The Nordic pair illustrates a lesson fleets should internalise: the label “CO₂-differentiated toll” means nothing without a distance-based system to attach it to. Denmark has one; Sweden does not — and their electric truck economics diverge accordingly.

Denmark. From 2025 Denmark replaced the Eurovignette with a distance-based, CO₂-differentiated truck toll covering the state road network: low- and zero-emission trucks pay materially lower per-kilometre rates than diesel, creating a genuine operating-cost wedge on Danish mileage. Denmark complements this with one of Europe’s most research-literate fleet communities — Danish studies quantified the depot-versus-public charging gap (0.75–1.07 DKK/kWh at the depot versus ≈3.00 DKK/kWh public, a five-year six-figure difference per truck) and the winter range penalty (20–30%) that any Nordic business case must carry. Copenhagen’s municipal ambitions and the country’s high, largely renewable electricity share add structural tailwind.

Sweden. Sweden formally adopted CO₂ differentiation to comply with the Eurovignette framework — but its heavy-truck charging on the general road network remains time-based, so the per-kilometre financial benefit of driving electric is negligible today. The Swedish incentive story therefore runs through other channels: energy and climate investment support programmes that come and go in budget cycles, a strong domestic OEM presence (Volvo and Scania electrification creates a natural home-market evidence base), and municipal low-emission initiatives. For TCO purposes, Swedish fleets currently buy electric on energy-cost savings and corporate commitments rather than on a toll differential — which keeps Swedish adoption concentrated in the same depot-distribution segment, home-turf OEMs overrepresented.

WattTonne’s read. Cross-Nordic fleets should register and plan around the reality that Danish kilometres now reward electric directly and Swedish ones mostly don’t — duty allocation across the Øresund matters. Watch Swedish toll reform debates: any move to distance-based charging would instantly re-rate the Swedish case, and Swedish industry (which sells the trucks) has every incentive to lobby for it.