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The UK’s slow uptake of electric trucks is being held back by high energy costs that add around £90,000 to the lifetime running cost of a battery-electric HGV compared with mainland Europe, Renault Trucks’ UK MD has warned.
Carlos Rodrigues, Renault Trucks UK & Ireland MD, said the economics of running an electric truck in Britain are “simply not competitive”, leaving the market stuck at around 1% BEV uptake in 2025, the equivalent of roughly 500 vehicles.
“It’s quite depressing, being brutally honest,” Rodrigues said. “We have been pushing hard, on this agenda and it’s not by lack of effort, but the market is below 1%…”
He contrasted the UK’s performance with several European markets that have achieved far higher BEV penetration for heavy trucks, with 3% in Belgium, more than 7% across Scandinavia, 9% in the Netherlands and traditionally anti-truck Switzerland at 16.5%.
“It’s almost tenfold what we have in the UK in some cases,” Rodrigues said.
“They have the same issues – infrastructure, roads, bridges – but they have taken a more pragmatic, joined-up approach. [We need] cheap electricity for our transport sector, to accelerate the take-up of electric vehicles.”
Rodrigues added that technology is no longer the main barrier, citing the recent launch of the Renault Trucks E-Tech T540 with a range of up to 450km and the E-Tech T770 with a claimed range of 600km. Rodrigues argues that manufacturers have responded to government’s demands, but the onus has been on them to meet decarbonisation targets without creating enough “pull” from the market.
“When we speak to fleets, they clearly are engaged. They clearly want to do it, but I’m back to business case, and there are quite a number of barriers today which we are fighting against, and we need help.”
“Why are the large companies on infrastructure not investing? Because they have uncertainty. We need to reach that tipping point where the market accelerates. Until you reach that tipping point, it’s just not happening,” Rodrigues added.
