ACEA — 2023-01-10
News from Brussels
The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) recently wrote to Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice President of the European Commission, to caution that Euro VII and CO2 standards for heavy-duty vehicles cannot be looked at in isolation from one another.
The European commercial vehicle manufacturers are strongly committed to provide the right vehicles to swiftly move Europe’s road transport industry into fossil-free solutions by 2040, focussed on battery-electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles.
However, ACEA warned that the recent proposal for a Euro VII regulation for heavy-duty vehicles carries major risks of slowing down the transition to climate neutrality. Indeed, the proposal completely neglects the accelerating shift to zero-emission vehicles which, in combination with the latest Euro VI vehicles, will bring substantial reductions of exhaust emissions from the heavy-duty fleet.
The focus should be on the real drivers and bottlenecks to decarbonisation, including measures that enable customers to accelerate fleet renewal and prioritise investments in fossil-free solutions. Europe should therefore aim for a pragmatic, progressive and technology-neutral approach that ensures scalable solutions can serve as the global pacesetter – without detours, such as the Euro VII proposal. "Europe should aim for a pragmatic, progressive and technology-neutral approach that ensures scalable solutions can serve as the global pacesetter without misleading detours, such as the Euro VII proposal."
Read ACEA's letter here.