Are New Electric Entrants Serious Competition for European Truckmakers?

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European truckmakers face increasing competition as new players enter the heavy electric truck market offering performant products for cheaper.

Several new entrants, such as Tesla, BYD, SuperPanther and many others, have set their sights on the European electric truck market. Looking at vehicle prices, key specifications, and stated sales ambitions, we find that they are serious competitors to today’s major European truckmakers.

Key findings

After 100 years of dominating the European truck market, major manufacturers face new competition from overseas. We find that:

• Buying an e-truck from a new entrant lowers total cost of ownership by 12% compared to opting for an equivalent European model.
• Electric trucks from new entrants perform as well as European trucks on key metrics, though all truckmakers face trade-offs.
• New entrants hope to gain over a quarter of the e-truck market by 2030 if we take public statements on their production and export targets at face value.

To avoid losing ground and remain global market leaders, European truckmakers must accelerate electrification. This is best done by safeguarding the truck CO₂ standards and avoiding further weakening.

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News release from T&E.