Vehicle Weight, Modal Split, and Emissions—An Ex-Post Analysis for Sweden

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.