In a new position paper on the Weights & Dimensions Directive, T&E says the law can stimulate demand for zero-emission vehicles.
In July 2023, the European Commission published the ‘Greening Freight Transport’ package, with the aim of making freight transport more sustainable. Trucks play a major role in EU road transport emissions. Although they only represent 2% of vehicles on the road, they account for nearly 30% of emissions. If the EU is to achieve its 2050 climate neutrality target, the EU truck fleet needs to be rapidly decarbonised.
Zero-emission trucks (ZEVs) can however be heavier and take more space than internal combustion vehicles (ICE). In 2019, they were therefore allowed to weigh 2 tonnes more in some use cases. While this was sufficient for urban and most regional delivery trucks, some ZEV designs for long-distance trucking require more weight, as they are fitted with heavier batteries. Within the package, the review of the Weights and Dimensions (W&D) Directive aims to grant this further weight increase to ZEVs. In this paper, T&E outlines how, by providing non-monetary incentives for zero-emission trucks and buses, the W&D Directive is critical to stimulate zero-emission vehicle demand and steer investments. The Directive further offers a – currently untabbed – opportunity to limit the growth of SUV and pick-up truck sales in the light-duty market segment.
T&E's reaction to Ursula von de Leyen’s election as European Commission president for a second five-year term
T&E's paper on how to harmonise EU regulations to accelerate transport decarbonisation.
The new truck CO2 law provides investment certainty for Europe's trucking industry to go zero emissions. EU member states now need to get the charging...