On the Difficulties to Calculate Infrastructure Charges for Heavy Goods Vehicles: A Review of 15 Years’ Experience in Germany

Abstract

This paper analyses the calculation principles used for determining the level and differentiation ofHGV charges in Germany. It demonstrates that calculating average cost-based charges is far fromstraightforward, even with an agreed methodology, and involves sensitive methodological choices.Based on a review of available studies, the paper argues that estimating marginal costs does notnecessarily involve more complexity than the approach used for calculating average cost-basedcharges. Moving towards social marginal cost-based charging would foster a more efficient use ofresources and road capacity, and (fully) including congestion, environmental, and noise costsenables sufficient revenue to recover infrastructure costs.