EU Trucking Industry Faces Challenges Meeting Zero-Emission Electric Truck Targets
The EU trucking sector is struggling to meet its zero-emission targets, with the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) describing the goals as dire. Currently, only about 10,000 of approximately 6 million trucks in Europe are electric, and these are mostly limited to short routes.
Barriers to wider adoption include a lack of public charging points, limited truck-specific tax incentives, and high energy costs. The industry has called for an urgent market audit similar to the one recently conducted for the car sector. Electric 40-tonne two-axle trucks cost around €300,000, roughly double the price of diesel vehicles, making the business case difficult due to higher upfront costs and concerns over residual value and routing flexibility.
Daimler Truck’s CEO Karin Rådström noted that operators are willing to electrify their fleets, but with profit margins as low as 2–3%, more attractive economic conditions are necessary for widespread adoption. EU targets currently require 43% of new trucks to be electric by 2030, rising to 65% by 2035 and 90% by 2040, with fines imposed on manufacturers who fail to meet CO2 standards. However, fewer than 2% of new heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) are currently electric, and at the current pace of uptake, the industry could face annual fines of about €2 billion.
Public charging infrastructure remains insufficient, with around 1,500 HGV charging points available in Europe, while approximately 35,000 are needed. This translates to about 500 new charging points needing to be installed monthly, yet fewer than 500 have been built in the past 14 months since Daimler Truck’s CEO assumed her role. The UK's situation is particularly concerning, having had only one public electric charging point for HGVs last year.
Sigrid de Vries of ACEA has called for an early review to align enabling conditions with sector obligations and penalties, especially as the European Commission is expected to ease car emission targets. Without improvements in infrastructure and policy support, the EU's ambitious zero-emission goals for trucking risk significant delays.
