Reduction of harmful pollutants used to be one of the automotive industry’s biggest challenges. But looking at the past 30 years of development, especially within emissions reduction technology, one could boldly say that tail pipe emissions of modern vehicles should be a lesser concern – if it wasn’t for greenhouse gasses.

Dinex is a leading developer, producer, and supplier of Exhaust Aftertreatment Systems for Heavy Duty Vehicles, including trucks, buses, construction, and agriculture. Through their global OEM-customers, Dinex experiences first-hand how markets respond differently, when it comes to the question of decarbonising various applications. They have yet to see a silver-bullet technology that works with the same efficiency across all variations.

After cleaning up exhaust gases, greening up transportation is without doubt the industry’s next big challenge. It could also very well prove to be one of the biggest opportunities. Not just for reducing or in some instances eliminating, fossil fuels dependence, but also

A multi-technology approach

Dinex’ Euro VI and Stage V emission solutions are already at work all over the planet. The company is also engaged with European OEMs in development projects for next generation Euro VII and Stage VI vehicles running on both fossil and renewable and low carbon gases. These solutions are available for both combustion and fuel cell-based powertrains. This diversification of technologies is needed to keep up with customer demands, but at Dinex it is also considered as a positive sign that the global industry is playing multiple cards in the fight against greenhouse gas emissions.

Electrification is welcomed as a part of the solution: an important part but also one which cannot stand alone, especially when it comes to Heavy-Duty Vehicles or giants of the sea. Through our work with NGVA we want to help achieve a policy framework that supports a suitably broad array of solutions for Europe’s transport needs.

When 1+1 equals 3

Dinex believes that renewable and low-carbon fuels in general should be playing a bigger role in the decarbonisation of European transportation. Instead of adding technology limitations, biogas (biomethane) combined with heavy duty vehicles already largely available on the roads today, can open up a vast set of opportunities for the European market to rethink itself in a smarter way:

• Speeding up the energy transition, by electrifying what makes sense to be electrified in a sensible pace, and using biomethane in existing gas infrastructure as a part of the solution where it does not.
• Thinking local, and leveraging European cross-sector synergies, as locally collected waste from agricultural, food and other industries could provide a substantial part of the fuel needed for local transport and distribution.
• Revitalisation of European jobs in the automotive industry, as biogas vehicles utilise the same supply chains and components as already largely established. In fact, they even offer new kinds of jobs in biomethane production, transport and trading.

With the prospects of displacing fossil fuels with renewable fuels and instantly reducing climate footprint, and considering the technological advancements of the recent decade within reduction of pollutant emissions, then why should we let the future of Heavy-Duty mobility be determined by the question of tailpipe vs. no-tailpipe emissions? There is more to gain by allowing diverse technologies to each do their part in the green transition, instead of forcing all eggs into one basket. But it requires legislative instruments that look beyond tailpipe emissions and allow fuels with lower life-cycle impact to be considered in the automotive CO₂ reduction targets.

Kristian Kaufmann

Communication & Sustainability Manager

Dinex Group