The transport sector must become greener, but the transition to zero emission trucks is difficult. In particular, the lack of loading docks for trucks makes the transition to green freight traffic difficult.
Trucks, along with buses, account for six percent of total greenhouse gas emissions in Europe. Therefore, both the government and the European Commission have ambitious targets to rapidly reduce emissions from the transport sector.
Emission free zones
In February, European Commissioner Frans Timmermans proposed to cut emissions from new trucks by 45% by 2030. By 2040, this should even be 90%.
In the Netherlands, at least twenty-five cities will introduce emission-free zones from 2025. This means that trucks must supply cities completely emission-free.
So the ambitions are great, but the transition is not really making any progress for transport companies. Of the 146,000 trucks on the road in the Netherlands, only 408 were electric in February this year. 27 trucks ran on hydrogen.
During the work on the A1 motorway, all machines and trucks are already powered electrically:
While many trucking companies would like to make the switch to emission-free trucks. Last year, the 25 million euro subsidy available for the purchase of electric trucks vanished in one day. This year, another 30 million euros are available.
“The biggest bottleneck is currently grid congestion,” says Elisabeth Post, chairwoman of the board of the trade association for Transport and Logistics Netherlands (TLN). Because electric truck charging requires a lot of energy, electric trucks are often required special connections at industrial sites.But because the power grid is full in much of the Netherlands, companies cannot have these connections installed or have to wait years.
The research agency CE Delft published advice last year for companies that want to switch to electric trucks despite the full power grid. For example, they can use batteries, share charging points with other companies or charge at times when the electricity grid allows it best.
At the rate things are going now, it’s just not moving forward.
But according to Post, it’s still hard. “That may be the solution for part of the problem, but the charging traffic continues day and night. So you don’t always have the option, for example, to only charge at night.”
Charging at public charging points is also a problem for trucks. There are only a few charging places available for trucks in the Netherlands. Fastned, the provider of 150 charging stations along the Dutch motorway, says none of its charging stations are suitable for heavy trucks. However, they are investigating whether new stations can be given this option. Shell also says it is working on public fast chargers for trucks.
The TNO research institute believes that other ways of making freight traffic more sustainable should also be considered. “You also have to look at applications like hydrogen and synthetic fuels,” says researcher Rob Cuelenaere. “In the end, you will most likely end up with a mix, of which electric driving will be a big part.”
Long transition period
The TLN trade association hopes that a solution to the network congestion will be found as soon as possible. “At the rate things are going now, it’s just not moving forward,” says Post.
The Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management says it shares TLN’s concerns. “Logistics charging infrastructure should not be an obstacle to making freight transport more sustainable. In the coming years, governments, network administrators and charging station operators will continue to work together in a national network of points (fast) public cargo services for trucks”.
The ministry does not foresee any problems with the introduction of emission-free zones in cities from 2025. “There is a generous transition period for vehicles, which runs until 2030.”
Sekta ya usafiri lazima iwe ya kijani kibichi, lakini mpito wa malori yasiyo na uzalishaji ni ngumu. Hasa, ukosefu wa docks kupakia kwa ajili ya malori hufanya mpito kwa magari ya mizigo ya kijani ngumu. Magari ya kubebea mizigo, pamoja na mabasi, husababisha asilimia sita ya jumla ya uzalishaji wa gesi za chafu huko Ulaya. Kwa hivyo, serikali na Tume ya Ulaya zina malengo ya kutamani kupunguza haraka uzalishaji kutoka kwa sekta ya usafiri. Tume ya Ulaya imependekeza kwamba Tume ya Ulaya ya Utoaji wa Gesi (Emission Free Zones) itapunguza uzalishaji wa gesi kutoka kwa malori mapya kwa asilimia 45 kufikia mwaka 2030. Kufikia mwaka 2040, idadi hiyo itapungua hadi asilimia 90. Uholanzi imepanga kuanzisha maeneo ya kutokuwa na uzalishaji wa gesi gesi kuanzia mwaka 2025. Hii inamaanisha kwamba malori lazima kusambaza miji kabisa uzalishaji bure. Kwa hivyo matarajio ni makubwa, lakini mabadiliko hayafanyi maendeleo yoyote kwa kampuni za usafirishaji. Kati ya magari 146,000 ya kubebea mizigo nchini Uholanzi, 408 tu yalikuwa ya umeme mwezi Februari mwaka huu. Makampuni 27 ya magari ya kubebea magari ya umeme yanaendesha magari ya umeme ya hidrojeni. Katika barabara kuu ya A1, magari yote na malori tayari yanaendeshwa kwa umeme, wakati makampuni mengi ya usafirishaji wa malori yatapenda kubadilisha kwa malori yasiyo na uzalishaji. Mwaka jana, misaada ya € 25 milioni iliyopatikana kwa ununuzi wa malori ya umeme ilitoweka kwa siku moja. Mwaka huu, € 30 milioni zaidi zinapatikana. "Kufikia sasa, tatizo kubwa ni msongamano wa umeme,"" anasema Elisabeth Post, mwenyekiti wa bodi ya chama cha biashara cha Usafiri na Usafirishaji wa Uholanzi (TLN). Kwa sababu kuchaji kwa lori la umeme inahitaji nishati nyingi, mara nyingi malori ya umeme yanahitaji viunganishi maalum katika maeneo ya viwanda, lakini kwa sababu gridi ya umeme imejaa katika sehemu kubwa ya Uholanzi, kampuni haziwezi kuwa na viunganishi hivi au lazima wasubiri miaka. Kampuni ya utafiti ya CE Delft ilitoa ushauri mwaka jana kwa makampuni ambayo yanataka kubadilisha kwa malori ya umeme licha ya gridi kamili ya umeme. Kwa mfano, wanaweza kutumia betri, kushiriki vituo vya kuchaji na kampuni zingine au kuchaji wakati mtandao wa umeme unaruhusu. Kwa kiwango ambacho mambo yanaendelea sasa, si rahisi kusonga mbele. Lakini kulingana na Post, bado ni vigumu. <unk>Hiyo inaweza kuwa suluhisho kwa sehemu ya tatizo, lakini trafiki ya kuchaji inaendelea mchana na usiku. Kwa hiyo si mara zote una chaguo, kwa mfano, tu kuchaji usiku. <unk> Kuchaji katika vituo vya umma vya kuchaji pia ni tatizo kwa malori. Kuna tu chache nafasi za kuchaji inapatikana kwa ajili ya malori katika Uholanzi. Kampuni ya Fastnet, ambayo inatoa vituo 150 vya kuchaji kwenye barabara kuu ya Uholanzi, inasema hakuna vituo vyake vya kuchaji vinavyofaa kwa malori mazito. Hata hivyo, wao ni kuchunguza kama vituo vipya inaweza kupewa chaguo hili. Shell pia inasema inafanya kazi kwenye chaja za haraka za umma kwa malori. Taasisi ya utafiti ya TNO inaamini kwamba njia nyingine za kufanya usafiri wa mizigo uwe endelevu zaidi zinapaswa pia kuzingatiwa. "Lazima pia uangalie matumizi kama vile hidrojeni na mafuta ya synthetic", anasema mtafiti Rob Cuelenaere. "Kwa hivyo, kwa sababu ya hali hii, ni muhimu kuzingatia kuwa ""mzunguko wa umeme"" ni muhimu kwa usimamizi wa usafirishaji wa umeme, na kwa hivyo, kwa sababu ya hali hii, ni muhimu kuondoa msongamano wa umeme katika mtandao." "Kwa kiwango ambacho mambo yanaendelea sasa, si rahisi kusonga mbele", anasema Post. Wizara ya Miundombinu na Usimamizi wa Maji inasema inashiriki wasiwasi wa TLN. Logistics charging miundombinu haipaswi kuwa kizuizi kwa kufanya usafiri wa mizigo zaidi endelevu. Katika miaka ijayo, serikali, wasimamizi wa mtandao na waendeshaji wa kituo cha kuchaji wataendelea kufanya kazi pamoja katika mtandao wa kitaifa wa huduma za mizigo ya umma ya (haraka) kwa malori. Wizara hiyo haionekani kuwa na matatizo yoyote na kuanzishwa kwa maeneo yasiyo na uzalishaji katika miji kuanzia 2025. "Mwaka wa mpito wa magari ni wa ""mwisho"" hadi 2030."