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Remember the famous Metallica song “Fuel” that celebrated the power of gasoline? I remember listening to this song from their 1997 album “Reload” while driving an old, rickety, unreliable Toyota truck.
In 2024, the band is taking a different approach, one that reflects a growing focus on sustainability. The European Union’s supply chain law is pushing companies, including rock bands, to adopt greener practices, and Metallica is leading the way with an eco-friendly tour.
Since kicking off their tour in Munich on May 24, the band has covered 7,200 miles across Europe. While Metallica’s iconic melodies and relentless drum beats have made their way into thrash metal, the band aims to do the same for sustainable transportation on European highways. In partnership with Iveco, a European truck manufacturer, the band is replacing its gasoline-guzzling trucks with vehicles that run on biofuels like biomethane and vegetable oil.
Songs like “Battery” take on new meaning in this context, demonstrating Metallica’s commitment to a cleaner future. The tour’s heavy lifting will be handled by a fleet of 10 trucks powered by renewable natural gas and four powered by biodiesel or hydrogenated vegetable oil. These vehicles can travel about 1,000 miles before refueling, a significant improvement over traditional diesel trucks in terms of emissions. However, clean technologies like battery-electric and hydrogen fuel-cell trucks, which governments in Europe and the United States are heavily promoting, are still not viable for long distances due to the scarcity of charging and refueling stations.
The Metallica Project is a real-world demonstration of the feasibility of sustainable long-haul trucking. Metallica’s efforts are a powerful statement of sustainability but also a reminder of the challenges and limitations facing clean trucking technologies at scale. One of those limitations is the availability of basic infrastructure. We can see significant differences in investment, region by region and even country by country, in sustainable infrastructure.
We see significant differences in investment between Europe, North America and Asia. The European Union’s ambitious Green Deal is driving significant investment in sustainable transport. Many European countries are phasing out fossil-fuel vehicles and are pioneers in electric vehicle adoption, with Scandinavian countries leading the way. While the United States lags behind Europe in some areas, there is a growing focus on electric vehicle infrastructure and public transport improvements in major cities. Canada is also making strides in sustainable transport investment. In Asia, China is a major player, investing heavily in high-speed rail and electric vehicle technology. Other Asian countries are at varying stages of development, with some focusing on expanding public transport networks and others prioritizing electric vehicle adoption.
A major challenge remains the high cost of infrastructure. Building sustainable infrastructure can require sustained government commitment and innovative financing models. As a result, many regions lack the infrastructure, such as electric vehicle charging stations, to support sustainable transportation. Political commitment is critical to planning and investing in sustainable transportation in the long term. Regulators are pushing for a shift toward battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell technologies, but transportation companies find the costs prohibitive. The reality is that operating these vehicles can be two to three times more expensive than diesel and is unrealistic for an industry with tight profit margins.
Many transportation executives see consumer demand as the key to expanding the technology. “Truck drivers will only embrace this technology when customers demand it,” said one executive. At the recent 2024 semiannual management meeting of the American Trucking Association, a panel discussed the road ahead for electric trucks.
“We’re all looking for efficiency — what’s going to be the most efficient and cost-effective solution,” said Robert Sanchez, CEO of Rider System, whose company leases equipment to ground transportation companies. He said his clients are looking for cost data, reliability and simplicity when evaluating whether to add electric vehicles to their operations. “None of that is what we get with the technology available now,” he said.
A study by Ryder published earlier this month, “Logistics Charged: The Cost of Electric Vehicle Conversion for U.S. Commercial Fleets,” showed that the total annual cost of electric versus diesel transportation is expected to increase widely, ranging from as little as 5% for a light-duty truck to as much as 114% for a heavy-duty tractor, depending on geography. For a mixed fleet of 25 light-, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, the analysis showed a cost increase of up to 67% for an all-electric fleet.
Zero-emission truck technology isn’t ready for widespread adoption, Shelley Simpson, president of J.P. Hunt, said at the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo just a week ago. Electrification isn’t the best option for decarbonizing trucking right now. Using examples from her own work, Simpson suggests fleets might do better by expanding the use of existing fuel-saving technologies, reducing empty and unproductive miles, and using biofuels.
Metallica’s eco-friendly tour is an example of what we should all strive for, but the truth is that it will take years before we can implement this on a large scale. In the meantime, all we can do is keep working.
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About the author
Bart De Muynck is an industry thought leader with over 30 years of experience in supply chain and logistics. He has worked for major international companies including EY, GE Capital, Penske Logistics, and PepsiCo, as well as several technology companies. He also spent eight years as a research vice president at Gartner and most recently served as chief industry officer at project44. He is a member of the Forbes Technology Council and the CSCMP Inner Executive Circle.
