Scania Netherlands MD Janko van der Baan: "Delay of road pricing disastrous for rapid sustainability"

After previously the electric truck was the underdog in the Urban Logistics Implementation Agenda, due to the postponement of the subsidy scheme, Minister Nieuwenhuizen has now informed the House of Representatives that the proposed kilometer charge for trucks will be postponed at least until 2027. An important part of this mileage charge was to finance the greening of the patriotic transport fleet. Scania Netherlands Managing Director Janko van der Baan is clear in his assessment and speaks of a missed opportunity. "This once again demolishes an important pillar under sustainability. In this way it becomes virtually impossible to meet the objectives of, nota bene, this same government."

Van der Baan therefore understands TLN president Elisabeth Post's reaction. In an initial reaction, she called the government "an unreliable interlocutor. "We have been talking for years about the kilometer charge as a means to partly finance the sustainability of transport in the Netherlands. The basic principle remains that the total burden on the sector must not increase as a result," Van der Baan added.

Road pricing also provides an opportunity to implement price differentiation for renewable fuels. Van der Baan: "By charging the fuels with the least CO₂ reduction higher than, say, renewable fuels, we can also steer more toward the green goals. An additional advantage is that such a levy is easier to pass back to the industry. Excise taxes on fuels all disappear in the big heap in the treasury and the industry sees nothing of that."

Janko van de Baan hopes that the new administration, with a new mandate, realizes that this is a dead end and delays sustainable developments in transport for at least four years. "Scania has invested heavily in developing a broad program of sustainable solutions; from biogas and HVO to plug-in hybrids and battery-electric vehicles. We have a solution for every transport application. Now the ball is in the government's court and they are not responding; too bad," is his concluding conclusion.