Officially known as the Infrastructure Usage Charge (also called The German Maut), is a toll system to fund and maintain significant road and highway infrastructure in Germany.
This is not a new truck toll, as it has been in place in Germany since 2005. However, in a European Union directive, starting December 1, heavy goods vehicles will be put into five classes based on their CO2 emissions, which will then be used to determine toll rates.
Then starting July 4, 2024, this system will expand and include vehicles with a technically permissible total weight of 3.5 tons or more. Other European countries are expected to follow a similar suit with Austria and the Czech Republic planning to increase tolls by various amounts.
The German government is hoping these new tolls will help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote alternative fuels. Additionally, the money from this toll goes to fund road infrastructure including construction, maintenance and operation of highways.
CO2 Emission Classes
There’s five emission classes and they are broken down as such:
- Emission Class One – are vehicles that do not fall into any other of the 4 CO2 emission classes.
- Emission Class Two – are vehicles that at the time of the classification on Dec. 1, are more than 5 percent below the reference value for CO2 emissions.
- Emission Class Three – are vehicles that at the time of the classification, are more than 8 percent below the reference value for CO2 emissions.
- Emission Class Four – are low CO2 emission trucks, whose CO2 emission value are more than 50 percent below the reference value.
- Emission Class Five – are CO2 emission-free vehicles.
Because of this new weight assessment, some trucks that did not have to pay tolls before, will now have to pay.
Looking Ahead
If you’re interested in more details regarding these changes, you can read more about it, here. Should you have any questions regarding this and how it could impact your shipments, please reach out to our team today.
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