Karin Rådström, chief executive of Daimler Truck Holding, speaks in an interview with the dpa. (is associated with: «Daimler Truck chief says sector’s existence in Europe is under threat») Kay Nietfeld/dpa
Daimler Truck chief executive Karin Rådström says the existence of Europe’s commercial vehicle industry is at risk, warning that unchanged CO2 rules would jeopardize competitiveness.
“If the CO2 regulation remains unchanged, Europe is putting the competitiveness of its commercial vehicle industry at risk,” Rådström told dpa in Berlin in an interview published on Sunday. She said she did not believe policymakers had understood the urgency.
Rådström is also chairwoman of the commercial vehicle committee of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA).
To meet the European Union’s climate targets CO2 emissions for new heavy commercial vehicles must fall by 43% by 2030 compared with 2019.
According to the European Commission, heavy commercial vehicles account for more than 25% of road transport greenhouse gas emissions in the EU and more than 6% of total greenhouse gas emissions.
Daimler Truck chief sees “big challenge”
To achieve savings of 43%, Rådström calculates that around 35% of all newly registered lorries in Europe in 2030 would have to be battery-electric or hydrogen-powered.
The challenge, she said, is that in 2025 just 2% of all heavy lorries in Europe were electric. Getting from 2% in 2025 to 35% in 2030 would be “a really big challenge.”
Daimler Truck would have to pay around €120 million ($137 million) for every percentage point it misses. “For the European commercial vehicle industry, that would therefore have existential consequences,” she said.
“If we miss the targets by, for example, 10 percentage points, we will practically no longer make any money at all from the Mercedes-Benz Trucks segment.”