ETS2 for transport fuels
Fuel suppliers will pay for diesel CO₂ emissions. At €50 per tonne, that adds roughly 13 cents per litre.
Electric commercial vehicle news
What do changes to truck tolls, energy prices and regulations mean for your business? Check the publication date of each article and calculate the impact using your own figures.
According to ABN AMRO, electric road transport breaks through in 2026. Tax incentives, better technology and high fuel prices make electric trucks more attractive. A heavy Euro 6 diesel truck pays about €0.21 truck toll per kilometre, an electric one €0.04. For trips within the Netherlands, which mostly stay within 500 km, electric can therefore be cheaper. It does still cost about three times as much to buy.
The Netherlands is ahead. In the first half of 2026, 16.3% of new trucks were electric, against 4.8% across the EU. For new vans it was 83.7%.
The bottleneck is now the plug, not the truck. Grid congestion means many hauliers cannot get a heavier connection. ABN AMRO points to smart control of solar power, battery storage and chargers, and to contracts that let you use extra capacity between midnight and 6 am.
Haulier Weduwe J. de Bruijn en Zonen, with 55 trucks, already runs four electric trucks. According to the company they are already cheaper than diesel, for trucks that charge at home overnight and drive more than 300 km a day. It aims to have 25 to 30 electric trucks around 2030.
Diesel duty reduction proposed for 2027
The Dutch government proposes extending the diesel duty reduction in 2027, at €0.552 per litre. Proposed duty is €0.616 in 2028 and €0.701 from 2029. Parliament votes on 12 November.
In the first half of 2026, almost 172,000 new trucks were registered in the EU, 9.8% more than a year earlier. Electric truck registrations rose 47.7%, to 4.8% of the market. Germany, the Netherlands and France together account for 74% of electric trucks. In the Netherlands the number grew 44.5%.
Vornfeld sees charging as the biggest bottleneck now. Grants help, but can also slow things down. In Germany, three funding calls for charging infrastructure worth around €300 million in total were heavily oversubscribed, and many hauliers are now waiting. The advice: build a depot that pays off without a grant.
That works best when the depot is used a lot. A charger that sits idle overnight is money that earns nothing. That is why some hauliers open their depot to other hauliers.
One example is Alfredsson Transport in Norrköping, Sweden. The depot charges its own fleet and is open to other hauliers, including megawatt charging (MCS). Instead of waiting for a heavier grid connection, the company installed a 1.2 MW battery and 400 kWp of solar panels.
Bain & Company surveyed 507 fleet decision makers in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Poland. More than 60% expect their fleet to grow over the next three years.
For long haul, Bain finds electric has largely reached cost parity with diesel or is cheaper. In Germany, a heavy electric tractor unit costs up to 15% less over five years, mainly thanks to lower energy costs and toll savings. What still holds operators back: too few public chargers, high purchase prices, less flexibility and long charging times.
Operators expect diesel to make up about half of new truck sales in 2030 and a third in 2035. Hydrogen stays a niche until 2035. When choosing an electric truck, charging speed weighs more than reliability.
Notably, one in three operators has been in contact with a Chinese manufacturer and is likely to buy one within three years. 61% expect Chinese trucks to be 10 to 30% cheaper. Brand trust, service and residual value are still their weak points.