17 Nov 2021
Led by Dr Vasco Sanchez Rodrigues, Associate Professor at Cardiff University (United Kingdom), the Giro Zero project hosted its second focus group, in which vehicle manufacturers and vehicle users were brought together to exchange general knowledge about vehicle technologies and their potential to reduce carbon emissions.
The focus group aimed to inquire about technological change initiatives, identify barriers and needs of vehicle users, and to determine motivations for the change of technologies and communication gaps among stakeholders.
Dr Sanchez Rodrigues started the focus group by explaining the low emission vehicle technologies for cargo transport: diesel/gasoline fuel, Euro VI, hybrids (fuel/electric) Euro VI, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Vehicular Natural Gas (NGV), and motorcycles or tricycles (Euro V).
He then presented zero emission technologies (electric, hydrogen and cargo bikes) to the 23 participants. Lastly, he referred to the three global trends for electric vehicles according to Geotab, “the price of electric vehicles will continue to fall as battery costs are reduced; electrification will be extended to heavier vehicle segments; and there will be an increase in public charging points”.
In turn, manufacturing companies presented their low and zero emission technologies. Luis Javier Cardona, Executive Vice President of Navitrans, (representatives of the brand International for Colombia, one of the largest truck manufacturers in the United States), said that the organization had already started producing electric trucks at the Escobedo plant in Monterrey-Mexico, and it is expected that mass production will start in San Antonio-Texas plant in 2022. "Regulation in California, United States, encourages stakeholders to meet a minimum quota of zero emissions, which has prompted manufacturers to venture into these technologies," he added.
According to International’s CEO, the vehicle sales model will completely change in the future, so they believe that trucks will go from being sold to being rented. Anticipating this, they created Next company, which aims to combine the experiences of the electric vehicle manufacturer with logistics, and thus achieve more efficient transport processes.
During his speech, Ricardo Rojas, product engineer for Scania Colombia, highlighted that they’re working on introducing cargo vehicles that use alternative fuels such natural gas, biodiesel and biogas, “60% percent of the cargo vehicles that we have sold this year are fueled by compressed natural gas (CNG) in its different forms, such as natural gas or biogas with a considerable reduction of CO2, NOX and particulate matter (PM)”.
It was then the turn of the vehicle users to explain their positions and initiatives regarding the challenge posed by an Road Freight Transport towards zero emissions. William Rappy, Alquería's primary transport leader, said that they started a pilot with electric vehicles in 2020, for last mile urban distribution.
“In terms of performance in Bogotá and Medellín, we have done well. We built a charging station at our facilities but the charging times are quite high. We have to make them more efficient, but we aren’t thinking about electric vehicles for long distances yet due to the lack of charging stations along the road. In addition, distribution costs compared to a diesel vehicle have increased by 25% due to vehicle prices”, he explained. For long distances, the company will use gas vehicles this year.
Postobón was another company that shared its experience on the road to reducing emissions. Sergio Serrano, CEO of Edinsa - the company responsible for road freight transport in Postobón, said they have explored different alternatives, not only in energy scenarios, but also in good driving and multimodal transport practices. He added, “we’ve already carried out a major renewal of the fleet and we are going to do it at a rate of 40-50 units per year, until we renew 100% of the fleet operating in primary transport”.
Juliana Rico, Executive Director of the Automotive Chamber of the National Association of Entrepreneurs of Colombia (Andi), emphasized that the goal is the overcrowding of electric vehicles.
“There has to be a balance between the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the Ministry of the Environment, and the National Planning Department, in how we’re going to encourage all 400,000 vehicles on our roads to be Euro V1 by 2035. How are we going to achieve the overcrowding of electric vehicles by 2040, in a complex businesses, ensuring that everyone fits in to that future?”, she added.
Knowing the goals
During the focus group a survey was conducted to determine how informed the participants were about the urgency of transitioning to low or zero-emission vehicles. Firstly they were asked “From what year will diesel motor vehicles, (that do not meet the EURO VI emission standard), be unable to be circulate in Colombia? (Law 1972 of 2019). 75% of participants chose correctly selecting ‘2035’.
83% answered the 2nd question “Do you know in which year Bogotá wants to become a carbon-neutral city?“ correctly, as shown in the following graph:
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Giro Zero is a research project developed by the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia and Cardiff University in the United Kingdom, and funded by Colombia UK-Pact, a flagship program of technical assistance under the Alliance for Sustainable Growth between the United Kingdom and Colombia. Its purpose is to accelerate the renewal of trucks, as well as the adoption of clean technologies and best logistics and environmental practices to reduce emissions from the Road Freight Transport sector. In this way, Giro Zero contributes to the construction of a roadmap towards a zero emissions TAC with the collaboration of the private sector, the public sector and academia.