Fines of up to 10,000 euros could be due

The struggle over emissions standards continues today when 17 associations and interest groups plus 27 companies address the German government and the Bundestag in an open letter. The logistics and bus sectors, as well as the fuel, commercial vehicle and supplier industries, want to ensure that the German government advocates a technology-neutral regulation with recognition of renewable fuels for more effective and faster climate protection in the transport sector in the upcoming negotiations in the European Council.

According to the letter, the volume of freight and passenger transport will continue to rise. Despite ongoing efficiency improvements in vehicles and the bundling of transports, this will lead to an increase in CO2 emissions because most engines run on fossil fuels. The only way out of this development, the letter says, is "a technology-neutral design of CO2 regulation for new heavy commercial vehicles."

Commercial vehicles with no local CO2 emissions will play an important role in climate protection in the future. "However, given the only gradual market penetration of zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles, the uncertainty about market acceptance on the part of fleet operators, and the slow development of an adequate refueling and charging network," renewable fuels could already make a significant contribution to reducing transport-related CO2 emissions and should therefore be given due consideration in the regulations.

The letter refers to studies that see considerable volume potential for renewable fuels. Currently, the ramp-up of production is being supported throughout Europe by subsidy measures. The EU Commission's current proposal for CO2 emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles counteracts these efforts, the authors say. However, it is more important to further support these climate protection efforts through additional incentives.

The EU Commission's regulatory proposal to revise Regulation (EU) 2019/1242 on CO2 emission standards for new heavy-duty vehicles is not technology-neutral, the authors note. It leads to a technological lock-in on battery electric and fuel cell electric powertrains as well as hydrogen engines, they say. Vehicle manufacturers and suppliers will therefore have to resort to these technologies if they want to comply with the regulations.

The technological stipulation limits the ability of trucking, transportation, and bus companies to operate commercial vehicles with renewable fuels such as bio-LNG, eLNG, bio-CNG, HVO100, B100, and even electricity-based synthetic fuels in a carbon-neutral or low-emission manner. The authors note that this also prevents a high potential for CO2 emission savings when powering auxiliary equipment such as refrigeration units. The call to policymakers. "For renewable fuels to play their critical role in transforming the commercial vehicle sector, a technology-neutral fuel factor must be added to the vehicle emissions calculation tool needed for CO2 regulation."

Currently, the tool operates under the false assumption that internal combustion engine vehicles run exclusively on fossil fuels. However, this does not correspond to the reality in Europe. The EU Shares database tracks the volumes of renewable fuels used in transport today. Based on this data, a fuel factor could take into account the actual emission reduction contribution made by these fuels in the final certification of a vehicle's CO2 emissions.

The gas types CNG/LNG are given as an example: Around 15 percent of the volume refueled in the EU comes from biogenic sources. It is therefore - according to the letter - incomprehensible "that this emission reduction contribution is not credited to vehicles with combustion engines". The incorrect assumption of 100 percent fossil-fuel operation can result in CO2 penalties of up to 10,000 euros per vehicle.

The authors of the open letter: "We therefore appeal to the German government to actively lobby at the European level for the introduction of a carbon correction factor in the regulation of CO2 emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles" (aum)