ACEA — 2026-09-14
News from Brussels
In an extraordinary appearance on one stage together, the CEOs of Europe’s seven leading truck and bus manufacturers warned today, at the IAA Transportation in Hanover, that Europe’s shift to zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles is still being held back by an alarming delay in the conditions that are needed to drive market uptake. They called on European and national policymakers to urgently close the gap as well as adjust the 2030 CO2 compliance timeline.
European truck and bus manufacturers remain fully committed to the EU’s ambitious CO2 reduction targets. After years of investments, a full range of competitive zero-emission vehicles for all major use cases is available today. But the conditions that transport operators need to adopt these vehicles at scale and operate them competitively are now at least three years behind and are still not developing fast enough. Persistently low zero-emission market shares and a highly uneven uptake across Europe are clear indications.
Just 2.4% of new heavy-duty truck registrations in Europe are zero-emission today. However, in major truck markets such as Poland, Spain and Italy, the share is still well below 1%. Even in Germany and France, Europe’s two largest truck markets, it stands at only 4.3% and 2.4%. With only 45 months remaining until the 2030 CO2 targets apply, the gap between current market uptake and the pace of transition towards 2030 remains substantial. Closing this gap requires zero-emission trucks to make economic sense for transport operators and that depends on charging and grid access, energy costs, CO2-based road tolls and a coherent supportive policy framework. Most of the conditions that determine whether operators can make the switch must be created by actors other than manufacturers.
Karin Rådström, President and CEO of Daimler Truck and Chair of ACEA’s Commercial Vehicle Board: “We are fully committed to sustainable transport – the investments have been made, and a wide range of CO2-free vehicles is available today. But making them commercially viable at scale also depends on the wider ecosystem that is clearly delayed and not yet developing fast enough. This means two things: doubling down on the enabling conditions fast, and for the EU to delay the 2030 compliance timeline by three years, to prevent penalties for manufacturers.”
Responsibility and control are clearly misaligned. Manufacturers face crippling financial penalties if their new fleets fail to meet the CO2 targets. Their compliance, however, depends on decisions made across the wider value chain.
If the market uptake remains too low for manufacturers to meet their 2030 obligations, imposing penalties for non-compliance would not put more zero-emission trucks on the road. It would instead divert billions of euros from the technologies and production capacity needed for the transition, while weakening European manufacturers just as global competition intensifies.
"We are fully committed to sustainable transport – the investments have been made, and a wide range of CO2-free vehicles is available today. But making them commercially viable at scale also depends on the wider ecosystem that is clearly delayed and not yet developing fast enough. This means two things: doubling down on the enabling conditions fast, and for the EU to delay the 2030 compliance timeline by three years, to prevent penalties for manufacturers."
Notes for editors
CEOs participating in the press conference: Jim Walenczak, President of DAF Trucks; Karin Rådström, Chairwoman of the Board of Management of Daimler Truck and Chairperson of the ACEA Commercial Vehicle Board; Güven Özyurt, CEO of Ford Otosan; Olof Persson, CEO of Iveco Group; Alexander Vlaskamp, CEO of MAN Truck & Bus; Christian Levin, President and CEO of Scania Group and TRATON GROUP; and Martin Lundstedt, President and CEO of Volvo Group.
ACEA members’ portfolios of zero-emission trucks and buses for every kind of operation, from urban and regional transport to long-haul, are available here: https://www.acea.auto/news/driving-europes-green-transition-with-zero-emission-trucks-and-buses/
Manufacturers have to reduce the CO2 emissions of new vehicles by -43% (2030), -64% (2035) and -90% (2040). If manufacturers fail to do that, they face penalties of 4.250 EUR per g/CO2 per vehicle. Missing the 2030 target by just three percentage points, would lead to approximately €2.2 billion in penalties.
Earlier this year, the Commission introduced a targeted amendment to the CO2 regulation, which provides additional flexibility in calculating emission credits for 2025 to 2029 without changing the binding CO2 reduction targets or the non-compliance penalties.
The adjustment was a necessary and proportionate correction to reflect the slow development of critical enabling conditions. It is a risk-smoothing mechanism with clearly defined limits (e.g. it applies only to credit generation during 2025 to 2029; it does not award credits automatically; manufacturers must reduce their actual fleet emissions below the relevant benchmark; the non-compliance penalties remain unchanged).
The structural delivery gap remains unresolved. Manufacturers can develop and market ZEVs, but they cannot independently deliver charging and refuelling infrastructure, grid connections, competitive energy prices or viable operating conditions (TCO) for transport companies.
The following enabling conditions need to be substantially improved:
Accelerating the deployment of dedicated charging and hydrogen refuelling infrastructure for heavy-duty vehicles. Fewer than 2,000 public chargers suitable for trucks are available across Europe today, while at least 700 additional truck chargers are needed every month. Fewer than a dozen hydrogen refuelling stations are operational and even these face major operational constraints.
Speeding up grid connections for depot and public charging infrastructure. Connecting new charging sites to the power grid can take several years, delaying deployment even where operators and infrastructure providers are ready to invest.
Putting in place a coherent policy framework that supports the business case for zero-emission trucks across all member states. CO2-based road charging is effectively in place in only four member states, while necessary changes to Weights & Dimensions rules needed to address the payload disadvantage of zero-emission trucks have still not been adopted.
Ensuring that energy and carbon-pricing policies support the transition. The introduction of the ETS2 has been delayed to 2028, while energy costs remain a critical factor in whether zero-emission trucks can be operated competitively. Revenues from ETS2 and road charging should be reinvested to support infrastructure and vehicle uptake.
About ACEA
The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) represents the 17 major Europe-based car, van, truck and bus makers: BMW Group, DAF Trucks, Daimler Truck, Ferrari, Ford of Europe, Honda Motor Europe, Hyundai Motor Europe, Iveco Group, JLR, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Renault Group, Stellantis, Toyota Motor Europe, TRATON GROUP, Volkswagen Group, and Volvo Group.
Visit www.acea.auto for more information about ACEA, and follow us on https://www.x.com/ACEA_auto or https://www.linkedin.com/company/ACEA/Contact: Camille Lamarque, Media Relations Manager, cl@acea.auto, +32 2 738 73 16
About the EU automobile industry
13.6 million Europeans work in the automotive sector
8.1% of all manufacturing jobs in the EU
€414.7 billion in tax revenue for European governments
€93.9 billion trade surplus for the European Union
Over 8% of EU GDP generated by the auto industry
€84.6 billion in R&D spending annually, 34% of EU total