Just 3 per cent of fleet managers in Europe’s two biggest truck markets, France and Germany, have changed brands for better fuel efficiency – and in Europe’s “big five” markets, only 13 per cent have done so, according to a survey by GiPA for small businesses. and medium enterprises.
These figures are not surprising, given Europe’s stagnant truck fuel economy and the need for EU efficiency standards to boost market competition, according to the sustainable transportation group Transport & Environment, which commissioned the survey.
The survey comes as the European Union prepares to issue the largest monopoly fine in its history to Europe’s largest truck manufacturers for allegedly fixing prices and delaying the introduction of air pollution control technologies between 1997 and 2011. Also during that period, the fuel efficiency of new trucks was improved and carbon dioxide emissions barely improved.
CO2 emissions are directly related to the fuel economy of internal combustion engine vehicles, with more fuel efficient vehicles producing less greenhouse gases. Five companies dominate the EU truck market; Volkswagen Group (MAN and Scania), Volvo Group (Volvo and Renault), Mercedes-Benz, DAF, and Iveco.
“It’s no surprise that seven out of eight fleet managers don’t think another brand can help them save fuel,” said William Todds, freight manager at Transport & Environment. “Fuel economy for new trucks has been stagnant for 20 years now,” she explains. The ongoing emissions cartel issue how comfortable the market is, to the detriment of its customers and the environment.
While trucks make up less than 5 percent of all vehicles on the road, they are responsible for 25 percent of road transportation’s fuel use and carbon emissions. Achieving the EU’s 2030 climate targets as well as the more challenging targets of the Paris Climate Agreement will require significant efforts in the road freight sector.
“There is a limit to what the market alone can achieve, and that is clearly recession,” Tods concluded. The European Commission should commit to truck fuel efficiency legislation and set a timetable for its rollout in the EU Road Transport Decarbonization Strategy 2016. Otherwise, European trucks will be unable to compete with American and Japanese trucks as they race to comply with CO2 standards in their markets.
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