Europe’s truck manufacturers have made history by agreeing that all new trucks sold by 2040 have to be fossil-free in order to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.
The ACEA, that association that represents truck makers says the priority this year is to work with EU policymakers to start paving the way for carbon-neutral road transport.
Regardless of how ambitious the industry is, truck makers cannot make the radical and unprecedented shift to zero-emission trucks without the right policy and enablers in place, the ACEA says.
ACEA Director General Martin Daum, who is also CEO of Daimler Truck AG, immediately made clear that “climate change is at the top of the agenda of the commercial vehicle industry as the most fundamental challenge for humanity and the global economy.”
More specifically, Mr Daum unambiguously confirmed that the truck’s industry ultimate goal is to have a fully CO2-neutral road freight sector by 2050.
But as Daum cautioned, this “transformation of our sector to carbon neutrality will be unprecedented, both in speed and scale.” Indeed, the renewal of Europe’s truck fleet needs to be supported and incentivised by the European Union as it takes the average transport company about 10 years to completely renew its fleet.