Variable Toll Rates: A Tool to Boost Electric Vehicle Adoption

After several years of hesitation, the entire industry now agrees on the need for extensive battery-powered electrification of heavy-duty trucks, both to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality and for geopolitical reasons, in order to preserve European sovereignty in the coming era of trucks.

However, this shift toward electrification will truly gain momentum—or even reach a tipping point—with TCO parity (Total Cost of Ownership) between battery-powered heavy-duty trucks and diesel-powered ones. To achieve this TCO parity across all use cases as quickly as possible, every possible measure must be taken, including a tax on highway tolls, which could be adjusted based on a vehicle's greenhouse gas emissions.

The European Union, through Directive 2022/362—known as the “Eurovignette” and revised in 2022—already allows for the adjustment of per-kilometer tolls for heavy-duty vehicles based on greenhouse gas emissions. This Directive is implemented by European countries that have a public toll system (for example (Germany, Austria, Belgium, and the Czech Republic), for which the implementation of CO2 modulation went hand in hand with a simple transposition of the Directive into their national law, and it works really well. Other countries, such as Denmark, Sweden, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, have also incorporated a CO2 adjustment into their rates to comply with the Directive.

In Germany, the CO2-based adjustment to the per-kilometer toll has been in effect for all heavy-duty vehicles since 2023.

"Zero-emission" heavy-duty vehicles, which include Electric heavy-duty trucks have been exempt from tolls through the end of 2025 and now pay only 25% of infrastructure fees, which gives them a massive advantage, whereas diesel-powered heavy-duty trucks paid as much as 18 centimes per kilometer in 2023 for the largest vehicles.

According to a model developed by Transport & Environment, this CO2-based adjustment has a significant impact on the TCO. On the one hand, For electric heavy-duty trucks, toll fees will drop to less than €2,000 per year through 2025 (other toll charges may apply), and then less than 7,000 € per year starting in 2026. However, For diesel-powered heavy-duty trucks, this CO2-based adjustment is combined with an additional external tax on the metric tons of CO2 emitted, bringing the total toll charges to 46,500 euros per year. This represents a savings of approximately 40,000 € per year for the electric truck.

For highways managed by concessionaires, Directive 2022/362 proposes applying this CO2-based adjustment only once the contract has been renewed. Thus, in France, where more than 90% of highways are covered by concession contracts set to expire between 2031 and 2036, the CO2-based adjustment for the per-kilometer toll on heavy-duty vehicles is not expected to be implemented before 2031. But This is too late in light of the French and European 2030 targets (a target of 50% of electric heavy-duty trucks sold, according to the SNBC) and to naturally achieve TCO parity, expected between 2030 and 2035. We must therefore plan ahead, and the government should require toll operators (or the toll operators should do so on their own initiative) to apply a significant CO2-based surcharge to heavy-duty vehicles at toll booths and, in this way, accelerate the electrification of the vehicle fleet.

If France Were to Comply with the Directive and applied a CO2-based incentive scheme at the same level as Germany’s, with an even wider price gap between diesel and electricity on this side of the Rhine, It could reduce the TCO gap between a diesel heavy-duty truck (Class 1) and an electric heavy-duty truck by 19%, making the electric heavy-duty truck much more cost-effective.

Operating cost (excluding driver and overhead costs), long-distance use (100,000 km/year) | ct€/km

TCO Carbone 4 model based on CNR and Verdir ma Flotte data, with toll differentiation extrapolated using CNR data and the T&E rating - Tolling: the highway to green trucking (March 24)

While waiting for the historic highway concession contracts to expire, France is depriving itself of an essential tool for electrifying its heavy-duty vehicle fleet. However, it is crucial not to fall behind—both to meet its 2030 decarbonization commitment and to maintain European sovereignty over fuels and the electric heavy-duty truck market.