In German logistics and freight transport, a significant share of company management believes its drivers are wary of electric trucks. According to a survey carried out by Oko Institute on the German market, 59% of corporate decision-makers believe battery-electric vehicles are less appreciated by driving staff than traditional diesel vehicles. Only 23% of respondents think the two types of vehicle are viewed equally by drivers, while just 8% believe electric trucks are preferred.
Data collected directly from drivers who already use these vehicles presents a radically different picture. Early adopters of electric trucks in Germany report high levels of satisfaction, linked to concrete and measurable factors: better driving performance than internal combustion vehicles, a considerable reduction in cab noise and the almost complete absence of vibration, as well as lower routine maintenance requirements. These are factors that directly affect the quality of a driver’s daily work, not just environmental or economic variables.
This gap between senior management perception and the actual experience of driving staff is not without consequences. Germany’s transport sector has been dealing for years with a structural shortage of drivers, which companies themselves cite as one of the main reasons for pessimism about the sector’s future prospects, alongside strong cost pressure. In this context, the ability to attract and retain qualified staff increasingly depends on the quality of working conditions offered. The reduction in physical stress linked to driving, which electric vehicles provide by eliminating noise and vibration, may be a competitive advantage in the labour market that companies do not yet appear to have fully considered.
The sector’s operating patterns offer another point for reflection. Some 70% of the logistics companies surveyed use more than 75% of their fleet on a single-shift basis. This organisational model is structurally compatible with the charging needs of electric vehicles: long overnight downtime allows vehicle range to be restored without interfering with drivers’ working cycles. From this perspective, the switch to electric does not require most fleets to reorganise shifts or worsen drivers’ working conditions.
A more limited but still significant operational issue remains. On average, 5% of the trucks in the fleets examined spend the night parked in locations defined as “third-party”, meaning outside company premises, in most cases at the driver’s home. This creates a practical infrastructure challenge: for these vehicles, overnight depot charging is not feasible, while alternative solutions based on cooperative agreements or decentralised infrastructure remain underdeveloped.
The overall picture emerging from the analysis suggests that many company management teams are taking only a partial view of electric trucks. Assessed mainly through the lens of purchase costs, range and regulatory constraints, they are rarely considered as a workforce management tool. Yet in a labour market where finding and retaining qualified drivers has become one of the sector’s main operational problems, improving driving conditions could prove to be as important a lever as reducing green tolls or complying with emissions regulations.
Pietro Rossoni
