Towards Zero-Emission HD Trucks in Alberta:
Meeting Canada’s Climate Change Commitments

Tuesday, September 27, 2022

Moderator: Chris Nash, Alberta Motor Transport Association
Presenter: Zachary Redick, University of Calgary

In 2019, Alberta’s heavy duty (HD), Class 8 road vehicles accounted for 31% of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from all road vehicles in the province. To meet its climate change commitments, the Canadian government wants 35% of all new Class 8 vehicle sales to be zero-emission by 2030, and near 100% by 2040. For light and medium duty trucks, plug-in, battery electric vehicles (BEV) could be a zero-emission solution. However, for HD trucks, hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (HFCEV) are seen as a better fit to meet the demands for heavy loads, long hauls, and rapid refueling.

To assess transition strategies and make recommendations for policy and investment decisions by government and industry, report authors Zachary Redick, Dr. David Layzell, and Dr. Alexandre De Barros built a stock and flow model, which they combined with a vehicle kilometer travelled (VKT) model and an economic model to project scenarios to 2050 for the transition of HD vehicles to zero emission in Alberta.

A Q&A follows.

Presented by the Alberta Motor Transport Association, AZETEC, The Transition Accelerator, and CESAR and the University of Calgary.