Attractiveness of alternative fuel trucks with regard to current tax and incentive schemes in Germany: a total cost of ownership analysis

Alternative drivetrains for heavy-duty vehicles pledge tremendous and partly ad-hoc potential for cutting greenhouse gas emissions from road freight transport in the EU. However, this transition is costly for federal governments while cost-effective operation for logistic companies is arguable. Therefore, our comprehensive cost analysis aims to evaluate all feasible options, including different energy carriers, with a consistent modeling framework, and from both federal and company perspective. Our results demonstrate short-term cost-efficiency for battery electric trucks and plug-in hybrid trucks for companies due to subsidies. In the long term, fuel cell, plug-in hybrid and battery electric trucks are cost-competitive with diesel vehicles, both from a company perspective and from a federal perspective.