Across Europe, the long-haul machinery of commerce is quietly but unmistakably turning electric. In the first half of 2026, some 14,300 zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles entered EU roads — a figure shaped as much by regulatory deadlines and public funding as by market conviction. The transition is real, but it is uneven: city buses have crossed a symbolic threshold while freight trucks inch forward, and the continent's charging infrastructure remains a patchwork concentrated in a handful of northern nations.