How Truck Tolls Impact Transport Costs and Push the Green Transition Forward
Market Monday - Week 20 - Calculating toll shares and BEV benefits in road transport
The road tolls for heavy trucks were always an important part of the transport cost calculations. For carriers and shippers alike, tolls are a growing concern, as they are now used not only to fund infrastructure construction and maintenance, but also to support and stimulate greener alternatives to using fossil fuels as the primary energy source for transportation. Over the last 5 years, toll costs for heavy trucks increased by approximately by 43% on average in Europe.
The majority of the changes we see in recent years stem from the implementation of the revised Eurovignette Directive. While the directive mandates CO2-differentiated tolls across the EU to incentivise cleaner vehicles, our Q2 2026 research reveals a heavily fragmented picture. Despite widespread formal adoption, the real-world impact of these environmental incentives is concentrated in one large “island”.
Overall, toll costs represent a substantial share of operational expenses for European transport operators, but the burden is distributed unevenly. Based on the current Q2 2026 Total Cost of Ownership model figures, toll cost shares are the highest in Central European regions. Switzerland leads with tolls accounting for a massive 28% of total transport costs, followed closely by Austria and Hungary at 22%. Germany currently sits at 16%, while France and Italy maintain steady shares of 14% and 13%, respectively. In many other nations, the result is still in single digits or negligible. Baseline is also actively shifting. By Q3 2026, the Netherlands and Romania will introduce new tolling systems, expanding the map of active systems with per km fees. More countries are expected to follow over the next few years.
However, looking at raw toll costs only tells half the story; the true market disruptor is how some of these toll networks penalise diesel-fueled trucks and reward zero-emission alternatives.
The underlying premise of CO2-differentiated tolling is straightforward: pollute less, pay less. For Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) and other environmentally friendly engines, toll exemptions and steep discounts are meant to bridge the upfront purchase price gap compared to diesel trucks. Translating this policy into viable financial incentives has resulted in distinct core clusters in Europe, consisting of DACH countries and Denmark, with the Netherlands and the Flanders region of Belgium joining it soon.
As highlighted on the map, “Significant Impact” markets show real-world financial leverage, tipping the TCO scales in favour of a zero-emission truck with a clear financial advantage of 10 cents/km or more.
Germany serves as the prime example. Following the introduction of its aggressive CO2 surcharge in late 2023, toll costs for diesel trucks rose sharply, while fully electric trucks are exempt from the federal highway toll at least until mid-2031.
Austria has similarly integrated CO2 emission classes into its GO-Maut system, granting zero-emission vehicles profound rate reductions compared to more polluting engine types. Switzerland’s heavy vehicle fee also structurally favours emission-free setups, as do Denmark's recent tolling overhauls. The upcoming Q3 2026 distance-based system in the Netherlands echoes these aggressive strategies, establishing Northwestern and Central Europe as the primary zones where BEV deployment yields massive operational savings. And that shows in the latest data on new registrations of electric trucks, which reached double-digit share of all new heavy truck registrations in some of those countries, according to the Q1 2026 data from ACEA.
Outside of this high-impact core, the economic argument for BEVs based on toll savings weakens considerably. The map of toll impact highlights several countries where CO2 differentiation offers only “Minor Impact” or none at all.
For example, Sweden has formally adopted CO2 differentiation to comply with the Eurovignette framework. However, because the country lacks an EUR per km tolling system for heavy trucks on its general road network, relying instead on time-based Eurovignette, the actual financial benefit for operating a zero-emission truck remains negligible.
Similarly, Eastern European markets exhibit muted incentives, albeit for different reasons. In Poland, where road tolls still account for a low share of total freight costs, even a generous discount for a BEV fails to yield enough absolute savings to justify the heavy capital investment required for an electric truck. Hungary presents a unique paradox: despite having a very high overall toll cost share, the structural incentives and CO2 discount scaling for BEVs remain too low to dramatically disrupt the TCO balance between diesel and electric options.
As we progress through 2026, the European freight map is effectively splitting into two tiers. For operators running intensive routes through this “core” region, the transition of parts of their network to BEV operations is not only a “nice to have” sustainability goal – it is a critical commercial advantage, only exacerbated now by diesel price increases.
Meanwhile, in countries with low tolls or mere Eurovignette baseline CO2 compliance like Poland, Sweden, and Hungary, the shift toward zero-emission freight will likely bring the introduction of new policies, direct purchase subsidies, or customer-driven CO2-reduction goals. Fleet managers must increasingly adapt their vehicle deployment and route-planning strategies not just to A/B flows but also to the boundaries of these new toll-impact clusters.
Oleksandr Kulish
Senior Consultant
Trimble Transportation (Transporeon)