MAN Truck & Bus and the Dettendorfer freight forwarding company have been testing since mid-July for four weeks as part of a pilot project the nighttime use of fully electric trucks on a Brenner route between Raubling and Bolzano. Because due to the existing exemption from the night driving ban on the Inntal motorway (A12) electric trucks may drive at night, unlike diesel trucks. The "Night Jump" over the Brenner has basically been possible since 2021. Georg Dettendorfer, managing director of Dettendorfer Freight Forwarding:
“For us it is clear: If we want to achieve the transition to climate-friendly logistics, we need solutions that work in everyday life – across borders and without restrictions to the service promise.”
The family-owned freight forwarding company has been testing alternative drives in real operation for several years, and now for the first time also in cross-border night operations.
Annual CO₂-Eco savings per vehicle
With the current pilot project, traffic flows at the Brenner are to be smoothed out, congestion avoided, CO2 and noise emissions reduced, and supply security increased, according to the project participants. Dr. Frederik Zohm, Chief Technology Officer for Research & Development at MAN Truck & Bus:
“Electric heavy-duty logistics is revolutionizing road freight transport – even under the most demanding topographical conditions that prevail in alpine regions. With this project we show that fully electric trucks are not only practical, but also through recuperation and the possibility of nighttime transports create new efficiency, sustainability and traffic management. Policy and
industry must work hand in hand to make emission-free logistics a reality on a broad scale.”
A model calculation shows, for example, that already 300 electric trucks deployed at night could reduce the daytime block clearance at Kufstein by up to one hour. At the same time, electric trucks would make an important contribution to climate protection, because each electric truck saves on average about 95 tonnes of CO₂ per year with a mileage of 110,000 kilometers. With 300 vehicles daily, this would amount to a potential savings of up to 28,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year, equivalent to the emissions of a small town. Dettendorfer also emphasizes:
“We want to do something for the environment, but also stay economically viable.”
More charging stations at the Brenner are necessary
And Christian Bernreiter, Bavarian State Minister for Housing, Building and Transport, further explains:
“Electric trucks can be an important part of the solution for Alpine freight traffic on the Brenner route. If we take the transport transition seriously, we must also make road freight transport more sustainable. The night-time deployment of eTrucks shows: less CO₂, less noise and a better utilization of infrastructure are possible. This is an important signal for green commercial vehicle corridors across Europe.”
Now it comes down to a consistent and cross-border expansion of the charging infrastructure, Bernreiter continues. And Dettendorfer also sees the urgency of new charging points for electric trucks in cross-border traffic from Germany, Austria and Italy. Dettendorfer:
“It would be good
if new electric charging stations were to be built along the Brenner motorway.”
In Raubling, at night charging is currently around €0.41/kWh, in Bolzano around €0.38/kWh. In addition, recuperation on the mountainous route rises according to the manufacturer to up to 40 percent. While braking energy in a diesel truck is lost unused, the electric truck stores it back as electricity in the battery.
Thus, according to MAN Truck & Bus, the electric truck on the Brenner route is not only sensible for avoiding block clearance and traffic jams, but also from an economic perspective. In addition, with an annual mileage of over 110,000 kilometers on German highways there would be an annual toll saving of over €60,000 per vehicle.
Toll exemption is time-limited
However, the 100 percent toll exemption currently applies exclusively in Germany. On the A13 in Austria, electric trucks are particularly at night charged with up to 75 percent less toll. On the Brenner route to Bolzano in Italy, there are only a few differences in toll between diesel and electric trucks.
EU Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas recently recommended extending the toll reduction for electric trucks, which is currently limited until the end of 2025, until mid-2031. The aim is to increase investment security for logistics companies and accelerate the switch to electric mobility. Dettendorfer emphasizes this strongly:
“The toll exemption must continue to exist in the future to support the ramp-up of the vehicles. As logisticians, we need sustainability and consistency in policy and
thus planning certainty.”
Because over a period of three years and a typical truck operation scenario, the toll savings of an electric truck according to the manufacturer contribute to a total cost advantage of over 15 percent compared with diesel-powered vehicles on the Brenner route. In addition, there would be lower energy and maintenance costs, exemption from vehicle tax, and the increasingly available charging infrastructure along the Brenner route. Rene Zumtobel, Tyrolean State Councillor for Transport, Environment and Nature Conservation:
“Electric mobility is the future. The E-truck must be seen as a bridging technology.”
Noise difference of around twelve decibels
Battery-electric trucks also reduce noise emissions compared with diesel trucks according to the project participants. In acoustic tests, the electric truck during accelerated approach was perceived as about half as loud as a conventional diesel. Specifically, a level difference of about twelve decibels was observed. This corresponds to the difference between a main thoroughfare and a quiet street in a residential area.
Refrigerated transports over the Brenner
With the MAN E-truck, which has been produced in series in Munich since June 2025, daytime ranges of up to 800 kilometers can be achieved with an intermediate charge in winter as in summer. Thus the electric truck could operate at night across the entire route between Germany and Italy, i.e. from Munich to Verona or from Rosenheim over the Brenner to Bolzano and back. This is also interesting for transports in refrigerated and pharmaceutical logistics or in time-critical supply chains.
