Assessing the Commercial Opportunities for Introduction of Hydrogen-Powered HGVs for a Logistics Com

Learning Outcomes

For the purposes of this assignment, you are employed by a leading logistics company in a business development role.

Your Divisional Director has finally stopped worrying about Brexit and has returned to topics that had slipped down the to-do list. Digging out an old presentation on the role that hydrogen fuel cells might play in future cars and vans, she was surprised to find a flurry of recent announcements of hydrogen-powered trucks. (S)he had thought that the company was following the correct path by investing in battery hybrid powered vehicles, but is that still the right call?

Rather than risk being rushed into a decision, (s)he has asked the business development team for their thoughts on the matter.

You are to prepare an assessment of the commercial opportunities that the introduction of hydrogen powered HGVs might deliver, from the perspective of the logistics company concerned.

Your submission should comprise a short Powerpoint presentation plus accompanying notes. A timetable for delivering the presentation will be issued nearer the due date.

Your presentation is to comprise no more than 12 slides, including title and closing slides.

Your presentation is to be accompanied by explanatory notes, offering reflection on your analysis and conclusions. These should be concise, no more than 1800 words in total and follow a recognised briefing note format.

Academic references are not required, though references to comparable successful supply chain strategies will enhance the credibility of your presentation.

Assessment Breakdown

Content (80%): Your presentation is to cover the following subjects as a minimum:

• The background to the debate over the relative merit of hydrogen and electric solutions for HGV applications
• An assessment of the commercial opportunities that hydrogen-powered vehicles might deliver for your company
• The capability required to take advantage of the opportunities you identify
• A service development plan to implement appropriate solutions on behalf of your customers and their supply chain
• An accompanying briefing note, offering further reflection in two pages or less.

Effective Presentation (20%): Use of an effective presentation style, conveying the key elements of the argument in twelve slides or less.

The learning outcomes that are being assessed in this assignment are:

Your grade will depend on the extent to which you meet these learning outcomes in the way relevant for this assignment. Please see the grading rubric at the end of this assignment brief for further details of the criteria against which you will be assessed.

Word Limits

The maximum word limit for this assignment is 1600 words for the briefing note and no more than 12 slides for the presentation itself.

In accordance with the Assessment and Feedback Policy, as stated in section 4.40 where a submission exceeds the stipulated word limit by more than 10%, the submission will only be marked up to and including the additional 10%. Anything over this will not be included in the final grade for the assessment item. Abstracts, bibliographies, reference lists, appendices and footnotes are excluded from any word limit requirements.

Assessment Breakdown

In line with section 4.41 of the same Policy, where a submission is notably under the word limit, the full submission will be marked on the extent to which the learning objectives have been met.

Assignment Support

Time will be allocated within our scheduled sessions to review sources and approaches to answering this assignment. One session (expected to be in Week 8) will be set aside wholly for this purpose.

Generic Grading Criteria

You will find the generic grading criteria for achievement at  University Grading Criteria.  Also explained here are the meanings of the various G grades at the bottom of the grading scale.

Assessment Submission

To submit your work, please go to the ‘Submit your work’ area on the NILE site and use the relevant submission point to upload your report. The deadline for this is 11.59pm (UK local time) on the date of submission.

Written work submitted to TURNITIN will be subject to anti-plagiarism detection software.  Turnitin checks student work for possible textual matches against internet available resources and its own proprietary database.  

When you upload your work correctly to TURNITIN you will receive a receipt which is your record and proof of submission.

If your assignment is not submitted to TURNITIN rather than a receipt you will see a green banner at the top of the screen that denotes successful submission.

N.B Work emailed directly to your tutor will not normally be marked. The only exception to this is when you are instructed to do so because TURNITIN is down.

For first sits, if an item of assessment is submitted late and an extension has not been granted, the following will apply:

• Within one week of the original deadline – work will be marked and returned with full feedback, and awarded a maximum bare pass grade.
• More than one week from original deadline – maximum grade achievable LG (L indicating late).

At the second opportunity deadline (resits) work submitted late will be awarded a LG grade.  There is no opportunity to submit work late for a bare pass.

The University of Northampton’s general policy with regard to extensions is to be supportive of students who have genuine difficulties, but not against pressures of work that could have reasonably been anticipated.  

For full details please refer to the Extensions Policy.  The module leader can, where appropriate, authorise a short extension of up to two weeks from the original submission date for first sits only. There are NO extensions for resits. The TWO weeks means 14 calendar days including weekends and any University closed days.

Mitigating Circumstances

For guidance on Mitigating circumstances please go to Mitigating Circumstances  where you will find detailed guidance on the policy as well as guidance and the form for making an application.

Please note, however, that an application to defer an assessment on the grounds of mitigating circumstances should normally be made in advance of the submission deadline or examination date.  

Plagiarism and Academic Integrity

Unless this is a group assignment, the work you produce must be your own with work taken from any other source properly referenced and attributed. The University of Northampton policy will apply in all cases of copying, plagiarism or any other methods by which students have obtained (or attempted to obtain) an unfair advantage.

If you are in any doubt about what constitutes plagiarism or any other infringement of academic integrity, please read the University’s Academic Integrity and Misconduct Policy. For help with understanding academic integrity go to UNPAC  and follow the Top Tips for Good Academic Practice on the student hub.

Please note that the University of Northampton puts all written assignments through detection software which detects if work has been plagiarised (copied) from other students (past or present and whether at UON or any other university), books, journals or internet sources. Copied materials WILL be detected. The penalties for copying work from another source without proper referencing are severe and can include failing the assignment, failing the module and expulsion from the university.