NextETRUCK presented its project- and pilot plans as part of the IRU-POLIS webinar series, which brought together European leaders working to achieve carbon neutrality in road freight transport in and around cities. The group debated key issues on the complex road to 2050. If you are interested in the element of energy infrastructure for zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles, register for the third webinar on 16 April here.
Key challenges debated in the webinar included the frictionless transport of goods, access to consumers, and the reduction of air and noise pollution. Furthermore, the focus was set on two AEVETO cluster projects that pilot zero-emission freight technology.
Besides NextETRUCK, H2Haul was also presented as the second AEVETO cluster project, which is currently deploying fuel-cell trucks in Belgium via the retail company of Colruyt. Furthermore, additional tests are planned of a total of 16 prototypes of hydrogen trucks in Belgium, France, Germany and Switzerland.
The project presentations were followed by an overview of the perspectives of OEMs on the decarbonisation of the freight sector, presented by IVECO, while colleagues from Colruyt focused on the hydrogen strategy of the Belgian supermarket chain.
During the second half of the webinar, POLIS Network joined the conversation for a panel discussion, which highlighted several important bottlenecks of zero-emission freight and their related mitigation strategies, including policy solutions of cities and regions, as well as long-term plans of OEMs. Furthermore, both projects provided first results related to their research and the state-of-the-art of hydrogen and battery-electric trucks and their related components, which will be tested in the current or planned pilots.