EURACTIV — 2025-06-02
Land transportation
Europe’s hauliers and truck manufacturers say problematic legislation and underfunding are stalling the right conditions for an EV truck market scale-up.
European truck makers want EU lawmakers to find new money to create the right conditions for electric heavy-duty vehicles (HDV) to be financially feasible for haulage companies - they also want legislation to be adapted.
The phrase being used in the haulage sector is “enabling conditions”, meaning electric grid capacity, grid connections along motorways, the costs of installing chargers, energy costs, and many others.
Hauliers insist that until all these dynamics are improved, the take-up of electric HDVs will remain insufficient to meet Europe’s climate change targets.
Zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles currently represent just 3.5% of new registrations in the European Union.
Market growth needed
It’s nowhere near enough, according to ACEA, the European automobile manufacturers association, which reported the 2024 figures and is pushing for more political support to help the transition towards electrified trucks.
The topic was the focus of a debate at Euractiv’s head office, where the discussion provided insights into the development of EU policy in the sector.
"We need to put more emphasis on making this transition work,” said Axel Volkery, Deputy Head of Unit, Sustainable and Intelligent Transport in DG MOVE of the European Commission. “We have a series of instruments at hand, from regulatory simplification to financial support, to ensure that this transition remains stable and on course," he added.
A new EU policy was tabled in March, which the European Commission called the ‘Automotive Action Plan’.
Truck manufacturers said they are glad their industry was talked about in specific terms in the plan.
“It's kind of a humble position to say ‘heavy duty vehicles were mentioned in the action plan’, but it's an important recognition that the heavy duty and commercial road-transport sector is different from the passenger car markets,” said Thomas Fabian, Chief Commercial Vehicles Officer at ACEA.
ACEA represents European truck makers like Scania, DAF, Daimler, Iveco, and many other major players.
Global delivery
It’s companies like global delivery juggernaut DHL that buy trucks from those producers for their operations.
The Head of Brussels Corporate Representation for DHL Group, Mitra Qurban, told the event that they simply haven’t been able to rely on Europe’s electric infrastructure yet to purchase large numbers of electric HDVs.
"Of about 120,000 vehicles globally, we’re talking about just 250 electric vehicles,” Qurban told the Brussels event. “We need to put pressure behind enabling conditions - grid capacity, grid connections, energy costs, and charger costs. We're running out of time and need to do more, faster."
There are around 600 public chargers for heavy-duty trucks in Europe today, but the industry believes there needs to be at least 35,000 by 2030 to meet EU green targets.
Weighty issue
Lawmakers are also highlighting another aspect of the EU policy landscape affecting the industry.
Jan-Christoph Oetjen, a German MEP with the Renew Europe Group and member of the European Parliament’s Transport Committee, is concerned about the business case for those using heavy-duty trucks and making the use of electric HDVs financially viable.
“This business case is lacking because batteries are heavy, and so the load that the truck can carry is less with the battery,” said Oetjen during the panel discussion.
An update to the EU Weights and Dimensions Directive, which could allow battery-powered HDVs to carry the same load as fuel-powered ones, is snarled up in the lengthy and complicated processes of Brussels lawmaking.
“EU member states are not moving forward on this topic,” said Oetjen. “Without this regulation, the whole plan of decarbonising, going zero emissions or going electric will not work.”
There’s a huge market waiting to be overhauled, and research is suggesting that it will be economically viable and profitable.
Stay focused on road ahead
“The main driver remains the ultimate goal of having much lower zero emissions in a foreseeable time,” said Stijn Daniels, a researcher at Transport & Mobility Leuven. “Trucks are responsible for 25% of CO2 emissions on roads, and this is a visible market where we can show real progress is happening."
As Axel Volkery from the European Commission noted, "We need a little bit of stamina, a positive narrative, and the ambition to drive this together. If we start casting uncertainty, we risk not only the transition but the massive investments manufacturers and forwarders have already made."
The race is on to make zero-emission HDVs not just possible in Europe, but profitable.