Europe’s truckmaker CEOs have re-confirmed their commitment to make the transition to carbon-neutral and zero-emission freight transport as the COP25 UN climate conference takes place this week.
Gathering in Brussels for the Commercial Vehicle Board meeting of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), the industry chiefs stressed transition cannot happen without radical policy changes by the European Union and governments of all member states.
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Earlier this year, the EU adopted its first-ever CO2 standards for heavy-duty vehicles, which will apply in 2025 (-15%) and 2030 (-30%). These stringent CO2 targets oblige all manufacturers to focus on, and massively ramp up investments in, alternative powertrains.
“When we look at the total fleet of transport operators today, it is clear the market will need to be completely turned around in an extremely short timeframe,” said Gerrit Marx, Chairman of ACEA’s Commercial Vehicle Board and president of CNH Industrial Commercial Vehicles and Speciality.
New data released by ACEA shows 98.3% of all heavy and medium lorries (above 3.5 tonnes) on Europe’s roads today run on diesel. Electrically-chargeable vehicles account for a negligible share of all trucks in circulation (0.01%, or one out of every 10,000 vehicles) and around 0.4% of all trucks in the EU run on natural gas.
“If we are to transform this startling picture and convince hauliers to make the switch to low- and zero-emission vehicles on a large-scale, Europe urgently needs to introduce a strong package of consistent and predictable policy measures,” added Marx.
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By GlobalDataThis includes for instance, rapid roll-out of dedicated charging and refuelling infrastructure for trucks and putting in place incentives to make these vehicles a commercially-viable and competitive choice for transport operators.
The revision of the Eurovignette Directive should also allow for the differentiation of road user charges by CO2 emissions. “Member states in particular need to step up to the game in all these areas,” noted Marx.
“Creating real market demand for low- and zero-emission vehicles should now be the priority. Binding sales quotas for manufacturers, on the other hand, would not do anything to encourage transport companies to purchase alternatively-powered trucks.”
According to ACEA’s new report, ‘Vehicles in Use – Europe 2019’, there are 6.6m trucks on the EU’s roads. With more than 1.1m trucks, Poland has the largest lorry fleet in the EU, followed closely by Germany and Italy. The report also shows that the EU truck fleet is ageing rapidly.
Trucks are now on average 12.4 years old in the European Union, compared to 11.7 years in 2013.
