EU Industry Warns Energy Crisis Is Reshaping Battery, Truck and Chip Supply Chains

The letter, dated 1 October 2026, was signed by EV100 members including IKEA, EDF, Geopost and DFDS. It urged Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to keep current heavy truck emissions rules intact.

Those rules require a 43 percent cut in carbon dioxide from 2019 levels by 2030, 64 percent by 2035 and 90 percent by 2040, according to CleanTechnica, which reported the letter on 1 October. The signatories argue that stable rules will boost demand for electric trucks and unlock charging investment.

That intervention came as European energy prices remain elevated and the diesel market faces fresh pressure. On the same day, Reuters reported that the United States had told France and Germany to release emergency diesel stocks or face a US export ban, according to headlines circulated on 1 October. Reuters also noted that the EU's emergency diesel stocks are concentrated mainly in Germany and France. The dossier does not contain the full text of those Reuters stories, so the exact terms of the US request could not be independently verified from the material available.

"The demand for zero-emission trucks is strong and growing every day," said Dominic Phinn, head of transportation at Climate Group, in a statement carried by CleanTechnica on 1 October.

Battery supply chain in the spotlight

On the battery side, Transport and Environment published an analysis on 30 September arguing that Europe will have enough Made-in-EU cells to meet demand from vehicles covered by the Industrial Accelerator Act if all projects materialise, including medium-confidence ones. T&E said local content requirements for cells and cathode active materials could add 34 percent to EU battery demand in 2027 compared with the current baseline. The group's director for sustainable investments and batteries, Xavier Sol, said a strong local value chain could deliver strategic independence and safeguard employment, but only if the IAA sends a clear political signal.

The bottleneck, according to T&E, is midstream: cathode active materials and their precursors. China controls up to 90 percent of global pCAM and CAM production capacity depending on chemistry, and 95 percent for LFP, the analysis says. T&E also published a map tracking cell and pCAM/CAM capacity across Europe, and called for a minimum Made-in-EU threshold for pCAM with trusted partners. The findings directly contradict recent claims by the car industry that local content criteria are too ambitious, T&E said.

Separately, the equipment side of the semiconductor supply chain is showing strain. ASML, Europe's largest company by market capitalisation at around $660 billion, said it sold "absolutely nothing" in Europe in 2026, with Europe accounting for 0 percent of revenue in the first two quarters, down from 1 percent in 2025 and 5 percent in 2024, according to Tom's Hardware on 25 September. Frank Heemskerk, ASML's executive vice president of public affairs, said Europe is not investing and no chip factories are being built, and called on EU authorities to create demand.

Energy costs hit industry across the board

The pressure is not confined to batteries and chips. The Financial Times reported on 1 October that EU steel exports have fallen by a fifth, with production at historic lows as the industry contends with soaring energy costs, according to a Newsquawk summary of the FT piece. The same day, the Atlantic Council published an analysis on making the EU's new industrial rulebook work for Central Europe. Rising energy commodity prices also weighed on German consumer sentiment, according to oEnergetice.cz on 1 October, while Germany ordered its state gas importer to replenish unusually low stocks, the same outlet reported. The European Commission is investigating how fuel prices can be reduced, Mobility Energy reported on 30 September.

For fleet operators, the calculus is straightforward. Marion Labatut of EDF said in a statement carried by CleanTechnica on 1 October that businesses are already electrifying heavy duty fleets and that maintaining ambitious CO2 standards will give companies confidence to keep investing. The EV100 members argue that electric trucks will save enough in fuel costs to offset higher purchase prices. Whether Brussels listens may depend on how the diesel squeeze develops in the coming weeks.