e⚡TruckTCO
Business case · stress test · eleven countries

How much may electricity cost, even without the Iran war and without toll breaks?

Today two things help every electric truck: diesel is expensive since the Iran war, and in many countries an electric truck pays little or no road toll. Neither is certain to last. So we take both away, and ask one question: what is the most a kWh of electricity may cost for an electric truck to stay cheaper than diesel over five years? Then we hold that against what a company pays at its own depot and at Milence. Put the tailwinds back one at a time with the switches below.

Diesel
What a transport company really pays per litre in each country: the pump price, less the VAT it gets back and the diesel tax some countries refund to hauliers. Before the war is February 2026; today is this week’s price from the European Commission.
Charging
At the depot: your own chargers, at the electricity price a company pays in each country. At Milence: its public truck-charging price in each country, and no chargers of your own to buy. Where Milence has no hub, the nearest truck price (see the table in section 1).
Toll
No toll breaks: no truck pays any toll, so the electric truck saves none. With exemptions: the tolls as they stand, where an electric truck pays less or nothing, until each break ends.

In short

Calculating…

Running the business case for eleven countries and twenty trucks…

1The most a kWh may cost, country by country

For one truck, the highest electricity price in €/kWh at which it is still cheaper than a diesel truck over five years, . The black line is what a company pays at its own depot, the orange line what Milence charges. Green: the truck clears the price you chose above.

depot priceMilence price

Five years, the business case’s careful defaults, and a diesel tractor at €120k. Diesel is cheapest for a transport company in Belgium (part of the excise is refunded) and most expensive in Switzerland and Denmark, so that is where a kWh may cost the least and the most.

The prices behind it, per country, as chosen above:

A transport company gets the VAT on diesel back, and Belgium and France also refund part of the diesel tax to hauliers, so it pays less than the pump price. Electricity prices are in €/kWh, without VAT. At the depot that is everything on the bill: the energy, the grid charges and the taxes, as this site’s business case uses it for each country. Truck-hub prices checked on .

2Twenty trucks: the most each may pay for a kWh

Per truck and per country, the highest electricity price in €/kWh at which the truck is still cheaper than a diesel tractor doing the same kilometres over five years, . The first row is the price it actually pays, as chosen above. Each truck drives the kilometres its range allows: more kilometres, more diesel saved, so it can afford more per kWh.

€0.15 or more above the price paid€0.05–0.15 aboveup to €0.05 aboveup to €0.05 below€0.05–0.15 belowmore than €0.15 below, or not even with free electricity (—)

estimate marks a price or range the maker has not published: see section 4. Range is the maker’s figure; kilometres a year are 80% of it, 230 days a year.

3And today, for comparison

The same groups with this week’s diesel price, charging at the depot and the tolls an electric truck saves. The difference shows how much each group depends on those tailwinds:

4What to keep in mind

Most Chinese prices are our estimate. Nine of the ten Chinese makers have published no European price. We use €224k: Reuters reported in March 2026 that Chinese makers aim to sell up to 30% below the European average of €320,000. BYD is expected at about €250k. Windrose publishes its price (€198k). A higher quote means the truck can afford less per kWh: see “In short”.

Range counts. We take 80% of the maker’s range as what a truck really covers in a day, all year round, and 230 working days with one full charge a day at the depot. A truck with more range does more kilometres a year, and every kilometre driven electric instead of diesel saves money. A truck that also charges during the driver’s break can do more still.

Price is not everything. Ask where the truck is serviced, how fast parts arrive and what it will be worth later. See aftersales and residual value.

One or two charges a day, today or before the war: kilometres a year. Any truck in detail: electric truck or diesel, country by country. Every toll rate behind it: truck tolls, diesel against electric.

Sources