Europe’s electric truck revolution stalls at the charging gate
Daimler Truck CEO warns Europe needs 35,000 megawatt chargers by 2030 to meet EU CO₂ targets.
Europe’s electric truck fleet is growing, but the infrastructure to power it is not.
More than 60 zero-emission truck models are already on the market, and Mercedes-Benz Trucks alone holds 38% of Europe’s CO₂-free medium- and heavy-duty truck market.
The problem, Rådström said, is twofold: infrastructure and cost. Without public megawatt chargers and hydrogen stations built for trucks, fleet operators hesitate to invest. And without CO₂-based road tolls that narrow the price gap with diesel, the business case for electric trucks remains fragile.
“Today, there are over 60 electric or zero-emission trucks available in the market, and over 25 different zero-emission bus models from us and from our competitors. So our industry has clearly delivered.”
Karin Rådström·CEO, Daimler Truck
Europe’s current charging infrastructure is woefully inadequate for heavy-duty electric trucks. Rådström pointed out that the continent has fewer than 2,000 public truck charge points, most of which are standard CCS chargers designed for passenger vehicles. By 2030, she said, Europe will need 35,000 megawatt charging points to support the battery-electric trucks required to meet EU CO₂ targets.
Hydrogen infrastructure is even more limited. Europe has around 187 hydrogen stations, but most supply only 350 bar, which Rådström said is insufficient for trucks. The target is 1,000 hydrogen stations by 2030, yet progress has been slow.
Cost parity with diesel remains another major hurdle. In Germany, the toll difference between a diesel truck and an electric truck is about 33 to 35 cents per kilometer, which helps offset the higher upfront cost of electric vehicles. However, only 13 of the EU’s 27 member states have adopted CO₂-based tolls, and even fewer have set meaningful price gaps between electric and diesel trucks.
German logistics provider Dachser, which operates more than 15,000 trucks across Europe, is one of the early adopters of electric fleets. The company has more than 200 battery-electric trucks on the road, including over 160 Mercedes-Benz Actros models. Yet Stefan Hohm, Dachser’s Chief Development Officer, called this “only a beginning.”
“We are proud to have more than 200 battery-electric trucks on the road, but the truth is we run more than 15,000. So this is only a beginning. And financing the first generation of battery-electric vehicles remains the main hurdle for our transport partners.”
Stefan Hohm·Chief Development Officer, Dachser
Hohm highlighted grid access and capacity as the biggest pain points. A Dachser network study found that almost all of its 300 European branches have access to just 1 to 3 megawatts of grid capacity. In Germany alone, the company deals with 800 energy providers, making it difficult to secure reliable power for charging infrastructure.
Dachser has taken matters into its own hands, building more than 800 charging stations on its own yards. Yet Hohm warned that without clearer timelines and binding commitments from energy providers, scaling electric fleets will remain a challenge.
The stakes are high. Daimler Truck estimates that missing the EU’s 2030 CO₂ target by just one percentage point could cost Mercedes-Benz Trucks about €120 million in penalties. A 10-point miss, Rådström warned, would “effectively wipe out the full profitability globally of Mercedes-Benz Trucks for that year.”
For now, the conversation is shifting from whether electric trucks work to what it will take to build the ecosystem around them. As professional driver and content creator Tobias Wagner put it: “Success for me would be that the conversation shifts, that we’re not talking about if those trucks work, because they do, I show it every day, but more to: okay, it’s working, but what do we need to do as a next step in order to build the ecosystem around those electric trucks?”
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