Abstract
This study combines official statistics on freight transportation and emissions to present the long-run development of the use of longer and heavier road vehicles (LHVs), modal split, road freight efficiency, and GHG emissions and air pollution following the increase in the maximum permissible vehicle weight in Sweden in 1990 and 1993. We find that LHVs were quickly incorporated in the vehicle fleet and that road freight efficiency of the largest vehicles increased after the reforms. There was no discernable break in modal split trends as the modal share for road continued its long-run development. We show that road transportation contributes by far the most to emission costs. The composition of the emissions from road freight changed after the weight reforms, with an increasing share of GHG-emissions.
Highlights
The past decade has seen an active debate among policy-makers and researchers about the cost and benefits associated with allowing larger-than-conventional road freight vehicles [1,2]
The purpose of this study is to provide an ex-post analysis of the use of longer and heavier vehicles (LHVs), modal split, road freight efficiency, and emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) and air pollution following the increased maximum truck weights in Sweden in 1990 and 1993
Our analysis focus on the reforms increasing the dimensions from 51.4 tonnes to 60 tonnes (24 m) which we will refer to as the introduction of longer and heavier vehicles (LHVs)
Summary
The past decade has seen an active debate among policy-makers and researchers about the cost and benefits associated with allowing larger-than-conventional road freight vehicles [1,2]. This topic has gained much attention, not least considering the freight sector’s contribution to the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) and air pollution. The purpose of this study is to provide an ex-post analysis of the use of LHVs, modal split, road freight efficiency, and emissions of GHG and air pollution following the increased maximum truck weights in Sweden in 1990 and 1993. We refrain from analyzing the length reform in 1996 which increased the maximum length of vehicle combinations from 24 to 25.25 m
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