The transport sector accounts for 13 percent of greenhouse gas emissions globally.

Almost twice as much in the EU, and in Sweden, domestic transport accounts for a third of the total emissions.

Most of it comes from road traffic.

But the battery boom has only now begun to find its way to the heavy road transports.

Sales of electric trucks, heavier than 16 tonnes, increased by 193 percent in 2021 according to the market analysis company IHS Markit.

But it happened from very low levels, so the 346 newly sold trucks with electric driveline are rarities on the roads.

Most are found in Switzerland, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands.

Volvo Trucks has the largest market share in the segment, with 42 percent.

Swedish manufacturer optimistic

The need for charging for longer distances is an uphill slope for electric trucks.

But there are niche players who are optimistic.

Swedish Volta Trucks is completely aiming for electric trucks for deliveries in big cities.

The first series-produced Volta truck will roll out of the factory in Austria in December this year.

Founder Carl-Magnus Norden thanks political decisions in Paris and London for creating a demand for his type of fossil-free transport vehicle.

In London, diesel vehicles are subject to an extra charge and in the inner city of Paris they will be banned in 2024.

- This is very important for it to happen.

Of our 5,000 pre-ordered vehicles, 3,500 of them are in Paris, says Norden.

Expensive to buy - cheap to drive

An electric truck is today more expensive to buy than a fossil-powered one.

However, it is compensated in the long run by the cheaper operation.

If you remove the driver, the calculation will be even better.

Einride reckons that their "pods", as they call their driverless electric trucks, will be able to handle one distance driver per ten vehicles.

Einride invests directly in the world's largest truck market.

- We are based in Sweden and have a technology base in Sweden, but we saw quite early on that to be relevant with this technology, you need to be in the US, says Einride's North American manager Niklas Reinedahl.

There, 5G is more developed than in Sweden.

Of course, a good mobile network is an advantage if you are driving a truck remotely.

- At higher speeds and at longer distances, that type of dedicated, guaranteed quality of connection is something that enables an exponential development of this type of technology, Reinedahl predicts.