Under the updated Eurovignette law, hauliers operating zero emissions trucks – battery electric or hydrogen – will be given discounts of at least 50% on distance-based road tolls by May 2023. Member states could opt to levy extra CO₂-based charges on fossil fuel powered lorries instead, or implement both measures. With road tolls costing hauliers up to €25,000/y per truck, switching to zero emissions vehicles could cut their overheads considerably.

James Nix, Freight Policy Manager at T&E, comments: ‘This is a watershed for green trucking. Fossil-fuel trucks will finally have to pay more if they emit more, and hauliers who switch to emissions-free vehicles will slash their costs. But the clock is ticking on national governments to have the cleaner, fairer system in place on time. Europe cannot wait any longer to tackle this major source of emissions.’

The new law also requires countries to apply air pollution charges for trucks from 2026. At present, only four member states charge trucks for their air pollutants. Vans and minibuses will also need to be tolled based on their environmental performance from 2026. 

From 2024, new time-based road charges for trucks, which are less fair than distance-based tolling, will be restricted to limited circumstances. If time-based charges remain on major highways after April 2024, they must be varied according to the truck’s CO₂ emissions, explains T&E. Countries with toll roads under concession contracts can exempt these tolls from both CO₂- and air pollution-based charging, but only until these contracts are renewed or substantially amended.

Trucks are responsible for 23% of the EU’s climate emissions from road transport, according to UNFCCC data and, according to a report from the National Centre for Environment and Energy (NERI), account for more than 20% of road vehicles’ emissions of poisonous nitrogen oxides (NO_x).