Diesel tweaks help truckmakers hit EU climate targets
- Scania, MAN, Volvo, Renault and DAF seen meeting 2025 emissions targets
- EU rules require 15% cut in emissions by 2025 vs. 2019
- Daimler Truck, Iveco are lagging but can still comply
Most European truckmakers are on track to meet the European Union's 2025 emissions targets, despite electric trucks making up only a small share of sales, a report from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) showed on Wednesday.
Heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs)—which are almost entirely diesel-powered—account for a quarter of Europe's road transport emissions. Under EU rules, manufacturers must cut average CO2 emissions by 15% in 2025 compared to 2019 levels.
Unlike carmakers, however, truckmakers can comply with the emissions regulations by improving diesel efficiency and using regulatory flexibilities rather than selling large volumes of electric vehicles.
Five of the seven largest EU truckmakers - DAF, Scania, MAN, Volvo Trucks and Renault Trucks - are on course to meet the target without further improvements, the ICCT said. Daimler Truck and Iveco are lagging but could avoid penalties with modest changes.
"After more than a decade of preparation, the regulation is working," Felipe Rodriquez, program director at the ICCT, said.
Scania, along with Volvo Trucks, met the 2025 target two years ago, largely by cutting emissions from internal combustion engine (ICE) trucks.
Iveco would need to sell about 200 zero-emissions trucks and make other changes to comply, which Rodriquez said was realistic. "If they get their act together, I think they will not have to pay any penalties in 2025," he said.
Only 14,000 of the 360,000 trucks sold in Europe last year were zero-emissions, compared to millions of cars.
Rodriquez said an industry-wide ramp-up was necessary. "You're going to run out of options to continue tweaking the internal combustion engine, and the zero-emission trucks will have to come in greater volumes," he said.
On Thursday, truck industry representatives meet three EU commissioners to discuss electrification. On Friday, car executives are due to meet Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to debate the 2035 phase-out of combustion-engine cars.
Comments