Since there are hardly any trucks with electric or hydrogen drives so far, the direct consequences are likely to be minimal.
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The turquoise-green government plans to further reduce the kilometer-based toll for emission-free trucks on motorways and expressways compared to the tariffs for diesel trucks. The Council of Ministers passed an amendment to the Toll Act introduced by the Environment and Transport Ministry on Wednesday.
However, the impact assessment states that the effects on Asfinag revenues are “minimal” because there are still hardly any trucks with electric or hydrogen engines.
Only a quarter of the cost
Specifically, vehicles with a maximum gross vehicle weight of over 3.5 tonnes that have a purely electric or purely hydrogen fuel cell drive will only pay a quarter of the truck toll instead of half.
The extent of the highest possible tariff spread will be increased in favor of emission-free trucks so that the tariff for these vehicles may no longer be up to 50 percent, but now up to 75 percent below the highest tariff for vehicles with euro emission classes, according to the climate minister's proposal Leonore Gewessler (Greens).
Should the number of affected vehicles increase significantly in the long term, the tariff bonus for emission-free vehicles will have to be made “revenue-neutral” by way of the annual toll tariff regulations in order to prevent Asfinag from significant revenue losses, the impact assessment continues.
