.

Although the biggest constraints to that are technicians, engineering capability and digital skills, RHA adds that ‘soft skills’ are equally important. It believes that government policy on skills remains too fragmented and does not recognise the interconnectivity required.

Modular training that is agile and responsive to changing requirements will be critical, with a public portfolio of high-quality training resources on zero-emission vehicles, energy systems, digital capability and artificial intelligence among RHA’s asks of ministers.

It also seeks more flexible apprenticeship funding, ‘stackable’ learning programmes, long-term certainty, a coordinated UK-wide approach, and a regularly reviewed training pathway for road transport decarbonisation.

To that is added consideration of drivers, who the trade body points out will need to understand charging procedures, range optimisation, and energy-efficient handling styles. “Transport managers and depot managers will increasingly manage energy as well as fleets,” RHA adds.

The report acknowledges that coaches have their own specific needs for decarbonisation, with RHA Managing Director Richard Smith observing in his foreword that “a coach operator… faces different challenges from a long-haul haulier” and that the approach to skills “must recognise those differences.”

Within the document it is noted how 66% of coach businesses have no more than 15 vehicles, which presents difficulties for a successful move away from diesel. Of coach operators, 75% are said to have no plans to introduce zero-emission fleet members, although 17% either have them already or plan to roll them out within the next five years.

Says Mr Smith: “Decarbonisation will not be delivered by fixed targets or technology alone. It will be delivered by people. Drivers, technicians, engineers, transport managers, planners and business leaders will all need new knowledge and skills. Green skills and digital skills are increasingly part of the same conversation.

“This transition has to be developed within our industry, and it has to work whether you run one van, a coach fleet, or hundreds of lorries. Vehicles, infrastructure, energy, investment, regulation, skills, people. Every part is connected, and progress in one without progress in the others will not deliver the transition we need.”

Read the RHA report in full by clicking here.