Cemex UK’s Rugby cement plant is set to receive alternative fuel deliveries by electric truck under a SUEZ trial aimed at reducing emissions from the plant’s fuel supply chain.

Introduced in partnership with Baxter’s Haulage, the MAN eTGX electric HGV will transport Climafuel® from SUEZ’s Malpass Farm and Landor Street facilities to the cement works. The solid recovered fuel is produced from non-recyclable household, commercial and industrial waste and used in the Rugby kiln as a substitute for conventional fossil fuels.

The truck will replace a diesel Iveco S-Way and is expected to transport 72,000tpa of Climafuel. Its planned schedule comprises approximately 11 journeys a day: eight loads from Malpass Farm and three overnight loads from Landor Street in Birmingham, covering around 214 miles.

For the longer overnight journeys, the vehicle will use Electroway’s newly opened charging facility at Magna Park, Lutterworth, which provides charging capacity of up to 400kW. The switch is expected to avoid approximately 44,700l of diesel consumption and reduce transport-related CO2 emissions by 109tpa.

The trial extends the companies’ alternative fuel partnership to address emissions associated with delivery to the kiln. In December 2024, SUEZ and Cemex marked the supply of 1Mta of Climafuel from Malpass Farm since the facility opened in 2015, displacing more than 750,000t of coal consumption at Rugby.

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Lee Needham, inbound manager at Cemex UK Cement Operations, said the trial would help assess how electric haulage performs in everyday operations while supporting efforts to reduce the environmental impact of the company’s supply chain.

Sean Matty, regional manager at SUEZ said: “Our partnership with Cemex UK is already an excellent example of how the waste and resources sector can support the decarbonisation of energy-intensive industries, by transforming non-recyclable waste into a valuable alternative fuel. By looking at how we transport that fuel, as well as how we produce it, we can identify further opportunities to reduce emissions across the supply chain. Working alongside our partners, we are proactively identifying changes to established operations to work towards a more sustainable future.” 

For cement producers, the trial offers an opportunity to assess whether electric HGVs can maintain frequent, reliable alternative fuel deliveries while lowering transport emissions. Baxter’s Haulage said the demanding schedule would provide a practical test of the technology’s suitability for heavy haulage.