As part of the country’s commitment to tackling climate change, a new aid scheme has been introduced for companies wishing to convert their road haulage fleets to “zero emission.”
New medium and heavy duty trucks (N2 and N3 categories) equipped with zero-emission engines, such as pure electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, are eligible for this aid. In addition, heavy commercial vehicles with an internal combustion engine with CO₂ emissions below 1 g/kWh are also eligible, such as commercial vehicles with a hydrogen combustion engine. Combustion engine vehicles that have been retrofitted into zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles (and registered in Luxembourg) are also entitled to this aid.
The amount of aid varies according to the size of the company and is calculated on the basis of the additional cost. This is the difference between the cost of acquiring a zero-emission vehicle and the cost of acquiring an equivalent vehicle with an internal combustion engine. Or on the basis of the costs necessary to retrofit this vehicle to zero-emission. The aid is capped at 300,000 euros per group.
This aid is temporary and will be reviewed in the context of the transposition into national law of the new European provisions on state aid.
Article written by Laurent Meillaud and translated by Logan King