Europe’s freight is going electric. Weigh it before you buy it.
WattTonne is the independent media platform for electric heavy trucks. We give fleet owners, shippers and 3PL executives the verified evidence — vehicle files, TCO models, subsidy rules, charging-vs-swapping analysis — to make the diesel-to-electric call with confidence. No OEM owns our conclusions.
Decision tools, not press releases
Eight products built around one question: what does a fleet decision-maker need to see before signing an electric truck order?
Vehicle dossiers
Every e-truck on sale (or coming) in Europe: homologation status, delivery record, battery and warranty terms, service network, measured consumption. Evidence only — never for sale.
TCO Calculator
Total cost, your numbers
Diesel vs charging vs swapping, parameterised with BE/NL/DE/FR subsidies, CO₂-graded tolls and energy prices.
Subsidy Watch
27 countries, tracked
Purchase grants, toll exemptions and charging funding across the EU — updated when rules change, not when budgets allow.
Route Analysis
Charging vs swapping
Duty-cycle by duty-cycle: where megawatt charging wins, where battery swap pays, where neither does yet.
Field Tests
Measured, not claimed
Winter range, payload penalty and charging curves — measured on real routes, with an open method. Recruiting pilot fleets now.
China Briefing
The other market
What 53.9% monthly penetration looks like: price wars, swap networks, WVTA pipelines — translated for European decision-makers.
Newsletter
Five minutes, weekly
The week in electric trucking for people who sign purchase orders. English master; NL/DE/FR editions follow.
Buyer’s Guide
One reference, annually
Our flagship: one independent reference document for the diesel-to-electric decision. Free summary, data edition to subscribers.
What moved the market
EU zero-emission HDV sales up 15% in H1 2026 — heavy-truck share reaches 2.3%
ICCT’s half-year tally: ~14,300 zero-emission trucks, vans, buses and coaches registered in the EU, with zero-emission heavy-truck registrations rising from ~1,900 to ~3,400 and market share hitting 2.3%. Growth stays concentrated in buses and medium-duty — the heavy-truck climb is the story to watch.
EU e-truck registrations up 47.7% in H1 2026 — share still only 4.8%
ACEA’s half-year figures confirm acceleration on a small base: diesel still holds 92.1% of the EU truck market. Growth is concentrated in Germany, the Netherlands and France.
CATL and Octopus Energy form 50:50 battery-swap venture for UK and Europe
The Swaptopus JV combines Qiji swap hardware with Kraken energy trading; first UK super-hubs targeted for 2027. The charging-vs-swapping debate just got a serious second contender.
EU Council adopts “staircase” amendment: −15% frozen to 2029, −45% from 2030
The compliance cliff moves to 2030 — which makes 2026–2029 the preparation window for every European fleet, not a reason to wait.
Germany approves €1.6bn electric-truck charging programme
Federal funding for depot and motorway MCS charging, alongside toll exemptions for battery-electric and fuel-cell trucks, hardens Germany’s position as Europe’s e-truck anchor market.
Independent — and we put it in writing
WattTonne is free for fleets and funded by clearly-labelled advertising from the supply side. Our three firewalls: advertising and editorial are run by separate people; sponsored content is always marked; vehicle assessments are never sold and never pre-approved by manufacturers. Affiliations of our holding group — including commercial relationships with truck OEMs and battery-swap providers — are disclosed on our About page and next to relevant coverage.
The WattTonne Weekly
Five minutes every Monday: what changed, what it costs, what to do about it. For fleet owners, shippers and 3PL executives in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and France.