Currently, energy infrastructure availability and financing gaps are key barriers to faster zero-emission truck adoption. For the industry to achieve the 1.5°C target, two-thirds of total trucks sold need to be zero-emission. But at its current pace, the industry would need another 120’000 zero-emission trucks on the road annually by 2030 to reach this target.
Road Freight Zero: Pathways to faster adoption of zero-emission trucks identifies three groups of solutions can act as accelerators for faster adoption. These include new policy frameworks, innovative financing and service models and coordinated roll-out of trucks and infrastructure.
Road freight currently generates 15% of European CO2 emissions.
About 70% of those emissions come from medium- and heavy-duty trucking (MDT/HDT) – the hardest-to-abate segments. Nevertheless, there is a growing consensus that the zero-emission (ZE) truck industry is on course to deliver competitive business cases for the decarbonization of these fleets – through battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) that could eventually be powered by renewable energy.
McKinsey modelling suggests that by 2030, 37% of new MDT and HDT sales could be zero-emission in Europe, corresponding to around 150,000 vehicles. However, at its current pace, the industry would need another 120,000 zeroemission trucks on the road annually by 2030 to achieve the 1.5°C target – equivalent to twothirds of total trucks sold. Reaching this target may require €4 billion in additional investment in ZE trucks by 2030 and €30-40 billion for zeroemission refuelling/recharging infrastructure over the period up to 2030.
Source: World Economic Forum
