We’re thrilled to share this deep dive into the future of logistics from Leo Pickford, Founder & CEO of TransitionWise. A thought leader at the cutting edge of the energy transition, Leo is helping logistics companies navigate a world that’s becoming more electric, digital and service-driven by the day. In this piece, he outlines the exciting changes taking shape across the logistics sector in 2025 and beyond—where digitalisation, inter-modal integration, and decarbonisation are coming together to rewrite the rules of the game.
From the rise of smart, multi-modal freeports to the rapid rollout of electric HGV fleets, Leo shares how logistics is evolving into a more efficient, low-carbon system—one powered by intelligent software, clean energy, and smart infrastructure.
As we look at logistics in 2025 and into the next few years, an exciting transformation is underway, which promises to reshape its whole operation.
We are seeing a revolution of 3 things at once… Greater digitalisation, increased inter-modal integration and the ramping up of decarbonisation. What’s more, each of these 3 changes has a good deal of interconnection with the other 2. Hence, a new template for logistics that embraces them all is emerging as the winning formula.
The clearest evidence of this can be seen in the new freeports that have been appearing around the UK. These multi-modal hubs with road and rail, plus sometimes seaport or airport too, will allow the smoother flow of goods around the country in reshaped operations. Goods will make smarter, more efficient and less carbon intensive journeys, enabled by a high level of digital integration between modes, complimenting the clear physical integration that we’re starting to see.
Every journey is continually optimised for speed, connectivity, carbon emissions and cost.
Fundamentally it’s also going to start meaning more electric HGVs in road logistics fleets, partly as carbon emissions are tracked digitally in journey planning and reporting, whilst pressure from customers and the regulatory environment are starting to drive the transition. The building of new multi-modal hubs provides the opportunity to install the substantial power supplies required to support high powered chargers, as well as more micro-grid elements such as solar panels and batteries, which can themselves reduce the size of the grid connections needed and the overall cost of energy.
The latest eHGV vehicles have 250-300 miles of range, in many cases allowing them to do depot-only charging, thus the running costs can look very appealing. Even with a significant proportion of public charging, the costs of operating an eHGV fleet are competitive. The recently opened Milence charging hub at Immingham announced a rate of 39.9p/kWh + VAT, with other hubs to come from Milence, Fleete and Aegis amongst others, plus the opening up of First Bus depots to eHGVs. Blending charging hub rates with lower home depot rates, logistics companies will then be able to offset the purchase premium of an eHGV over a diesel truck and make the total cost of ownership increasingly appealing.
As the premium over diesel continues to fall, the cross-over point at which eHGVs are cheaper in terms of TCO will approach faster than many realise. At this point a large fleet of fuel burning trucks is in danger of becoming uncompetitive very quickly, whilst the electric fleets will increasingly pick up the work, whether this is when bidding for large contracts, or in the supply chain optimisation algorithms used by 4PL providers. When you are trying to plan for your transition, there are a lot of things to think about though, from the vehicles themselves, to infrastructure, to software, to processes, planning and financing. It’s a heck of a lot to get right… or wrong.
