European truckmakers are making no secret of their growing dissatisfaction with EU regulators. They claim in near-lockstep that the Euro 7 regulations on carbon emissions—which require a 45 percent CO2 reduction by 2030, a 65 percent drop by 2035, and a 90 percent cut by 2049—will prove impossible to meet without a much faster rollout of critical charging and hydrogen refueling infrastructure. The EU goals are unlikely to be met with diesel trucks alone, though they’re getting cleaner, but basically will require a sharp increase in the number of zero-emission trucks on the road. The truck producers say they’ve done their job—and have fuel cell and battery-electric trucks ready to go—but the politicians need to be realistic about the situation on the ground. In addition to infrastructure, they blame EU red tape for the lead the U.S. has taken in rolling out fully autonomous trucks (which will deploy without drivers in Texas next year). The truck companies vented at the IAA Transportation Media Summit in Frankfurt June 8 and 9. The press event, with reporters from 33 countries, was intended to drum up excitement for the big September 15-20 IAA Transportation conference in Hannover, Germany, where many new green trucks will be shown. According to Dr. Manuel Kallweit, head of economic intelligence and economics at the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), a perfect storm of economic conditions (including the Strait of Hormuz blockade, tariffs, high fuel/electricity prices and protectionism) has resulted in weak German demand for commercial vehicles, especially for BEV and hydrogen variants. In late 2025, the German government announced subsidies for 130 heavy-duty charging sites in the country, but Kallweit said 350 will be needed by 2030 to keep up with growing fleets. “Charging capacity is moving very slowly,” he said. “We’re still at the beginning.”