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

This paper analyses the calculation principles used for determining the level and differentiation of HGV charges in Germany. It demonstrates that calculating average cost-based charges is far from straightforward, 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 not necessarily involve more complexity than the approach used for calculating average cost-based charges. Moving towards social marginal cost-based charging would foster a more efficient use of resources and road capacity, and (fully) including congestion, environmental, and noise costs enables sufficient revenue to recover infrastructure costs.