Electric trucks make up 27.6% of new Swiss registrations

Electric trucks accounted for 27.6% of newly registered trucks in Switzerland from January to the end of October, according to figures from the Federal Statistical Office reported by SRF.

Sonny Pichardo, a driver for Geneva’s municipal road-cleaning service, has driven an electric refuse truck for four months. He told French-language broadcaster RTS that it was more comfortable, quieter and produced no exhaust fumes. Some members of the public had even thanked the crew, he said.

Switching to the technology takes preparation. Geneva tested the trucks’ range and whether they could match the performance of combustion-engine vehicles, said Nicolas Poltera, an engineer with the city’s logistics service. Installing charging stations is another challenge, with some buildings needing upgrades to their electrical capacity.

Geneva aims to electrify half its vehicle fleet by 2030 to reduce its environmental impact and says it has reached half that target. The city parliament approved 32 million francs at the start of the year to buy 132 electric vehicles and pieces of equipment, including 19 trucks.

Logistics company Emil Egger AG has electrified 15% of its fleet. Eric Collomb, director of its branch in Avenches, said customers, particularly multinational companies, were also demanding the change. The company saves about 50,000 to 60,000 francs per vehicle each year because it does not pay the heavy vehicle charge, he said. At that rate, a vehicle would be more or less paid off in five years.

Collomb said an electric truck costs about 300,000 francs, compared with around 140,000 francs for a comparable combustion-engine model. The number of electric or hybrid trucks weighing more than 3.5 tonnes on Swiss roads rose from 140 in 2021, or 0.26% of the total fleet, to 1,823 in 2025, or 3.23%.