The manufacturers already have hydrogen and battery-powered models in their range.
(Photo: Hyundai Motor)
Brussels According to the will of the Greens in the European Parliament, no new trucks with combustion engines may be registered in the future. “It would be wrong to pass a law that falls short of what the market can do and what meets our climate goals,” said the responsible MP Yannik Jadot (Greens, France) at an event in the European Parliament. By 2040 at the latest, new trucks should be climate-neutral.
In February, the EU Commission proposed reducing emissions from truck fleets by 90 percent by 2040.
That would mean that truck manufacturers would only be allowed to sell a small number of trucks with classic combustion engines.
The Commission envisages a reduction of 45 percent for 2030 and 65 percent for 2035. The comparative value is the average CO2 emissions of the fleets in 2019.
Three different types of truck drives are considered to be climate-neutral: battery-electric drives, fuel cell drives in which electricity is generated from hydrogen, and thirdly, hydrogen combustion engines. The first two variants are already being offered by the industry.
California is leading the way in banning internal combustion trucks
The US state of California could be a role model for Europe. Last week, the California Air Resources Board (Carb) government commission passed a ban on new combustion engine trucks from 2036. With this, the state goes well beyond the ambition of the EU Commission.
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Carb Chair Liane Randolph expects 15 to 17 US states to align with California and adopt similar rules. This would create great opportunities for manufacturers.
Randolph calls on the EU to also make the strictest possible requirements. “We need to create a global market for zero-emission vehicles,” she told Handelsblatt during a visit to Brussels.
In the US state there should be no newly registered combustion trucks from 2036.
(Photo: AP)
The companies that buy trucks would not be disadvantaged by the law. “Together, the operating and acquisition costs for electric trucks are no higher than for combustion trucks,” said Randolph. Small companies would still receive subsidies if they invest in new trucks, as otherwise they would not be able to finance the high acquisition costs.
No e-fuels intended for trucks
Operating classic combustion engines with e-fuels is not planned in either the EU or California. E-fuels are synthetic fuels in which CO2 is bound, which is released through combustion in the engine.
“We see e-fuels as an opportunity for other sectors that otherwise have no option to reduce their emissions to zero,” Randolph said, citing shipping, aviation and high-temperature industrial processes.
In contrast to the European proposal, California will only allow special vehicles such as garbage trucks and construction vehicles without combustion engines in the future. The Americans place a special focus on precisely these vehicles. Parcel services will also only be able to purchase zero-emission vehicles from 2024.
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The background to this is that the Californian authorities have air pollution control in mind in addition to climate protection. For this reason, those vehicles that drive a lot through residential areas should no longer run on diesel.
The EU Commission, on the other hand, has proposed that regular buses in cities should be switched to alternative drives earlier, from 2030.
Although companies in the truck industry are ready to switch to zero-emission vehicles, they do not yet see all the prerequisites for doing so.
“We want to switch to climate-neutral trucks in Europe, the USA and Japan by 2039, but among other things we need a strong charging network, a good supply of hydrogen and raw materials for the batteries,” said Silke Conrad, Brussels representative of Daimler Trucks. “If a piece of the puzzle is missing, it doesn’t work.”
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