Electric trucks get cheaper to run as grid and charging gaps slow the shift

Transport & Environment (T&E), a Brussels-based campaign group, modelled the total cost of ownership across nine EU markets. In the Netherlands, the five-year saving can reach €100,000; in Germany, €85,000. Payback arrives after two years.

Those numbers assume today's diesel prices. The report notes that with current high diesel prices, savings could rise to €123,000 in the Netherlands and €106,000 in Germany. T&E frames electrification as the only realistic hedge against future oil shocks for hauliers.

Cheaper to run, still expensive to buy

The purchase price remains the obstacle. Chinese and US electric trucks are now being sold in Europe at considerably lower prices. In Germany, this would mean €34,000 more in five-year savings, T&E says. European truckmakers have dominated the market to date, but the analysis calls the price gap a wake-up call for them to scale production rather than lobby against regulation.

Stef Cornelis, director of freight and fleets at T&E, said: “Europe's truckers are on the front line of the diesel crisis. There has never been a better time to switch from diesel to electric, but we need truckmakers and governments to support them in doing so.”

He added that reintroducing fuel rebates “is the wrong answer to this crisis and will only prolong the transport sector's dependency on cripplingly expensive diesel.” The report lands on the same day T&E launched an online tool comparing electric and diesel costs across the same markets and the UK.

By 2030, T&E's modelling shows electric trucks can be cheaper to operate in all nine countries analysed, even if purchase subsidies are phased out or reduced. The group argues this requires combining existing measures with a limited set of new ones, such as road toll exemptions.

The charging side of the ledger

Cost per kilometre is only half the problem. The infrastructure that keeps a heavy truck moving is thinner than the one serving cars, and it needs far more power.

Tesla launched high-volume production of its Semi at a factory event in Sparks, Nevada, on Thursday, as Ars Technica reported on 26 September. The long-range version is estimated at 500 miles per charge, the standard version at 325 miles. Tesla's website showed two public megawatt chargers operating in the Los Angeles area; Dan Priestley, who leads the Semi program, said the company plans to open 30 by the end of the year.

Electric semis can cost two to three times more upfront than diesel, and require a countrywide network of specialised megawatt chargers. Ars Technica notes that the Trump administration cut billions in federal EV support last year. US diesel prices hit record highs this month as the Iran War disrupted Middle East oil production and shipping, with prices up nearly double from a year earlier.

Demand is consolidating anyway. An alliance of shippers including Microsoft and PepsiCo placed an order for 2,500 Tesla Semis, to be delivered from this year through the next 18 months. If delivered, that would nearly double the number of heavy-duty electric trucks on US roads today, according to Ars Technica.

Both markets point the same way: the running-cost case is strengthening, and the grid connection is the part that has to catch up.