An electric truck has crossed the Channel Tunnel for the first time, completing a 1,700km round trip from the UK to Germany carrying 12 tonnes of freight.
The DAF XF Electric left Kuehne+Nagel's East Midlands Gateway depot, travelled through France and Belgium, and reached the company's facility in Haiger, Germany before returning the same way. Two drivers shared the run. Charging stops included Kuehne+Nagel's own megawatt charger in the UK and public hubs run by Gridserve (UK), and Milence in Dunkirk and Maasmechelen.
LeShuttle Freight, which operates truck shuttles through the tunnel, says it will open the service to all electric HGVs later this year.
The truck
The DAF XF Electric won International Truck of the Year 2026. It has a real-world range of around 500km and charges at up to 325kW DC, which DAF says makes 1,000km daily distances possible with top-ups during driver breaks.
The vehicle ran at up to 42 tonnes gross combination weight on a tri-axle trailer. That is standard heavy-duty territory, not a lightweight demonstration spec.
The charger
Kuehne+Nagel's East Midlands depot opened a six-bay charging hub on 15 January, with Industry Minister Chris McDonald in attendance. The system, built by Voltempo, delivers up to 1MW and can split that capacity dynamically across six trucks at once. It is the UK's first megawatt-scale truck charging installation.
The company is part of eFREIGHT 2030, a UK government demonstrator programme funded by the Department for Transport and Innovate UK to test zero-emission HGV operations at scale.
The route
The Channel Tunnel carries about a quarter of UK-EU trade by value. Over a million trucks cross each year. Eurotunnel already markets the tunnel as zero direct emission since the trains run on electricity. Adding electric trucks to the freight shuttles closes the loop.
Kate Broome, Kuehne+Nagel's UK sustainability director, said planning multi-country electric routes still takes extra work to schedule charging stops, "but the rapid expansion of charging infrastructure across the UK and Europe is transforming what's achievable."
LeShuttle Freight's Peter Roberts called it "a significant move towards decarbonising freight transport" and said the company was "proud to be rolling out this capability to all eHGVs later this year."
