Heavy duty transport descarbonization: Legislation and Standards for Hydrogen and Battery Electric Buses and Heavy-Duty Trucks

The European Union is pushing forward its European Green Deal setting a climate goal of a 55% GHG decrease by 2030 and a net-zero emission economy by 2050. Sustainable mobility is one of the main areas of interest, with Battery Electric Vehicles and Hydrogen Electric vehicles (or Fuel Cell vehicles) as key technologies to reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and, therefore, global warming. Each technology is better suited for specific applications and standardization plays a key role to ensure the deployment of a safe, cost effective, energy efficient, sustainable transport. Sustainable refueling stations where several technologies coexist are envisioned and multiple standards should be implemented in a coordinated manner. A review of current European legislation and standardization for Hydrogen and Battery Electric Buses and Heavy-Duty Trucks is presented in this paper. Some indications of areas needing to be further standardized such as higher capacity and flow charging rates for Hydrogen vehicles are also given.