The truck industry could stop selling environmentally harmful vehicles by the end of this decade if the charging and refueling infrastructure were set up quickly enough, said the head of Iveco.
However, Gerrit Marx, chairman of the board, warned that an expected shortage of charging points for large long-haul vehicles would likely hold buyers back.
“When you take the infrastructure off the table [as a barrier]if it is available today, the industry could become zero emissions by 2030 or 2035, ”he told the Financial Times.
However, the prediction is “theoretical”, he added, because “the network of refueling and recharging will, I’m afraid, not be there”.
While there are plans by governments and companies to install charging stations and hydrogen refueling stations for cars, the trucking industry often has different needs, including much faster charging to reduce downtime and specialized hydrogen pumps.
Marx said hydrogen tanks would need to be able to “unload 70kg in 15 minutes to have diesel parity,” adding that the technology was “not there yet”.
Three of the largest truck manufacturers – Daimler, Volvo and Scania owner Traton – are already planning 500 million euros for the construction of 1,700 charging stations for electric trucks across Europe. The industry estimates that by the end of this decade, 50,000 chargers will be needed across the continent.
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Europe’s largest truck makers have already committed to stop selling polluting diesel vehicles in the region by 2040 to focus instead on batteries, hydrogen and clean fuel alternatives.
But only one major truck maker, Scania, signed the COP26 pledge this month to end sales globally by that date.
Marx said Iveco already has electric buses and will expand its range of zero-emission models in the coming years, including an electric van and fuel cell truck in 2023 and a fuel cell bus in 2024.
He said there are several specialty applications the company specializes in, including fire trucks that are unsuitable for converting to electric vehicles.
“I think it’s utter nonsense to have an electric fire truck,” he said, because the vehicle can discharge the battery by supplying power to its water hoses for long periods of time.
“If the purpose is to put out fires, then that is the purpose and must be the focus.”
Iveco, a manufacturer of trucks, buses and commercial vehicles, will divest CNH Industrials, a manufacturer of tractors and construction vehicles, early next year.
CNH itself has been spun off from the Fiat empire and is still supported by the Italian Agnelli family, which also hold large stakes in Ferrari and the automaker Stellantis.
Iveco set independent financial targets last week, including increasing annual sales from € 11.8 billion before the pandemic to € 16.5 billion to € 17.5 billion by 2026 and increasing profit margins from 3.6 percent in 2019 to € 5 billion 6 percent.
