The need to decarbonize the transport sector is driving the rapid expansion of electric cars, which totaled 10 million sales worldwide in 2022 (for a market share of 14% of total sales) up from just around 1 million in 2017.
Electrification is also extending to heavy-duty vehicles, such as buses, coaches and trucks above 3.5 tons, albeit at a much lower speed given their size, weight and specificities. One key difference with light-duty vehicles is that for several truck categories, a significant share of the energy stored in the vehicle is used for purposes other than propulsion. For example, for cooling in the case of refrigerated trucks for the transport of food or certain medical supplies; concrete mixers, where most of the energy is used to mix concrete. In 2022, only 1.2% of the 60,000 heavy-duty vehicles sold worldwide were electric.
In March 2022, UNECE's World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29) adopted a UN Global Technical Regulation No. 22 providing minimum performance requirements for the battery durability of electrified light-duty vehicles. The European Union and the United States have already made legislative proposals to transpose this regulation into their legislations.
The World Forum has now decided to develop similar provisions for heavy-duty vehicles under a new UN Global Technical Regulation. An internationally harmonized procedure to assess battery durability will facilitate comparisons between different models and manufacturers. Given that batteries are the single biggest driver of cost for electric vehicles, it will thus provide buyers with a key element to compare offers and direct their investments.
A draft proposal of the new technical regulation is to be finalized by mid-2024 for subsequent consideration by the World Forum.
