Everyone benefits from removing unnecessary barriers to cleaner, safer trucks. Everyone benefits from removing unnecessary costs. But truck operators in Australia are burdened by outdated and ineffective federal and state regulations.
The federal government should scrap rules that require Australian trucks to be 2 to 4 per cent narrower than those sold in Europe and North America, and work with states and territories to update weight rules for trucks.
Federal laws limit truck width in Australia to 2.5 metres. By contrast, trucks in the UK, Europe and New Zealand are allowed to be 2.55 metres wide, and 2.6 metres for refrigerated vehicles. In the US, all trucks can be up to 2.6 metres wide.
This small difference in supply has a big impact on the Australian truck industry. With Australia accounting for only about 1% of the global truck market, we are considered a “technology recipient”. While some Australian companies are building trucks to meet local supply requirements, new safety and fuel-saving technologies are being developed for wider trucks. So are zero-emission technologies – meaning that Australia’s supply constraints will become more costly as the world moves to net zero.
There is no good reason for Australia to impose narrow trucks. Australian lanes are similar to, or even wider than, those in the US, UK and Europe.
With trucks responsible for 4% of Australia’s carbon emissions, the federal government must remove regulations that make it harder to meet our international commitment to achieve net zero by 2050. That’s why the Grattan Institute recommends that Australian trucks be allowed to be 2.6 metres wide.
State and territory laws set weight limits for trucks. But these limits are outdated—they don’t reflect modern tire technology.
Weight limits are imposed to reduce damage to roads – heavier trucks cause more damage, and that damage is more expensive to repair. But weight limits sometimes mean trucks can’t carry better but heavier technology, or more profitable loads.
The first problem with current regulations is the maximum weight on a truck’s steering axle – the axle that changes the direction of the truck. Research shows that if trucks use modern 375mm-wide tyres, they can carry an additional 500kg on the steering axle without causing further damage to the roads.
Wider tyres and heavier axle limits are a win-win for taxpayers and operators, and this regulatory update will pave the way for healthier Australians.
In order to reduce harmful air pollution from trucks, the federal government must impose Euro 6 pollution standards from 2024. Although trucks make up only 3% of vehicles in Australia, they cause around 25% of harmful air pollution associated with transport. This pollution causes asthma, heart disease and cancer.
But the best pollution-reduction technologies add hundreds of kilograms to trucks. To meet current weight limits, operators will need to accommodate this extra weight by reducing truck loads. If state and territory governments increase axle weight limits, operators will be able to use the best pollution-reduction technologies without increasing the burden on taxpayers, and without sacrificing truck loads and productivity.
The second problem with current regulations is that weight limits are based on the number of tires on the truck’s axles.
Trucks with “dual tire” configurations – two tires at each end of each axle – are allowed to carry between 20 percent and 50 percent more weight on each axle than a truck with one tire at each end of the axle.
Modern ultra-wide tires, sometimes called “super-singles,” are designed to replace dual tires and improve fuel efficiency. Better fuel efficiency means lower carbon emissions. But under current regulations, a driver who replaces two tires with one wide tire incurs a huge load penalty.
That’s why our report calls on the federal government to work with state and territory governments to ensure that truck weight limits do not impose unnecessary penalties on operators who replace dual tyre configurations with ultra-low-emission single tyres.
Australians want the fuel, food and tools that trucks provide – not unnecessary regulations that add to costs. Federal and state governments need to update width and weight regulations to make it cheaper and easier for operators to drive cleaner, safer trucks.
