TRUCK & BUSINESS 277

No one (or almost no one) denies that road transport needs to be decarbonised, and the sooner the better for the planet. The plans have suddenly gained momentum, with several manufacturers already announcing the date on which they will virtually stop building diesel trucks. Just five years ago, this situation would have been completely unthinkable, and it shows how much the transport sector is changing.

Many technical solutions will contribute to the decarbonisation of transport, but currently each “pillar” is trying to obtain favourable political decisions and promises of government support for its solution. This lobbying is very confusing for the (future) truck buyer, especially when the other solutions are being spoken of in a derogatory way. Will my HVO truck run on palm oil or not? Will my LNG truck ever be ‘bio’? Will my electric truck not exacerbate the problem of rare earth metals? Doesn’t ‘my’ hydrogen truck mean a waste of basic energy? There are plenty of examples …

“Derogatory lobbying, I don't like it.”

For a magazine like ours, these discussions are fascinating to decipher, but it is all the more frustrating that they arise at a time when opportunities for real encounters are very rare. However, know that we are doing our utmost to bring clarity to this debate. My intuition at this stage tells me that by 2030, road transport will be calling on all the technical solutions that are being proposed to us today, because none of these solutions will meet all the needs.

Another certainty is that road transport, whatever happens, must not lose efficiency, reliability or flexibility. Any alternative technology that seriously affects these three performance factors is a bad solution. On that basis, everything is negotiable … and we will be in the coming years!