European truck manufacturers are already calling for the timetable for meeting the 2030 CO2 target to be pushed back by three years. DAF, Daimler Truck, Ford Otosan, Iveco, MAN, Scania/TRATON and Volvo made the joint appeal at IAA Transportation, asking policymakers to allow more time to meet the target.
ACEA says the industry is being held back by the slow development of the conditions needed for zero-emission trucks. These include charging infrastructure, grid connections, energy prices and the business case for transport operators. According to ACEA, zero-emission vehicles currently account for just 2.4% of new heavy-truck registrations in Europe.
At a press conference in Hanover, the manufacturers illustrated what these broader requirements mean for day-to-day fleet operations.
Scaling from 20 electric trucks to 200
Christian Levin, president and CEO of Scania and the TRATON Group, pointed to applications where battery-electric trucks are already in use, including refuse collection, distribution and food transport. In these operations, charging at relatively modest power levels may be sufficient.
The situation becomes much more demanding as fleet sizes increase.
Levin described customers planning to operate 100 or 200 electric trucks from a single depot. In such cases, the existing grid connection may support only 10, 20 or 50 vehicles. Operators may then need biogas or other renewable alternatives to cover the remaining fleet.
This means the vehicle itself is only one part of the planning process. Operators must also assess how much power is available at the depot and when a larger connection could actually be delivered.
ACEA says connecting new depot and public charging facilities to the electricity grid can take several years. The public charging network also remains far short of expected demand. Figures from the VDA, released at IAA, show that the European Union currently has around 730 publicly accessible charging points with an output of more than 350 kW that are reserved exclusively for heavy commercial vehicles. There are also almost 2,000 chargers at mixed-use sites that heavy-duty vehicles can use.
By 2030, the association estimates that Europe could need up to 50,000 publicly accessible chargers suitable for trucks, including around 35,000 megawatt charging system points.
Payload remains a problem on weight-sensitive routes
Not every application is limited by the power supply. For some transport operations, payload is the more immediate concern.
Levin estimates that electric trucks can carry one to four tonnes less than conventional vehicles, depending on the configuration. That difference matters most on routes where trucks regularly operate at the legal weight limit, such as liquid and silo transport.
The impact is smaller in operations constrained by cargo volume rather than weight. But where freight is planned by tonnes, a heavier vehicle means less cargo can be carried on each trip. The industry has therefore been calling for changes to European weight and dimension rules for some time.
According to ACEA, the proposed changes intended to offset the payload disadvantage of zero-emission trucks have still not been adopted.
Daimler Truck puts the cost of each missed percentage point at €120 million
Levin described the operational challenges. Daimler Truck CEO Karin Rådström explained why manufacturers are also pressing for a swift regulatory decision.
Daimler Truck estimates that each percentage point by which it misses its CO2 target would cost around €120 million.
Rådström illustrated the potential impact at the press conference. If Daimler Truck achieved a 33% reduction from the baseline she cited, it would miss the target by 10 percentage points, resulting in a cost of roughly €1.2 billion. She said this was approximately what Mercedes-Benz Trucks earned worldwide in 2025 and described the risk to the company as existential.
The calculation applies specifically to Daimler Truck and cannot automatically be transferred to other manufacturers.
Current EU rules require new heavy-duty vehicles to deliver average CO2 reductions of 45% from 2030, 65% from 2035 and 90% from 2040, compared with the relevant reference values. Manufacturers that exceed their targets may face financial penalties. The legal formula uses a rate of €4,250 for each gram of excess CO2 per tonne-kilometre.
Levin says the three-year request is not a fixed deadline
One notable point at IAA was Levin’s explanation of the industry’s request for three additional years. He did not present the period as a rigid deadline.
For Levin, the exact number of years is less important than giving manufacturers enough certainty to plan investment cycles, manage supply contracts and understand their potential exposure to penalties.
Levin said manufacturers would be delighted if the market were ready in 2030, 2031 or 2032. What they want to avoid is a situation involving underused factories, excessive investment on their balance sheets and projects that may never deliver a return.
He therefore called for the regulatory review to link the real-world uptake of electric vehicles with progress on the infrastructure and other conditions needed to operate them.
That places a slightly different emphasis on the issue from ACEA’s formal call for a three-year delay.
Rådström: regulation has driven investment
Rådström did not reject the European regulatory framework outright.
She said EU rules had helped push manufacturers forward technologically in the past, citing European emissions standards as an example. CO2 targets have also encouraged significant investment in zero-emission vehicles, particularly battery-electric trucks.
The difference between Euro 6 or Euro 7 requirements and zero-emission truck rules lies in the vehicle’s dependence on its wider operating environment. Traditional emissions standards could largely be met through technical changes to the truck. Electric trucks also require reliable power supplies, charging infrastructure and other systems beyond the vehicle itself.
Manufacturers no longer see the availability of suitable vehicles as the main obstacle. ACEA says zero-emission models now exist for the major operating applications. The larger gap lies in the conditions that allow transport companies to integrate those trucks into their fleets profitably.
Grid connection becomes part of the truck-buying decision
A small electric fleet may still be manageable with the power available at an existing depot. A fleet of 100 or 200 vehicles creates a very different demand profile.
Planning a large electric fleet therefore starts well before the vehicle order: How much power does the depot have today? How much additional capacity can the grid operator provide? When will it be available? How many trucks need to charge at the same time? And on which routes will the extra vehicle weight reduce payload?
Levin’s examples from discussions with customers show why fleet electrification will not automatically keep pace with the number of electric trucks available. A vehicle may be technically suitable for a particular operation, yet the planned number of trucks may still be impossible to run from the chosen site.
For hauliers planning a substantial fleet conversion, another figure now belongs alongside range, energy consumption and purchase price: how many electric trucks can the depot actually support?
