The New Year marks the beginning of a new era for the European commercial vehicle industry. As of 1 January 2019, truck manufacturers must provide a certificate containing information on fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions to every customer of new trucks of certain classes in Europe.

Truck buyers have always been very interested in low fuel consumption for their vehicles, as it has a positive impact on their total cost of ownership. This goes hand in hand with lower CO2 emissions. The figures are calculated individually for each truck configuration using the digital simulation tool VECTO (Vehicle Energy Consumption Calculation Tool). The EU Commission has developed the software, including uniform test and measurement procedures, in cooperation with manufacturers, scientists and other experts. For the first time, truck customers in the EU are now able to objectively compare the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of vehicles from different suppliers.

Daimler Trucks completed the first certification runs well before the legal regulation comes into force and has been introducing the certificates since November. Since then, the world‘s leading truck manufacturer has handed over more than 1000 Mercedes-Benz Actros vehicles with certificates to customers.

“We expressly welcome the new regulations for measuring the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of heavy commercial vehicles,” says Stefan Buchner, head of Mercedes-Benz Trucks. “We see VECTO as an important prerequisite for an even more sustainable transport system and better market transparency. We share the EU‘s goal of using VECTO to create transparency on ever lower fuel consumption and further reductions in CO2 emissions. Customers and the environment will benefit equally from it in the long term.”

Buchner says Mercedes-Benz has always been committed to reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

“According to [vehicle inspection company] Dekra, we already reduced the actual fuel consumption of heavy-duty Mercedes-Benz trucks and thus also their CO2 emissions by 22 percent between 1996 and 2016 alone – despite drastically stricter emission standards. And the fuel consumption of our new Mercedes-Benz Actros is once again lower than that of its predecessor, achieving savings of up to three percent on highways and up to five percent on country roads. But even the optimisation of diesel technology, which is being pursued with the greatest efforts, is increasingly reaching its physical and technical limits despite further efficiency gains. The current proposals on reducing trucks‘ CO2 emissions that are being discussed in the EU go far beyond what is technically and economically feasible and set the wrong priorities.”