Stop 01 of 08 · Why trucks are different

What changes when the vehicle weighs 40 tonnes?

About 6 min · 3 questions ·

Tuesday
The situation

A long-haul driver checks a 40-tonne electric truck and its trailer at the depot. The battery is full: it charged overnight.

Today's route is 640 km, with one charging stop on the way.

The questionWhat makes charging a heavy truck different from charging a car?

One long-haul truckThe numbers of a heavy electric truck
Battery621kWh

installed, in three packs of 207 kWh

Range500km

without charging, internal test conditions

Energy per km1.2kWh

computed from battery and range

Average today300km

range of a battery electric truck

Battery and range of the eActros 600 as stated by its manufacturer; the average range across battery electric trucks from the IEA.

Depots first, roads next

The growth of electric trucks has focused on uses where distances are shorter and the trucks can rely on . For long-haul routes, public chargers suitable for heavy vehicles are becoming crucial. In Europe, trucks are expected to grow from around 5% of the electricity used by electric vehicles in 2025 to around 20% by 2035.

Three differences

  • Energy: a truck uses several times the energy of a car per kilometre, so every charge moves hundreds of kilowatt-hours.
  • Time: driving and rest rules set when a truck can stop (stop 02).
  • Space: a truck with a trailer needs a bay it can enter and leave, which few car chargers offer (stop 05).

Check your understanding

3 questions. Answer all of them to complete this stop. Each answer explains itself.

01Question 1 of 3

A truck has a 621 kWh battery and a range of 500 km. Roughly how much energy does it use per km?

02Question 2 of 3

Where has the growth of electric trucks focused so far?

03Question 3 of 3

What share of the electricity used by electric vehicles in Europe are trucks expected to take by 2035?

Further in other paths

  1. Fleet charging · Stop 01What changes when a fleet goes electric?How far vans have gone electric, and what changes for a company when energy comes from a plug instead of a pump.
  1. Daimler Truck: Megawatt charging in long-haul endurance test: Mercedes-Benz Trucks sends eActros 600 from Germany to Sweden, press release of 20 January 2026. https://www.daimlertruck.com/en/newsroom/pressrelease/megawatt-charging-in-long-haul-endurance-test-mercedes-benz-trucks-sends-eactros-600-from-germany-to-sweden-53327018. Checked 09 Oct 2026.
  2. IEA: Global EV Outlook 2026: Electric vehicle charging. https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2026/electric-vehicle-charging-chap-6-and-10. Checked 09 Oct 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.
  3. IEA: Global EV Outlook 2026: Electric vehicle charging. https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2026/electric-vehicle-charging-chap-6-and-10. Checked 09 Oct 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.
  4. IEA: Global EV Outlook 2026: Outlook for electric mobility, electricity demand. https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2026/outlook-for-electric-mobility-chap-9-11. Checked 09 Oct 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.
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