eTRUCKTCO
Business case · energy cost per kilometre

Does charging cost less than diesel?

Diesel at the pump against power at the meter is the comparison that makes electric trucks look best, and neither number is what a haulier pays. Here it is done three ways, for eleven countries and twenty trucks: as it is usually shown, with diesel as a haulier really pays it, and with power as it costs at the charger. Then the extra price of the truck goes on top.

Pick a country and a truck and set your own figures. Every chart and every number below is worked out from them, with weekly diesel prices from the European Commission since January 2022.

Your figures
What your fuel card or bulk contract takes off the pump price, before VAT. Nobody publishes it; ask your own card company.
30 in the business case. A new truck on a steady motorway run uses less.
At the wheels, 1.10 in the business case. Winter, hills and full loads push it up.
Fewer trucks share the grid connection and the chargers, so each pays more. From 20 trucks, as in the business case.
The charts: diesel against electricity three ways, then the truck
⛽ Diesel as a haulier pays it (pump price less VAT, and less the professional refund where a country has one) ⛽ Diesel at the pump, VAT included The same diesel figure in the other countries 🔌 Electricity for your depot 🔌 Blue band: the other countries (charts 1–2), charger quotes (chart 3) 🔌 Public truck charger The diesel price you chose 🚚 Extra price of the electric truck, per km green/red: cheaper / more expensive than diesel
Every country side by side
Chart 3 for every country · click a country to see it in full above
How each line is worked out

    This page follows the argument Jason Roycht (Meridius) made about Tesla’s Semi chart in the United States: no fleet pays the pump price, and no truck charges at the meter. Here it is done the European way, with VAT back and the professional diesel refund where a country has one.

    • Diesel: European Commission, Weekly Oil Bulletin, pump prices with all taxes, every week since 3 January 2022 (Commission page); newer weeks from our diesel prices archive. Switzerland is not in the bulletin: its price is the one in our data.
    • VAT, what a haulier deducts, and the professional refunds: diesel and VAT per country.
    • Depot and public charging prices per country, and the charger cost per truck by fleet size: the same figures as the business case, each with its note there.
    • Truck prices: the truck sheets, every price with its source.