If the Green Deal is to succeed, the EU must provide the chargers needed for the electric trucks currently coming to market, a high-level conference on decarbonising trucks will be told today. With an effective range of up to 300km, half of the total distance driven by trucks in the EU could be covered by these zero-emissions models, said campaign and research group Transport & Environment (T&E) in its new Roadmap for Electric Truck Charging. T&E is hosting the event ahead of next year’s revision of the EU Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Directive, which will decide the infrastructure used to power trucks in the future.
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To decarbonise trucks, the EU will need to set – as part of the upcoming revision of the law – national targets for public truck charging at key urban centres and distribution centres for 2025, according to T&E’s roadmap. National targets for truck chargers at other centres and on key highways are needed for 2030. Trucks are responsible for 22% of road transport CO2 emissions, and this share will grow as the car fleet goes electric – unless e-trucks are adequately supported.
Lucien Mathieu, transport and emobility analyst at T&E, said: “The alternative fuels infrastructure law will decide how we will power the trucks of the future, and those trucks must be zero-emission. The EU needs to show truckers and truckmakers its roadmap for installing Europe’s e-truck charging network. That means providing certainty that truck re-charging will be at depots, distribution centers and public stations.”
The EU should make its alternative fuels infrastructure law a regulation to ensure better implementation of truck charging targets, T&E’s roadmap says. The legislation should also simultaneously phase out any targets for gas infrastructure and require the supply of electricity alongside Europe’s major roads to serve long-haul trucks. T&E also calls for the deployment of hydrogen refueling infrastructure in major EU ports to support hydrogen ships – but also to potentially supply hydrogen trucks operating within ports.
Lucien Mathieu said: “The climate emergency demands action on truck CO2 emissions. Europe should start by making sure its key urban areas and roads are fit for zero-emissions road freight. In that way, no part of the EU is left behind in the Green Deal.”
Learn more:
T&E paper: Roadmap for Electric Truck Charging
T&E event: Getting zero-emission trucks on the road
Wednesday, 19 February, Brussels | Details