EVwire brief: Zero-emission heavy truck sales in the EU grew by close to 65% in the first nine months of 2026, according to the ICCT's latest European heavy-duty market spotlight. That's while the overall heavy-truck segment grew by only about 7%.
Some 5,038 battery-electric and fuel-cell trucks above 12 tonnes (26,500 lb) were sold in the EU from January to September, a 2.5% share, up from 3,087 units and 1.6% a year earlier. Across all heavy-duty segments, including medium trucks, vans and buses, the EU registered about 22,100 zero-emission vehicles, up roughly 35%.
This edition also adds the UK, Norway, Switzerland and Iceland to the ICCT's tracking, and Switzerland comes out on top. Nearly one in four heavy trucks sold there from January to September was zero-emission.
Here’s the ICCT’s report:
Switzerland leads Europe's heavy-truck switch
Here's how the ICCT's zero-emission heavy-truck shares compare across Europe's top markets for Q1–Q3 2026, with units sold in parentheses:
Switzerland: 23.4% (627), up from 14.2%
Norway: 14.4% (446), up from 8.7%
Netherlands: 11.3% (1,048), up from 7.8%
Denmark: 10.0% (272), up from 5.6%
Sweden: 9.8% (392), up from 6.9%
Iceland: 7.6% (14), up from 2.2%
Austria: 5.9% (300), up from 2.6%
Germany: 4.0% (1,813), up from 2.2%
France: 2.8% (774), up from 2.0%
UK: 2.2% (261), up from 2.1%
Switzerland leads Europe with a 23.4% zero-emission share of heavy-truck sales.
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Norway still ranks second over the nine months, but the Netherlands (19.7%) and Denmark (15.6%) edged past it in Q3 alone, with Norway at 15.2%. Mulholland noted that Norway leads, though not to the same extent as in its car market.
Eamonn Mulholland, a heavy-duty vehicles senior researcher at the ICCT, pointed to Switzerland's result in a LinkedIn post on the findings:
Switzerland is the best buyer of electric heavy trucks by share, with nearly one-in-four +12t trucks sold without a tailpipe.
Mulholland credited Switzerland's LSVA heavy-vehicle distance charge for much of that lead. Under the toll, a Euro 6 diesel truck pays about €0.50 per km (about $0.90 per mile), while an electric truck pays nothing. Germany and the Netherlands still did the most volume, together making up over half of the EU's zero-emission heavy-truck sales. Germany's total doubled year-over-year, while the Netherlands grew by close to 30%.
In France, the zero-emission share more than doubled to 4.0% (321 units) in Q3, up from 1.8% a year earlier. The ICCT tied that jump to the Energy Savings Certificates (CEE) scheme, which since June 1 has offered incentives of over €100,000 (about $112,000) for new electric tractors assembled in the European Economic Area.
Mercedes and MAN lead the makers
On the manufacturer side, the ICCT's EU figures for Q1–Q3 2026 show:
Mercedes: close to 2,000 zero-emission heavy trucks, up from about 1,000, still the segment leader
MAN: 924, close to a fourfold increase, now the second-largest seller
Volvo: 568, down close to 30% after placing second in Q1–Q3 2025
DAF: 451, up from 83
Iveco: 108, up from 10, the largest relative increase
Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 trucks. Mercedes remains the EU's top seller of zero-emission heavy trucks, with close to 2,000 sold in Q1–Q3 2026. Image: Daimler Trucks
Vans and buses are further ahead
Zero-emission models already hold much bigger shares in the lighter and passenger segments, according to the ICCT:
Medium trucks and vans (3.5 to 12 tonnes, or 7,700 to 26,500 lb): 7,826 EU sales for a 21.0% share, up from 6,381 and 17.7%. About half were sold in Germany (3,809 units, 26.9%).
Leaders in that segment: the Netherlands at 71.0%, Denmark at 65.7% (79.5% in Q3 alone), Sweden at 59.3% and Iceland at 56.2%. The UK sold 2,974 units for an 18.1% share.
Mercedes' eSprinter made up about 4 in 10 zero-emission medium trucks and vans sold in the EU, followed by the Ford E-Transit at about 2 in 10 and the Iveco eDaily at about 1 in 10.
Buses and coaches: 9,217 zero-emission EU sales for a 27.7% share, up from 6,807. The Netherlands hit 89.4% in Q3, while Greece jumped to 73.5% in Q3 on a 125-bus Yutong order for Athens.
Here's how the EU's three zero-emission heavy-duty segments compare year-over-year:
Zero-emission sales rose in all three EU heavy-duty segments, with buses and coaches at a 27.7% share.
And here's where zero-emission medium trucks and vans have taken hold across Europe:
The Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden already sell a majority of their medium trucks and vans as zero-emission models.
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Context:
Europe's electric heavy-truck market is still small next to China's. Chinese buyers took 33,100 electric heavy trucks in September alone for a 50.3% share, as we reported last week, while ACEA data put Europe's share of trucks over 16 tonnes at 2.7% for January to September.
Charging remains one of the bigger gaps. The ICCT has estimated that electric trucks in Europe could need about 100 TWh of charging a year by 2035, and dedicated sites are starting to appear, from Fastned's truck charging lanes on the Dutch A58 to Electroway's truck charging hub in the UK.
The UK is roughly keeping pace with the European average, according to Mulholland, despite expensive electricity and CO2 targets that are lower than in the EU. He pointed to sizeable funding from the Department for Transport's ZEHID program as one driver of new truck charging sites. The UK's zero-emission heavy-truck sales fell to 261 units from 314 a year earlier, however, even as its share edged up to 2.2%.
Source: ICCT, Eamonn Mulholland on LinkedIn
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