HGV carbon aims “too ambitious” says ACEA

Due to the high demands from the EU to reduce heavy CO2 emissions from larger vehicles, there has been some outrage from manufacturers within the EU trying to meet their demands and criticising the recommendations they have in place. They claim this will ultimately slow down progress for development and advancements of their vehicles overall, as developing an environment-friendly truck takes much longer than a car to be made, tested and finally released.

The EU demands are that by 2030 emission levels will be reduced by one-third. A vote was held by the European Parliament’s Environment Committee to rewrite terms for a mandatory cut of 15% by 2025 and a voluntary reduction of 30% by 2030, this was altered to a mandatory cut of 20% by 2025 and a 35% cut by 2030.

Many were outraged by this alteration, in addition to this they also requested that 20% of all trucks sold have low or zero emissions in an effort to reduce CO2 even further. ACEA called the cuts "extremely stringent” and said the proposed 30% cut was “already highly challenging.” They suggested a 7% cut for 2025 and a 15% cut by 2030 would be more reasonable and would likely have more support from the industry.

As previously mentioned, they added that the development of HGVs that match environmental requirements take much longer than with cars. This is especially true for fully electrical vehicles, which could take much longer to develop for HGVs than any other vehicle due to their size and the weight they can carry.

Autumn’s IAA show was remembered for all of the advancements in prototypes for electric vehicles as well as all the advanced technology, however, there are set to be at least 2 further generations of HGVs with fuel engines that will be developed and introduced into the European market.

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