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Freightliner Cascadia

The fifth-generation Cascadia as Freightliner specifies it: Detroit DD13 and DD15 in Gen 5 and Gen 6 form, the Cummins X15N, two cab lengths, 12-speed automated gearboxes and ABA6.

Oleg Yunakov — CC BY-SA 4.0

Independent technical reference for trucks, buses and trailers.

Not the manufacturer’s brochureTrucks · Buses · TrailersSources listed on every model and article page

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Technical reference

Where the sector stands

Dated obligations and published statistics, each traced to the document it came from.

  • −90%

    CO₂ target for 2040

    Average CO₂ of a maker’s new heavy trucks, against its 2019 baseline. An interim −45% applies from 2030.

    Regulation (EU) 2024/1610, EUR-Lex · checked 2026-09-04

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  • 4.2%

    Electric, of new trucks

    Share of EU registrations above 3.5 t in 2025, up from 2.3% the year before. This is the distance to the target above.

    ACEA, new commercial vehicle registrations 2025 · checked 2026-09-04

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  • 14 yrs

    Average age, EU truck fleet

    Trucks are the oldest fleet on European roads — 6.2 million of them. Most vehicles bought this decade will be second-hand.

    ACEA, Vehicles on European roads 2026 · checked 2026-09-04

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  • 29 May 2029

    Euro 7 becomes mandatory

    No new truck, bus or heavy trailer may be registered or sold without it, except buses the Regulation ties to a 100% zero-emission target from 2030, allowed as Euro VI until 31 December 2029; for small-volume makers’ trucks and buses the date is 1 July 2031. New type approvals close a year earlier, on 29 May 2028.

    Regulation (EU) 2024/1257, EUR-Lex · checked 2026-09-28

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  • 60 km

    Between charging pools by 2030

    Maximum spacing in each direction on the TEN-T core road network, each pool offering at least 3 600 kW.

    Regulation (EU) 2023/1804 (AFIR), EUR-Lex · checked 2026-09-04

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  • 502 000

    Driver positions unfilled

    Across 18 European markets, a 13% shortfall. Around 4% of Europe’s truck drivers are women.

    IRU driver shortage report 2025 · checked 2026-09-04

What will move the load

Diesel is not being replaced by one thing. Battery, hydrogen, gas and the grid behind them each work under different constraints, and the constraint usually decides.

A white DAF XF Electric tractor unit with blue trim on a trade-fair stand, Electric lettering on the front and cab side, and a displayed axle unit behind the cabBattery-electric, hydrogen or combustion: heavy-vehicle powertrains and what the sources sayWhat ACEA's registrations, the IEA's outlooks, EU law and makers' own programmes say about battery-electric, hydrogen and combustion trucks and buses — with no verdict.Read
All articles on this topic (8)

Range, batteries and charging

Range, battery capacity and charging power are each declared on a basis of their own, and the rules for charging along the roads have their own dates. These pages set out what each figure measures and where it comes from.

A grey high-energy battery pack for commercial vehicles on a display stand at IAA Transportation 2024 in Hanover, with a DC/DC converter on top, a data sheet beside it and a red truck with its cab tilted forward behindThe EU Battery Regulation for trucks and buses: which batteries, which duties, which datesWhich truck, bus and trailer batteries Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 covers, what applies now, what starts on 18 February 2027 and what still waits for Commission acts.Read
All articles on this topic (12)

Rules that bind the vehicle

Emission classes and weight limits are not paperwork around the vehicle — they decide what may be built, what it may carry and where it may go.

A row of lorries, most of them tractor units with box or curtain-sided semi-trailers, parked beside a coach and the front of a second coach in a lorry and coach park under a cloudy skyVehicle categories M, N and O: what makes a truck, a bus or a trailer in lawCategory N is a goods vehicle, M a passenger vehicle and O a trailer. The M1 to O4 limits in EU and UN texts, and how Turkish, Spanish, US and British law define trucks and buses.Read
All articles on this topic (16)

Drivers, licences and documents

Who may drive what, for how many hours, and which card or certificate proves it — as EU and national rules write it.

Volvo-branded digital tachograph with two driver card slots in the overhead console of a truck cab, beside a CB radioDriving time and rest rules: how many hours a shift can holdNine hours a day, 56 a week, 90 a fortnight and a break after four and a half: what Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 limits, and why the working-time limit can bind first.Read
All articles on this topic (12)

Operators, borders and papers

What an operator needs to carry goods for hire, the rules for work in another country, the documents that travel with the load, and what the roads charge.

Refrigerated, curtain-sided and box semi-trailers backed up to the loading doors of a large distribution centre in Swindon, England, with empty roll cages stacked on the concrete yardWhat is logistics? The European Commission definition and road freightThe European Commission's 2006 definition of freight transport logistics, third-party logistics, the logistics operator in Spanish and Turkish law, and how road freight is measured.Read
All articles on this topic (16)

Trailers, couplings and the load

What each trailer body is for, how tractor and trailer fit together, the dimensions they must keep, and the rules for loads that need more than a tarpaulin.

Red two-axle DAF tractor unit pulling a plain grey curtain-sided semi-trailer with three axles along a multi-lane road, seen from the front left, with bare trees behindWhat is a semi truck? Tractor unit, semi-trailer and trailer definedA semi truck is a tractor unit coupled to a semi-trailer. How EU, UN, US, British, Turkish and Spanish texts define the tractor, the semi-trailer, the trailer and the combination.Read
All articles on this topic (11)

Body-built and special trucks

A refuse truck, a mixer or a fire engine is a chassis and a body, usually from two different makers, and its own standard. These pages set out what the standards cover and what chassis makers and body builders publish.

Orange Mercedes-Benz eEconic electric refuse collection vehicle with a FAUN VARIOPRESS rear-loader body and a glazed folding cab door, at the Nufam 2025 trade fair in RheinstettenRefuse collection vehicles: rear, side and front loaders, chassis and EN 1501What EN 1501 covers for rear, side and front loaders, how EU type approval codes a refuse truck, and the chassis, bodies and electric versions makers publish.Read
All articles on this topic (6)

Tyres

What the sidewall and the EU label say, and the national rules on winter tyres, chains, tread depth and tyre age for heavy vehicles.

Sidewall of a Michelin XZE2+ tyre on the rear axle of a Hyundai Global 900 bus, with the size 11 R 22.5 and the words RADIAL and REGROOVABLE moulded into the rubberTruck tyre markings explained: size, load index, speed symbol, M+S, 3PMSF and the date codeWhat UN Regulations 54, 117 and 109 put on the sidewall of a truck or bus tyre — size, service description, snow symbols, FRT and the date code — and how the US DOT code differs.Read

How the machine is put together

Axles, gearbox, engine, cab. What the specification sheet is actually describing, and which choices you live with for the vehicle’s whole life.

Four-axle 8x4 rigid truck chassis on display at IAA Transportation 2024Truck axle configurations: what 4x2, 6x2, 6x4 and 8x4 meanThe first number counts wheel positions and the second the driven ones, so a 6x2 has three axles with one driven, while a 6x4 drives both rear axles.Read
All articles on this topic (8)

Buses and coaches

A city bus and a touring coach share a category and almost nothing else — different classes, different rules, different money.

MAN Lion's City articulated city bus in service in BergenBus classes under UN R107: Class I, II, III, A and BUN R107 sorts buses by capacity: Classes I, II and III carry over 22 passengers, A and B 22 or fewer. Each sets rules for standing, doors and gangways.Read
All articles on this topic (10)

Bus safety and passengers

Doors and exits, seat belts, fire, rollover strength and access for passengers with reduced mobility — what the UN regulations require of the vehicle, and what passengers are owed.

Closed double service door in the side of a city bus, with the wheelchair ramp flap set into the door apertureBus Doors and Emergency Exits Under UN Regulation 107How UN Regulation No. 107 sets the minimum number and size, and the position, of a bus's service doors and emergency exits, and what opens a power-operated door when the supply fails.Read
All articles on this topic (7)

The market and the money side

What a truck costs to run and what it is worth later, who builds and registers them, and the rules around parts and repair.

A Scania R500 vehicle transporter with a drawbar trailer carrying new white trucks without bodies on a snowy road in Jyväskylä, FinlandCBAM and trucks, buses, trailers and parts: what is covered and what is proposedWhether the EU carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) applies to trucks, buses, trailers and their parts today, and which CN codes the 2025 proposal would add from 2028.Read
All articles on this topic (10)

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120 articles · 77 model pages · 1766 sources