Rechargeable Bus in the Plus
The sales of commercial vehicles are not doing well. Not in the European Union, and especially not in the Netherlands. In fact, in no other EU country did the registrations of light commercial vehicles decline as sharply as in the Netherlands. This and more is evident from figures from industry organization ACEA.
In the first six months of this year, 729,127 commercial vehicles were registered in the European Union. That sounds like an unimaginable number, but it was 13.2 percent less than the 840,384 units registered in the first half of 2024.
The majority of all new commercial vehicles naturally had a diesel engine. No less than 82 percent of all registered new commercial vehicles had a diesel engine. 4.9 percent of all registered units had a gasoline engine. Just not one in twenty. When we look at the electrified commercial vehicles, the bites out of the registration pie only get smaller. Only 2.6 percent of all new commercial vehicles had a non-plug-in hybrid drivetrain. Electric commercial vehicles and plug-in hybrid commercial vehicles are grouped together by ACEA and together account for a share of 9.5 percent. Yet, there is a noticeable shift towards electrification. In the EU, there are 42.1 percent more electric or plug-in hybrid commercial vehicles and 7.1 percent more hybrid commercial vehicles registered, while 29.8 percent fewer units with a traditional gasoline engine were registered. Simultaneously, 15.6 percent fewer commercial vehicles with a diesel engine were registered.
Netherlands
In the Netherlands, the market for commercial vehicles looks bleak for most importers. This is naturally due to the fact that commercial vehicles are no longer exempt from bpm, with the result that units with an internal combustion engine have become much more expensive. In addition, you are no longer allowed to enter many city centers with a new diesel bus. The consequences of this are reflected in the figures.
In the first half of 2025, 79 percent fewer new commercial vehicles were registered in the Netherlands than in the same period of 2024. This involved only 9,636 units compared to 45,920 units in the first half of last year. This is a decrease of 79 percent.
Only 1,682 of those commercial vehicles registered in the Netherlands had a diesel engine, which is still 17.5 percent. Almost 96 percent fewer diesel buses were registered than in the first half of last year. In addition, 93.3 percent fewer commercial vehicles with a traditional gasoline engine were registered. Only 68 units, versus 1,016 units in the first six months of last year.
It is not surprising that significantly more ‘rechargeable’ commercial vehicles were registered in the Netherlands in the first half of 2025 than in the same period last year. In the first six months of this year, 7,777 electric or plug-in hybrid vans were registered in our country (share: 81%). That was 55.6 percent more than in the same period last year. Furthermore, 12 (-92.2 percent) non-plug-in hybrid buses were registered.