ICCT zero-emission 2025 truck market report: ZE registrations grow especially in the light-duty segment
Over 23,700 new zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles (ZE-HDVs) were registered in Europe in 2025. They were about 10,000 in the first half of the year. In the heavy-duty segment, the share of ZE trucks was about 1.9% (2.7% in the last quarter of 2025). The share of ZE medium-duty trucks was slightly above 20%.
The ICCT (International Council on Clean Transportation) have recently issued their report on zero-emission trucks and vans registrations in Europe: here’s the full report, available for download. The report deals with the entire 2025. Here you can find a similar article related to the first half of the year. To sum up, the report highlights quite a strong growth of zero-emission medium- and light-duty vehicle registrations in Europe, while the share of electric heavy-duty trucks is still quite low in the Old Continent. Let’s see the details.
Over 23,700 new zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles (ZE-HDVs) were registered in Europe in 2025. They were about 10,000 in the first half of the year. ZE trucks (with a weight above 3.5 tonnes) had a sales share of 4.5% in 2025, compared to 2.5% in 2024. As for the truck manufacturers, Mercedes had a remarkable year in the ZE heavy truck (12+ tonne) segment. Sales of its eActros took off in Q3 and Q4 of 2025. According to the ICCT, in the latter half of 2025 alone, Mercedes sold 1,400 ZE heavy trucks in Europe.
All the infographics here are provided by the ICCT
The heavy-duty truck market (above 12 tons)
In 2025, 263,000 heavy trucks were sold in the European Union (EU-27), of which close to 5,000 were zero-emission vehicles—a 1.9% share, up from 1.2% the previous year. The sales share of ZE heavy trucks in Q4 2025 was 2.7%. A tightening of CO2 standards likely drove this increase in sales: trucks first registered between Q3 2025 and Q2 2026 must emit 15% less CO2 than those first registered between Q3 2019 and Q2 2020.
A 2025 ICCT report found that Mercedes was one of the only manufacturers not on track to meet these targets—other manufacturers had focused more heavily on CO2 reducing technologies for their internal combustion engine vehicles. Meanwhile, the sales share of ZE heavy trucks remained broadly stagnant throughout 2025 for all other major manufacturers, with Renault Trucks hovering around 3%, Volvo Trucks around 2%, and all others between 0% and 1%. As for the countries involved, sales of ZE heavy trucks were particularly high in Q4 2025 in the Netherlands (320 sales, representing a 14% sales share), Sweden (120 sales, 8.4%), and Denmark (110 sales, 16%). The uptake of ZE heavy trucks was also considerable in Austria and Greece in Q4 2025.
Medium-duty trucks and vans (between 3.5 and 12 tons)
In 2025, 42,800 medium trucks and vans were sold in the EU-27, of which 9,000 were zero-emission vehicles—a 21% share, up from 10% the previous year. Sales of ZE medium trucks and vans increased 10-fold over the past 3 years, from 900 in 2022, up to 9,000 in 2025. This growth was overwhelmingly concentrated in the van sector: over 50% of van sales were ZE in 2025, compared to just 3% of medium truck sales.
According to the ICCT, “considering that trucks make up nearly two thirds of vehicle sales in the medium truck and van sector, and that the availability of ZE medium truck models is limited, this rate of growth may start to plateau in the coming years. However, most vehicles with a gross vehicle weight between 5 and 12 tonnes will be required to reduce their average CO2 emissions by 43% by 2030 relative to 2025, which may yet drive more ZE models to the market in the coming years”.
Looking at the countries, zero-emission sales shares remained particularly high in Q4 2025 across the northern European countries of the Netherlands (72%), Sweden (63%), and Denmark (66%). The sales share dropped slightly in Germany to 26%, from 34% in Q3 2025.
