Bio trucks: economy drive with the alternative
FINALLY SOMETHING IS HAPPENING Following the Council of States, the National Council has now also made an important and, above all, groundbreaking decision for Swiss freight transport to also promote fossil-free commercial vehicles such as biogas trucks. In the future, the use of biogas and liquefied biogas (LBG, Liquefied Bio Gas) will benefit from a HVF reduction. Optimization of daily incurred costs Daily [...]
In the future, the use of biogas and liquefied biogas (LBG, Liquefied Bio Gas) will benefit from a HVF reduction.
Optimization of daily costs
Every day, transport companies and forwarders have to calculate with a sharp pencil. They try to optimize not only constant transport routes, but also operating costs. A fixed point in the pricing of their services is the HVF.
The performance-based heavy vehicle fee is a federal tax that depends on the total weight, the emission level and the kilometers driven in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein.
Adaptation of laws and regulations
Currently, only trucks with electric drives benefit from HVF exemption. With the motion adopted by the National Council, the Federal Council must now regularly adapt laws and ordinances in the area of commercial vehicles to new technological developments.
Alternative drives bring great advantages
As a result, more commercial vehicles with alternative drive systems should benefit from a reduction in the HVF. This also brings great advantages for trucks that run on biogas or LBG.
A 40-ton truck with an old diesel (Euro 0, 1, 2) must calculate with an annual mileage of 80,000 kilometers with over 99,000 Swiss francs in HVF charges. Even a diesel truck with a modern Euro 6 diesel and thus significantly lower emissions still costs almost 73,000 francs per year.
CO2 savings in considerable quantities
In the future, a partial exemption will be deducted for trucks that run on renewable gas. The environment will also benefit: The Swiss Federal Statistical Office estimated that 17,800 million tonne-kilometers of freight will be transported in Switzerland in 2019. If some of this is done with biogas or LBG-powered trucks, considerable amounts of CO2 can be saved.
Several Swiss logistics companies are already in the process of renewing their vehicle fleets, relying on renewable gases to reduce greenhouse gases. The start has been made. Good thing.
