Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners – a specialist global investment manager focused exclusively on the infrastructure needed for the energy transition – announced a phased investment of up to £100 million in Aegis Energy. This funding emphasized the construction of the first clean and multi-energy recharging and refueling sites for commercial vehicles in the UK.
Aegis’ plans for a network of hubs aim to serve all truck and van operators transitioning to cleaner fuels, such as electric, HVO, hydrogen, and bio-CNG.
Transport is known as the sector with the highest emissions in the UK, accounting for a large percentage of greenhouse gas emissions. There is growing regulatory pressure to decarbonize, with sales bans on non-zero emission vans and trucks from 2035 to 2040, as consumers demand more sustainable products and services.
By building this infrastructure solution, Aegis Energy will deliver an essential missing piece, enabling the next wave of low and zero-emission trucks and vans to hit UK roads and help progress the clean energy transition. And Aegis Energy is actively looking to partner with more fleet operators across the UK to help them navigate the transition.
An initial five-station network is planned to be completed by the end of 2027, with stations under development in Sheffield, Immingham, Warrington, Corby, and Towcester. Aegis Energy will start construction on the first of these stations this year, which is scheduled to open in early 2026. By the decade’s end, Aegis Energy plans to create a broader network of up to 30 hubs.
Each hub can charge/fuel about 40+ heavy goods vehicles and 25+ vans simultaneously. After ramping up, an average Aegis Energy site is expected to reduce carbon equivalent emissions by approximately 14,300 tons annually.
The funding from Quinbrook represents the firm’s inaugural investment in sustainable transport, complementing the firm’s extensive portfolio of energy transition-focused investments across the UK, US, and Australia.
Quinbrook was advised on the investment by Norton Rose Fulbright (legal), Arup (commercial and technical), PKF Francis Clark (financial and tax), and Locktons (insurance). Cameron Barney Herbst Hilgenfeldt (CBHH) was the financial adviser to Aegis Energy alongside ERM (commercial) and Dentons (legal).
KEY QUOTES:
“Quinbrook is uniquely placed to capitalize on emerging investment opportunities that drive impactful emissions reduction in hard-to-abate sectors like transport and supporting innovators like Aegis that are creating new infrastructure investment models. Targets under the UK’s Zero Emission Vehicle mandate highlight the existing gaps in the infrastructure needed to provide accessible clean energy to transport fleets. This presents significant opportunities for Aegis Energy to build market-leading refueling hubs and we look forward to supporting its growth and expansion throughout the country.”
– Keith Gains, Managing Director and UK Regional Lead for Quinbrook
“Aegis Energy was founded to help decarbonize the largest contributors to the most emitting sector in the UK. There is growing pressure from regulators and consumers for commercial vehicles to decarbonize, making it a necessity for winning new business and maintaining customer loyalty. The transition will take time and play out differently for each fleet, but by providing public hubs with multiple clean energy charging and refuelling options, we’re supporting operators to choose how they want to make the transition. Quinbrook’s funding will help us ensure that critical energy infrastructure is reliably available where our customers need it, and support millions of vehicles to make a once-in-a-multi-generational change.”
– Christopher Thorneycroft-Smith, Co-founder at Aegis Energy
“The UK Government’s regulatory push to decarbonize the transit fleet creates meaningful opportunities for investment in companies like Aegis Energy that are pioneering this effort. While this represents Quinbrook’s first venture in sustainable transport, it is new and innovative energy transition infrastructure opportunities like Aegis that we are known for and that our investors are seeking exposure to.”
– Rory Quinlan, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Quinbrook
