E-fuels in trucks: expensive, scarce, and less green than batteries

The European Commission will review the truck CO2 standards in December 2022, key to fully decarbonise road freight. Ahead of the proposal, the oil industry and automotive suppliers are once again advocating to throw internal combustion engines a lifeline by including CO2 credits for bio- and synthetic fuels in the regulation. T&E analysed how trucks running on synthetic fuels (e-fuels) compare to battery-electric trucks (BETs) in 2035 on both total cost and lifetime emissions, and found that e-fuels make no economic or environmental sense in trucks.