Strategies for decarbonization of heavy-duty road freight

Abstract

Heavy-duty road transport needs to make a transition to become climate neutral in 2050. Not considering the negative impact on the environment, road transport remains a competitive way of transportation in the hinterland of maritime ports. Policymakers and strategists of the Port Authority have a lack of knowledge to decarbonize heavy-duty transportation in the hinterland, without deteriorating the competitive position of a maritime port as a transit node. Various studies are made about the transition in the heavy-duty road transport segment. However, a social cost-benefit analysis that assesses social-economic welfare effects of energy carriers to decarbonize heavy-duty road transport in the hinterland of maritime ports remains unaddressed in the literature. This resulted in the following main research question: What is the socio-economic feasibility of strategies for decarbonization of heavy-duty road freight transport in the hinterland of maritime ports towards 2050? In the literature review promising energy carriers and technologies to decarbonize heavy-duty freight were: battery electric vehicles that drive on renewable electricity, a catenary electric road system that supplies more direct electricity, fuel cell electric vehicles that drive on green hydrogen and conventional trucks that use e-diesel. Considering the availability and the total cost of ownership of these energy carriers and technologies, strategies are developed in which the usage is mandated or stimulated by subsidies. The strategies are compared with the continuation of diesel (the zero-alternative) in a social cost-benefit analysis. The costs and the benefits included are the direct, indirect effects and the societal costs from a tank-to-wheel scope and external effects from a well-to-wheel scope in order to ensure that the emissions do not shift to another part of the chain. The results show that at the current CO2-valuation, all proposed strategies are not welfare enhancing and have severe losses of tax on fossil fuels. However, at an increased CO2-valuation of 500 euro per ton emitted CO2, the strategy in which battery electric vehicles are stimulated by subsidy would be feasible from socio-economic perspective. The social cost-benefit analysis provides insights for infrastructure investments in port areas.