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INDUSTRYNEWS

MARKET

EU COMMERCIAL VEHICLE

REGISTRATIONS: +4.1 %

In May 2018, registrations of new commercial vehicles in the EU
grew modestly (+3.3%) compared to April’s strong performance,
with 212,122 units registered in total. Demand was sustained by
the van and bus segments, while truck sales declined in May. The
Spanish and French markets posted growth (+8.4% and +2.1%,
respectively), but the other major European markets remained more
or less stable compared to May 2017. So far in 2018, EU demand
for new commercial vehicles increased by 4.1%, with positive figures
for four out of five months. New registrations totaled more than one
million units over this period. Spain recorded double-digit growth
figures (+11.4%), followed by France (+5.5%), Italy (+3.0%), and
Germany (+2.9%). By contrast, demand for commercial vehicles
decreased by 2.6% in the United Kingdom compared to last year.

ENVIRONMENT TRIAL

HYDROGEN FROM CO2 TOLL COLLECT AND
GERMAN STATE FOUND
Recapturing carbon from the atmosphere is one thing, but a AN AGREEMENT
Canadian company wants to go one step further by turning
that carbon into fuel. Carbon Engineering, a company Toll Collect and the German Ministry of Transport have
based in Calgary, Alberta, is commercializing a technology finally come to an amicable agreement about collecting
to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. The highway tolls for heavy vehicles. The shareholders of the
company plans to market the captured CO2 to produce low company will pay €3.2 billion to Berlin. During 14 years
carbon transportation fuels in markets such as California of legal battles, the Toll Collect case has ultimately cost the
where regulation, derived from a state law designed to State and shareholders nearly €245 million in legal fees
manage climate change, restricts the maximum carbon and expertise.
intensity of transportation fuel.

HYDROGEN IN FRANCE

HYDROGEN ROADMAP IN FRANCE

The French Minister for Ecological and Inclusive Transition, Nicolas
Hulot, has just unveiled his ‘hydrogen plan’. If the objective is to
succeed in creating an industrial sector «of excellence», transport
is one of the levers envisaged to achieve this. Through 14 measures
and with a budget of 100 million, the government’s roadmap aims
to bring forth a low-carbon industry and to boost storage capacity,
but also to achieve ‘zero emission’ solutions for transport. The
government’s first lever is to develop the fleet and stations. In this
context, two deadlines are planned: 5,000 light commercial vehicles
(light commercial vehicles), 200 heavy hydrogen vehicles and 100
stations by 2023; then 20,000 to 50,000 LCVs, 800 to 2,000 heavy
vehicles, and 400 to 1,000 stations by 2028.

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