We’ve all seen them, parked on the side of the road or thundering by in the fast lane, owning the tarmac like that popular windscreen aphorism: king of the road.
And yet, there aren’t many of them. While trucks make up only three per cent of vehicles in Europe, they account for 25 per cent of road transport CO2 emissions. It’s the same situation in the US. It is estimated that there are 15.5 million trucks operating in the US. The figure seems considerable – however, it pales when compared to the number of registered passenger vehicles. The US, which is the largest passenger vehicle market in the world, has an estimated 254.4 million registered passenger vehicles.
Yet trucks in the US punch above their weight: the 15.5 million trucks account for nearly a quarter of US greenhouse-gas emissions, 18 per cent of all oil combustion in the US and 5.75 per cent of global emissions.
Yet while trucking in Europe and the US follows similar patterns, the issue of emissions is being tackled differently.
Let’s start from the US. Here, pollution in the trucking industry has been in discussion since the 1970s, when the first federal emission limits were introduced for medium- and heavy-duty trucks.
In the long-term, it’s a future that probably belongs to mega and driverless trucks
In 2011, the Obama administration introduced the first ever fuel-efficiency rules for Class 8 trucks, which are the heaviest on the road. These rules call for up to a 20 per cent reduction, over 2010 baselines, in CO2 emissions by 2017. Apart from reducing emissions, these rules are also intended to lower fuel costs while encouraging the development of cleaner technologies such as speed-limiting engines.
In the US, it’s not just the administration that is driving the effort for greener road freight. The North American Council for Freight Efficiency and the Carbon War Room, an NGO founded by entrepreneur Richard Branson, have set up an initiative called Trucking Efficiency. To date, this initiative has suggested around 70 technologies that could help reduce emissions and cut fuel consumption. According to Trucking Efficiency, if 40 of these technologies had to be adopted together, they could reduce a truck’s average annual fuel cost by half.
In Europe, road transport contributes around one-fifth of the EU’s total CO2 emissions. Trucks, while making up just three per cent of vehicles, account for 25 per cent of road transport CO2 emissions.
In Europe, a lot of effort is being made to make passenger vehicles more efficient and in these past years, much has been achieved, especially with electric and hybrid technologies. However, unlike in the US, the fuel efficiency of trucks hasn’t been high on the agenda. It is only recently that the European Commission has started working on a comprehensive strategy to reduce CO2 emissions from heavy-duty vehicles.
One of the earlier initiatives taken in Europe was the Marco Polo programme, intended to fund sustainable freight transport. In the period 2003-2009, 125 projects received funding from the Marco Polo programme. Rather than improving road freight fuel efficiency, the programme aimed to take a total of 54 billion tonne-kilometres off European roads each year. Under the 2010 call for proposals, another 32 projects were successful, receiving a total of €63.54 million in funding.
Another initiative, this time industry-driven, is the Green Freight Europe programme. The initiators of the programme were Heineken, the Dow Chemical Company, TNT and DHL. Another 25 companies have since joined the programme, which aims to establish a standard system for collecting, analysing and monitoring CO2 emissions from road freight operations. The data collected is used to benchmark the environmental performance of transportation companies, share best practices, and promote collaboration between carries and shippers in driving improvement actions. The initiative has also established a certification system rewarding companies that fully participate in the programme.
This month, the International Road Union, European Express Association, Leaseurope, CLECAT, Green Freight Europe, Northern Logistics Association and European Transport Board called on the European Commission to boost the competition on truck fuel efficiency.
In the meantime, the European Commission has developed VECTO, which is a software simulation tool that measures CO2 emissions from new trucks and buses. The European Commission is currently assessing whether it should grant third parties access to this tool. On one hand, truck buyers want access so that they can compare fuel saving technologies and make an informed choice when investing in their fleet. On the other hand, truck manufacturers say that no access should be given to third parties as this might disclose commercially sensitive information.
So what does the future of trucking hold? In the short- and medium-term, trucks are expected to make significant efficiency gains. In the long-term, it’s a future that probably belongs to mega and driverless trucks. At the 2014 International Commercial Vehicles show in Hannover, Germany, Daimler AG unveiled a prototype driverless truck.
This truck, called Future Truck 2025, proposes automation while adopting technologies which are already used in passenger cars, including blind spot assist. Another initiative called the European Modular System proposes more resource-efficiency by using fewer but heavier trucks, which despite their size, are still more efficient than existing ones.
In the cargo services market, road freight is expected to continue strengthening its position, especially inland. Therefore, solutions must be found in order to make it a greener and more efficient transport solution.