European truck manufacturers are worried that the current targets for emission reductions will not be met because of the slow uptake rate on the Continent.
European Commission regulations, that have imposed specific CO2 emission reduction targets by 2030 have led the leading European truck makers to urgently call on the EC for consultations on the 2030 targets.
The truck makers are claiming that at the current uptake rate, the targets are unachievable.
At present, electric trucks only make up about 3.5 per cent of new truck sales in Europe.
According to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), electric truck sales would need to increase tenfold over the next 4.5 years to meet the EU’s goal of a 45 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030.
The CEO of Swedish truck manufacturer Scania, and chair of its parent company Traton as well as the chair of the ACEA’s Commercial Vehicles Board, Christian Levin said this transition is especially difficult amid a shrinking European market and global tariff uncertainties.
“Manufacturers are ready to deliver electric trucks, he stressed, but demand remains low,” Levin said.
Levin believes the EU needs better infrastructure and government incentives to encourage uptake.
“Today, there are only a few hundred public charging stations in Europe where electric trucks can charge, and that is far too few,” Levin said.
“To shift the balance, electric driving should become cheaper for transport companies, while diesel use should be made more expensive,” the Scania CEO explained.
Levin argues that the higher purchase or capital price of electric trucks, which is currently about three times that of a diesel truck, due largely to costly battery technology, needs to be somehow offset.
“There are only a few hundred public charging stations in Europe where electric trucks can charge,” Levin said.
The ACEA this week said it plans to formally request urgent talks with the European Commission.
The companies say they do not want to challenge the targets themselves, but to discuss how they can realistically be achieved.
Levin warned that failure to meet the EU’s targets could result in fines of up to the equivalent of $AAUD1.75 billion (one billion euros) per manufacturer, which he said would prove fatal to the industry.
“If we want to maintain our high standard of living here in Europe, however, it is essential that we retain our industrial companies,” Levin concluded.
