The new trade deal between the European Union and the U.S. means that pedestrians from Lisbon to Helsinki will be endangered by big, American-made trucks.
As I posted in another community this was crossposted to: This article is bullshit.
With the exception of what’s happening in the author’s imagination, nothing that’s is happening will make it easier to import or drive these in the EU. In fact, the EU, by respecting categorisations made in the US, will be mandating that these be treated as the dangerous, polluting industrial vehicles they are. They won’t be able to drive through town centres, in low emissions zones, park in car parks, be driven on car licenses, or be taxed and insured like a Fiat Punto any more. So instead of there being tens of thousands of incorrectly regulated one-off exceptions like we have now, there will be vehicles held to the same standards as all the others.
Even that aside, there’s just less demand for them in Europe. The Euro equivalent to a big American truck is the diesel wagon. Has torque, can put a bunch of shit in the back. And it’s enclosed!
Our fuel prices are just so much higher and in a lot of EU countries, most people can’t afford 100k € trucks in the first place.
Because I read the actual announcement, and I remember something that all authors of sensationalist nonsense about EU laws want their readers to forget: any new law or agreement exists alongside all the existing ones. The actual agreement here is that vehicles can be imported from the US - in fact, it arguably makes it easier - but they will be categorised, regulated and taxed as if they were first registered in the EU rather than given special exemptions. That means they’ll need to meet EU laws on pedestrian safety, emissions, efficiency , and so on. Even ignoring that, these cannot be driven in the EU on a car license because according to the EU they are not cars. So the EU has not opened a floodgate, they’ve closed a loophole.
Thanks for replying, are you implying that they can not be driven with a standard B license? I could believe it but I thought that B encompassed quite a lot of vehicles/mass/sizes
EU (and UK) car licenses cover a maximum fully-laden weight of 3.5T, which these trucks vastly exceed - some of them weigh well over 2.5T before you even put fuel in. Since US regulations are not currently being considered, it’s up to the importer to declare the maximum weight so they just pinky-swear that the MLW is 3,499.9999kg or whatever. It’s arresting to think that if these were judged fairly, most EU drivers couldn’t drive one of these but could drive a LWB Sprinter.
It’s also worth remembering that even in the US, trucks are commercial vehicles distinct from cars and it’s only because of terminal car-brain that they’re subject to exclusions and subsidies that makes it possible to use one just for commuting.
I think you might be right. But there are pbbly still some of those lighter pickups that can be driven by a B licence, which is unfortunate. I found the vehicle chart on Wikipedia quite helpful https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truck_classification
P.S. also crazy that so many US vehicles exceed that weight limit. Heavy and big cars are generally bad for everyone.
As I posted in another community this was crossposted to: This article is bullshit.
With the exception of what’s happening in the author’s imagination, nothing that’s is happening will make it easier to import or drive these in the EU. In fact, the EU, by respecting categorisations made in the US, will be mandating that these be treated as the dangerous, polluting industrial vehicles they are. They won’t be able to drive through town centres, in low emissions zones, park in car parks, be driven on car licenses, or be taxed and insured like a Fiat Punto any more. So instead of there being tens of thousands of incorrectly regulated one-off exceptions like we have now, there will be vehicles held to the same standards as all the others.
Even that aside, there’s just less demand for them in Europe. The Euro equivalent to a big American truck is the diesel wagon. Has torque, can put a bunch of shit in the back. And it’s enclosed!
Our fuel prices are just so much higher and in a lot of EU countries, most people can’t afford 100k € trucks in the first place.
Damn, if that’s true this comment needs to be way higher
Interesting, may I ask how you know?
Because I read the actual announcement, and I remember something that all authors of sensationalist nonsense about EU laws want their readers to forget: any new law or agreement exists alongside all the existing ones. The actual agreement here is that vehicles can be imported from the US - in fact, it arguably makes it easier - but they will be categorised, regulated and taxed as if they were first registered in the EU rather than given special exemptions. That means they’ll need to meet EU laws on pedestrian safety, emissions, efficiency , and so on. Even ignoring that, these cannot be driven in the EU on a car license because according to the EU they are not cars. So the EU has not opened a floodgate, they’ve closed a loophole.
Thanks for replying, are you implying that they can not be driven with a standard B license? I could believe it but I thought that B encompassed quite a lot of vehicles/mass/sizes
EU (and UK) car licenses cover a maximum fully-laden weight of 3.5T, which these trucks vastly exceed - some of them weigh well over 2.5T before you even put fuel in. Since US regulations are not currently being considered, it’s up to the importer to declare the maximum weight so they just pinky-swear that the MLW is 3,499.9999kg or whatever. It’s arresting to think that if these were judged fairly, most EU drivers couldn’t drive one of these but could drive a LWB Sprinter.
It’s also worth remembering that even in the US, trucks are commercial vehicles distinct from cars and it’s only because of terminal car-brain that they’re subject to exclusions and subsidies that makes it possible to use one just for commuting.
I think you might be right. But there are pbbly still some of those lighter pickups that can be driven by a B licence, which is unfortunate. I found the vehicle chart on Wikipedia quite helpful https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truck_classification
P.S. also crazy that so many US vehicles exceed that weight limit. Heavy and big cars are generally bad for everyone.
not all vehicles can be registered as “mainly for personal transportation” (don’t know the actual term), which is a requirement for B licenses.