Europe's leading commercial vehicle manufacturers, represented by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), today delivered a stark warning to EU policymakers in Brussels. The group formally requested that the European Commission advance its statutory review of heavy-duty vehicle CO2 standards from 2027 to early 2025, citing a catastrophic shortfall in electric charging and hydrogen refueling infrastructure.
Under current EU regulations, truck manufacturers must reduce fleet emissions by 45% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels. However, industry chiefs from Volvo Group, Daimler Truck, Scania, and MAN warned that zero-emission truck sales cannot scale without public charging infrastructure.
The Critical Infrastructure Gap
ACEA data revealed that Europe currently possesses fewer than 600 dedicated public charging points suitable for heavy trucks, whereas meeting the 2030 target requires at least 50,000 public chargers, including at least 35,000 megawatt charging systems (MCS).
Furthermore, grid connection delays for commercial transport depots across Germany, the Netherlands, and France now exceed 36 months, preventing logistics operators from electrifying regional distribution fleets.
“Our industry is ready with zero-emission trucks, but we cannot sell them to hauliers who have nowhere to plug them in. Without rapid infrastructure delivery, manufacturers face catastrophic compliance fines.”
Demanding a Coordinated Industrial Masterplan
The manifesto urges EU transport ministers to tie CO2 targets directly to verifiable infrastructure deployment benchmarks through an annual monitoring mechanism.
The European Commission acknowledged receipt of the ACEA position paper, noting that the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) mandates binding national installation targets for member states.
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