Will the truck make the route?
Enter the route, the load and the weather. The planner works out how much energy the truck uses, whether it gets there, and where and how long it has to charge. It is built on real-world data: 19 electric trucks measured in daily use in Germany by the Öko-Institut.
- Energy per km
- For the route
- Range on this charge
- Arrival charge
The same route in every season
How far this truck gets on the charge you set, with the same load and speed, on a flat road.
| Temperature | Energy per km | Range | Makes the route? |
|---|
How the planner calculates
- Energy per kilometre comes from the Öko-Institut’s measurements of 19 Mercedes-Benz eActros trucks at five German transport companies, 2023 to early 2025. Their model: every 10 °C colder adds 0.13 kWh per km, every 10 tonnes more weight adds 0.18 kWh per km, and a low average speed with many stops costs a lot more. A cooling unit added 0.092 kWh per km.
- Hills are counted with physics: lifting the truck costs energy, and going down gives half of that back through braking with the motor. That half is our own, careful assumption. The Öko-Institut’s own hill figure only holds for its short regional trips.
- Charging stops fall in the breaks the EU driving rules require: 45 minutes after at most 4.5 hours of driving. During a stop the truck charges on average at 80% of the lower of the charger’s and the truck’s power, because a charge slows down as the battery fills. That is our assumption too.
- The reserve is what you want left on arrival. Never plan to arrive empty.
How far to trust it. The trucks in the study were rigid trucks in regional delivery, mostly at 40–60 km/h and between −7 and 36 °C. For a 40-tonne tractor at motorway speed the model gives about 1.2 to 1.4 kWh per km between 20 and 0 °C, which is within what the ICCT measured on 91 European tractor-trailers (0.92 to 1.50). Treat the result as a careful first estimate, and check it with your truck maker’s own route tool before you plan on it.
Sources: Öko-Institut, Real-world data analysis of battery electric trucks operating in Germany, 21 July 2025 (Table 4-2 and section 4.1.5); ICCT, real-world use of zero-emission tractor-trailers in the EU, 6 August 2025; EU driving and rest times: Regulation (EC) 561/2006. Battery and charging figures from the truck sheets. Checked 26 September 2026.