Trucks could be more fuel efficient and save transport companies €5,700 a year if they used technology already available, according to a new report by sustainable transport group Transport & Environment (T&E) released on Tuesday (September 26).
But the technology is still rarely used, T&E said, citing the example of the turbocharger, which cuts fuel consumption by 3% but is only installed in 0.24% of European trucks, despite being on the market for 15 years.
Another example is the poor use of low-resistance tires, which can be easily retrofitted to existing trucks and reduce fuel consumption by 7%. The penetration rate in these markets is just 1%, according to the report, which is based on data from the International Council on Clean Transportation.
Transport companies spend an average of €32,000 per year per truck on fuel, meaning the savings could be nearly 18%.
The Commission plans to publish its proposed European fuel efficiency standards for trucks in early 2018, including CO2 standards, and T&E told EURACTIV.com that the requirements need to be more stringent “to get the market moving and deploy fuel efficiency technologies in a more effective way.” “.
Steve Cornelis, T&E’s safer, cleaner trucks lead, said in a statement that addressing new technologies was “a classic case of market failure. Technologies that have been on the market for more than five years on average are deployed in only about 15% of new trucks.”
“EU-wide truck fuel standards will help overcome this market failure. Today, truck fuel standards are already in place in North America, China and Japan, increasingly ensuring the deployment of such mature fuel-saving technologies in new trucks.”
“Given the value of the savings on offer, it is a shame to see so much innovation sitting on the shelf,” Cornelis concluded.
Trucks represent less than 5% of all vehicles on Europe’s roads, but are responsible for about a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions from road transport.
More importantly, its fuel economy has not improved over the past 20 years, so a truck as of 2015 still consumes roughly the same amount of fuel as a truck manufactured in 1995, T&E warned.
