Tighter CO2 limits shock truck manufacturers

The European Commission has demanded far tougher than expected future targets for CO2 exhaust output reductions from heavy commercial vehicles, causing consternation among truck manufacturers who point to a lack of co-ordination with the proposed Euro VII regulations on toxic emissions.

It proposes reductions of 45 per cent CO2 from 2030, 65 per cent from 2035 and 90 per cent from 2040 from a 2019 baseline. The limits are technology-agnostic: the EC says that manufacturers themselves must choose from electrification, hydrogen fuel cells or hydrogen combustion, but warns that renewable and low-carbon pour-in alternatives to fossil fuel such as HVO and other synthetic fuels are unlikely to be available for road transport as the aviation industry will be given first call on them.

The CO2 limits are averaged across a manufacturer’s entire vehicle output: so selling a quantity of zero-emission trucks would allow greater latitude for producing some specialist trucks with powerful and thirsty diesel engines.

Industry had been working to a 15 per cent reduction in 2025 and a 30 per cent reduction by 2030. But the reduction demanded is now 45 per cent by 2030 which has been described by Martin Lundstedt, ACEA’s commercial vehicle board chairman and CEO of Volvo Group as “highly ambitious.”

ACEA calculates that this reduction can only be achieved if 400,000 zero-emissions trucks are on the road by 2030, with at least 100,000 being registered annually. Even if the manufacturing side can achieve this, then creating a suitable charging network would mean installing 50,000 publically-accessible truck chargers across Europe with 35,000 being high-capacity megawatt chargers. ACEA said 700 hydrogencharging stations would also be required.

ACEA’s director-general, Sigrid de Vries, warned: “Given that charging stations that are suited to the specific needs of trucks are almost completely missing today, the challenge ahead is enormous.

“We are concerned that only vehicle manufacturers will face high penalties if other stakeholders do not fulfil their role in making this possible – especially given the low level of ambition that members states are showing on the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR).”

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