- A German study found that the vast majority of electric truck operators are extremely satisfied with their vehicles.
- Owners reported high reliability, high driving comfort, and low operating costs.
- The respondents include 57 companies that own over 300 electric trucks in total.
Electric trucking is slowly but surely picking up pace, and a new survey from Germany now shows that there are significant benefits to switching over to battery-powered big rigs.
The German Institute for Applied Ecology (Oko-Institut) reached out to 57 companies that have used electric trucks for over a year, and the results are very promising. The operators, who own over 300 electric trucks in total, said they’re “extremely satisfied” with their purchases, and that EV big rigs are expected to be largely the standard by 2030.
Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 (2024)
Per the study, 93% of owners are satisfied or very satisfied with electric trucks. They mentioned that the high reliability, high driving comfort, and cost savings were the main benefits of switching to electric power, but some challenges remain.
The high initial purchase price, as well as the complications associated with the expansion of the grid connection, were the main negative points. Installing charging infrastructure at depots is likely a big part of the headache, especially since big trucks require hugely powerful chargers.
On average, the grid connection at the surveyed companies’ depots stands at a whopping 1,115 kilowatts. Meanwhile, the average installed charging power came out at 629 kW for 40 of the companies included in the survey. That said, the operators still praised the low electricity costs and said that being exempt from paying costly road tolls is a major prerequisite for increasing the fleet.
In roughly 40% of the surveyed companies, 40% of their electric truck fleets cover over 310 miles (500 kilometers) every day. Overall, the average daily mileage for EV trucks amounted to 268 miles (432 km), with the fleet operators running everything from 3.5-metric-ton vans to 18-ton long-haul big rigs.
When it comes to technical problems, the study revealed that electric trucks are considered somewhat more reliable than diesel vehicles by the companies. Out of all the companies, 32% said that issues popped up just as often, while 16% said there were significantly fewer issues. Meanwhile, 18% of the respondents said that problems occurred more often, and 7% said they occurred significantly more often.
Charging at these companies is done predominantly at their depots, with less than 5% of charging sessions taking place at public chargers for trucks. That’s because public charging stations usually lack the necessary space for big trucks. High prices and a lack of cost transparency were also quoted by truck operators as making life harder for them.
All this being said, 93% of these early adopters expect electric trucks to be the standard vehicle type in their companies by 2030.
The survey was fielded in the winter of 2025-2026, with 60 complete online surveys conducted with transportation companies that have been using heavy electric trucks for at least one year. Out of these, 57 could be included in the analysis. Oko-Institut said the target group included companies that were customers of Daimler Truck. The company sells Mercedes-Benz-branded trucks in Europe, including the eActros, eEconic, and eArocs.
