Europe needs around 35% of new truck registrations to be battery-electric or hydrogen-powered by 2030 to meet its CO2 targets, highlighting the scale of the transition ahead.
Europe’s truck industry may have the technology ready, but adoption of zero-emission vehicles remains far behind the levels required to meet the region’s 2030 CO2 targets, according to Daimler Truck CEO Karin Rådström.
Only around 2% of all trucks registered in Europe in 2025 were electric, Rådström said, even as manufacturers have significantly expanded their zero-emission portfolios. More than 60 electric zero-emission truck models and over 25 zero-emission bus models are now available in the market across Daimler Truck and its competitors.
Europe's Zero-Emission Truck Targets: From 2% to 35%
The challenge is the speed at which that technology now needs to scale.
“Despite this, only 2% of all registered trucks in Europe were electric in 2025,” Rådström said. “To achieve the EU’s 2030 CO2 targets, we need around 35% of all newly registered trucks in Europe to be battery-electric or hydrogen driven by the end of this decade.”
That means Europe needs to move from roughly one electric truck for every 50 registrations to more than one zero-emission truck for every three new registrations by the end of the decade.
Daimler Truck's €1.2 Billion Risk From Missing CO2 Targets
For Daimler Truck, missing the transition also carries a potentially significant financial consequence. Rådström said every percentage point by which the company misses its CO2 target could cost around €120 million. A 10-percentage-point miss would therefore translate to roughly €1.2 billion.
Charging and Hydrogen Infrastructure Still Lag Behind
The numbers underline a wider concern for European commercial vehicle manufacturers: bringing electric and hydrogen trucks to market alone will not be enough to achieve the mandated transition.
Scaling zero-emission trucking will also depend on factors beyond vehicle manufacturers, including charging and hydrogen infrastructure, availability of grid connections and the economics of operating these vehicles for fleet customers.
For Europe, the gap between 2% in 2025 and around 35% by 2030 is therefore becoming as much an ecosystem challenge as a vehicle technology challenge.
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