EU truck manufacturers Scania, Mercedes, Volvo Trucks, MAN and IVECO have sent a letter to the European Commission asking for a significant reduction in the CO2 requirements for new trucks. The proposal would mean that 27% fewer electric trucks will be sold in the EU by 2030. The environmental organization Rådet for Grøn Omstilling is speechless.

"It is very worrying that truck manufacturers are now trying to destroy the EU's CO2 requirements for new trucks in 2030 to the detriment of the climate and the EU's business community," says Jeppe Juul, Head of Transport Policy at the Green Transition Denmark

And this is not the first time that the truck industry has tried to destroy CO2 regulation for trucks.

“A few months ago, truck manufacturers filed a lawsuit against California’s CO2 requirements for trucks and now they are going against the European regulation. It is very disappointing. We thought that the European truck manufacturers actually thought that they would convert, but now it seems that they just want to be allowed to continue with diesel trucks for many more years.””, says Jeppe Juul.

He emphasizes that it is not only the climate that loses if truck manufacturers get their way,

"Truck manufacturers are only part of an overall value chain that has been designed according to the EU's goals. And if you mess with the goals, you create significant uncertainty in the market and doubt about the investments made by, among others, the component industry and the charging industry," says Jeppe Juul and continues:

"The automotive industry is currently working against the EU's strategic interests. Not only are they trying to maintain the EU's heavy dependence on oil from petrostates that are not necessarily friendly to us, but they are also damaging the EU's chances of having an automotive industry at all. Instead of investing wholeheartedly in new technology, the automotive industry is taking its foot off the accelerator and thus leaving a large part of the green transition to Chinese companies."

It is now initially up to the EU Commission what should happen with the regulation going forward.