The recent iteration of Autoworld Brussels brought with it a panel discussion with Daimler AG, passenger and commercial vehicle conglomerate. Previously, Daimler AG had been in the highlight due to their recent carbon neutrality statements and ambitions that they had passed earlier in 2022, with the multinational aiming at having a total sales percentage of 60% contributed by Fuel Cell and Battery Electric vehicles and offerings.
During the panel discussion, multiple levels of clarifications and ambitions were reinstated by the commercial vehicle giant. Daimler Truck hosted the event at Autoworld Brussels, which included EU representatives and fleet operators/consumers. Both Daimler Buses and Mercedes-Benz Truck had sent their CEO’s to be included in the panel discussion to highlight their plans and point of views for the future of vehicular technology.
In their addresses, both reinforced plans to decarbonise and expressed their ambition to transition to zero-emission vehicles sooner. With regards to regulation standards, Daimler openly rejected the idea of using Euro-7 standards for city buses, calling for plans for direct investment into zero-emission technology.
Daimler also reinforced their ambition to decarbonize up tp 60% of the rolling fleet in Europe by 2030, corresponding to approximately 40,000 trucks per year in sales. 2027 – 2029 will be gap years, during which Euro 7 emission standards, the final regulation for ICE vehicles, will have taken hold. However, the European Union’s ZEV targets and corresponding ICE phase-out subsequently after these years. Daimler has stated that it would need to invest one billion euros into development to introduce Euro 7 standards in their fleets, the idea of which is what Daimler has openly called “funny” and “unneeded”. Daimler has stated that they have no plans on investing in Euro 7 technology anymore, especially in the city bus segment. The Daimler Bus CEO had also “strongly advised” skipping Euro-7 in the entire truck world in his welcome address. “We need to see where to put our money and bundle our efforts towards zero-emission.”
Additionally, the EU Strategy for the new Green Deal was also discussed. This European strategy will include new targets for CO2 fleet limits for trucks. So far, CO2 emissions for newly registered vehicles proposed are 15 per cent lower from 2025 than in the comparable years 2019 and 2020; and 30 per cent lower from 2030.
Furthermore, Mercedes-Benz Trucks aims for 100% electrification by 2040, stating they want to be completely zero-emission and only selling zero-emission trucks in Europe by 2039.
The involvement and initiatives being taken by Daimler AG and its subsidiaries will be an immensely pertinent factor in further accelerating the European transportation market to alternative fuels
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