IN Brief:
- DSV says it operates more than 400 heavy battery-electric trucks in Europe, a total also reported in 2025.
- The company’s 27 October operational account emphasises route selection, utilisation and access to charging.
- DSV is using its truck purchasing scale and investment in site charging to support smaller subcontracted operators.
DSV says battery-electric heavy trucks must be matched to suitable freight routes and charging schedules rather than treated as straightforward diesel replacements. In a 27 October discussion published by the International Road Transport Union (IRU), the group described how operating data, infrastructure investment and purchasing support can help transport companies deploy the technology. DSV currently reports more than 400 heavy-duty electric trucks in use across Europe.
That 400-plus total is not a newly announced batch of vehicles. DSV referred to the same scale in a November 2025 market update, when it also set out an ambition to operate 2,000 electric trucks by 2030. The latest development concerns the operating lessons from existing deployments, not confirmation that a further 400 trucks have been purchased or put into service this October.
Anders Rousing, DSV’s vice president for group operational sustainability, told IRU that operators who wait for every cost comparison to favour electricity may lack the experience to scale effectively when economic conditions change. Daily duty cycles determine whether a truck can charge at a depot, a customer facility or during an existing stop. Assigning an electric vehicle to a diesel timetable without examining dwell time and distance can create missed collection windows and reduce productive journeys.
Range has improved as battery-electric truck designs develop. Rousing said early models generally offered around 200–250 km, compared with current trucks reaching 400–500 km or more. Those are broad market observations, not measured range guarantees for every DSV vehicle. Laden weight, speed, temperature, terrain and auxiliary loads affect energy use. Route planners therefore need sufficient reserve capacity for delays and diversions rather than treating nominal range as the full usable daily distance.
Total cost of ownership depends on how much work the vehicle completes. A higher purchase price can be spread over more kilometres when the truck is deployed reliably, while time spent parked for charging affects collections and delivery capacity. Electricity tariffs, equipment maintenance, finance charges and investment in charging infrastructure also enter the calculation. Operating economics can consequently differ between two carriers using the same truck model but different contract schedules and depot arrangements.
DSV is installing charging infrastructure at its own sites, aiming to make electrification more accessible to subcontractors that cannot finance a dedicated depot installation for one or two vehicles. Host-site chargers can reduce the need for individual investment, provided transport partners can book reliable access and their routes bring trucks to the site at suitable times. The group has not disclosed uniform charging prices or guaranteed charger availability for every haulier in its network.
The company also aggregates vehicle demand when negotiating with manufacturers. Combining purchasing requirements may give smaller transport providers access to terms that are difficult to secure independently, although the interview does not provide a published discount rate or individual financing packages. Since much freight is moved using subcontracted capacity, access to vehicles and infrastructure has to extend beyond DSV’s directly controlled operations for the approach to affect the wider network.
Rousing expects another generation of trucks around 2027–2028 to improve performance as production volumes grow, but he does not anticipate a single Europe-wide moment of cost parity. Electricity and vehicle prices, grid connections, toll concessions and taxation vary between markets. A regional operation with predictable overnight charging may reach a viable cost position at a different time from an international route dependent on public charging and multiple road-toll systems.
The transport group is examining several lower-emission options, including battery-electric vehicles, biogas, hydrogen and hydrotreated vegetable oil. The commercially suitable technology depends on the route, available fuel or energy supply and how the vehicle is contracted. Using different options does not make their emissions profiles interchangeable; lifecycle carbon accounting and fuel provenance still need to be considered when customers compare freight services.
Customer demand is another variable in the deployment plan. Rousing described some DSV customers treating lower-emission transport as an existing purchasing requirement, others testing options and others still unwilling to pay more. The same electric truck can therefore face different commercial conditions depending on the contract, even if the physical route is workable. An agreed premium is distinct from lower energy costs and must be assessed separately.
DSV’s decarbonisation roadmap targets reductions by 2030 of 50% in Scope 1 and 2 emissions and 30% in Scope 3 emissions against a 2019 baseline. Road freight purchased from subcontractors is relevant to its wider indirect emissions, making commercial arrangements with those carriers part of the programme. The company’s October account identifies a practical sequence: gather operating evidence on suitable routes, provide dependable charging access and expand deployments where the full cost and service requirements can be met.
