AVERE welcomes the position adopted by the European Parliament’s Transport and Tourism Committee on the Weights and Dimensions Directive.
Brussels. AVERE welcomes today’s vote in the European Parliament’s Transport Tourism Committee on the revision of the Weights and Dimensions Directive. AVERE endorses the general direction taken by the Parliament on this file, which will be pivotal for the decarbonisation of the road freight sector “We believe this file has the potential to accelerate the market uptake of battery-electric heavy-duty vehicles. As a result, we appreciate that MEPs acknowledge the need to switch to cleaner vehicles by increasing the permissible weight allowance trucks to weigh 4 tonnes more than a fossil fuel truck”, said Philippe Vangeel, Secretary General of AVERE.
This measure will help zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles be more competitive than their internal combustion counterparts, especially with regard to the diesel engines. However, to this end, “we believe the legislation should also include a mandate for additional weight tolerances in domestic transport, given that 60% of road freight is transported at such level”, Vangeel continues.
Furthermore, while being crucial for the decarbonisation of the road freight sector, this file will not undermine the development of other segments, such as the modal shift from rail, as freight activity is set to increase by 40% between 2019 and 20401. At the same time, road freight would still be the main mode of freight land transport over the next decades, as it represents around five times the share of rail freight (24.6% vs 5.4%, as per Eurostat2). Therefore, AVERE urges that the decarbonising of road freight start as soon as possible.
AVERE now calls for a Plenary approval, foreseen for the coming weeks, that incentivises the uptake of battery electric trucks even further and that features a transposition period into national law of one year, so that the transition from diesel to electric trucks is not slowed down.