Truck toll: What is next?

Since January 1st, 2015, a truck in Germany will also pay for air pollution costs. This was followed on July 1st, 2015, by the increase of the truck toll to a further 1,100 kilometers of Federal streets. And since October 1st, 2015, trucks and combination vehicles with a permitted total mass of between 7.5 and 11.99 tons also have to pay a toll. Further financial burdens may be put on the trucks - and with that, inevitably on the economy and the consumer. For example, a further increasing "ecologicalization" of the truck toll.

The Bundesverband Güterkraftverkehr Logistik und Entsorgung (BGL) e.V points this out, on the occasion of the general meeting 2015 in Hamburg. Since its introduction ten years ago, the truck toll has been furnished with a strong ecological component. From the start, vehicles that are older and thus have lower emission standards clearly pay more toll than vehicles that are lower in exhaust and that have more modern combustion and exhaust-clearing technology. In addition, modern Euro VI truck vehicles have so-called On-Board diagnostic systems, which monitor compliance with the emission limit values throughout its lifespan. In the case of for example a heightened NOx value, the likewise required torque limiter will automatically and clearly reduce the engine power, so that the driver is stopped and made to take remedial action. Despite trucks getting ever cleaner, since January 1st 2015, road tax and air pollution costs have to be paid in addition to the truck toll.

After the successful reduction of corrosive gases by up to 97.5 % with the introduction of the Euro VI truck, limit values of CO2 emissions of heavy trucks as well as C02 dependent toll differentiation can be expected in the medium term. BGL chairman Adalbert Wandt's opinion: "The policy should be that the prevention of environmental impacts is not allowed to cost more than its elimination. Anything else will lead to squandering of resources, both economically and ecologically. When five to ten times as much is spent on avoiding a ton of CO2 than on its costs to the external environment, it does the environment a disservice in the long run. Because every Euro spent on protecting the environment can only be spent once - and it should be spent to achieve the highest benefit to the environment."

Before 2018, charging a toll on all federal roads is to follow, which will mean billions of expenditure for the industry, trade, population, in connecting the flat landscapes to national and international economic- and supply traffic. BGL chairman Adalbert Wandt: economically underdeveloped regions and distant economic areas are threatened by loss of work places and purchasing power, as well as a heightened migration of young people to better developed areas that can be reached without long journeys across toll routes. This then goes especially, when the federal street toll will be two to three times higher than the highway toll, in accordance with the medium-term investment- and revenue planning.

Source: BGL