The European Commission proposed, on Thursday 4 May, to amend the directives on road charging for heavy-goods vehicles with trailers, according to the CO2 emission class of these trailers.
It wants to take account of the effect of trailers on CO2 emissions from heavy-goods vehicles in road pricing systems, which differentiate tolls according to vehicle emissions.
Although a trailer does not consume energy by itself, it requires energy from the vehicle to which it is attached to pull it. “Efficient trailers can benefit both conventional vehicles, by reducing fuel consumption and therefore CO2 emissions, as well as zero-emission vehicles, by increasing their range”, the Commission said in a statement.
The proposal aims at lowering the operating costs of the more efficient trailers and thus foster their market uptake. According to the impact assessment, the energy efficiency potential is about 7.5% for drawbar trailers and 15% for semi-trailers as compared to a 2020 reference trailer. Trailers could therefore play an important role in the decarbonisation of the road freight transport sector.
However, the market uptake of more efficient trailers is hampered by their higher price and by the fact that, until now, buyers of trailer have not been able to compare different trailers in terms of their energy efficiency.
This initiative echoes the 2022 revision of the road charging rules, which include the obligation to vary the charges for heavy goods vehicles according to their CO2 emissions (see EUROPE 12893/15).
To read the proposal: https://aeur.eu/f/6qr (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)