China’s Low-Emission Heavy Trucks Enter Full-Scale Development; Sales Share Projected to Reach 50% by 2028

Announcement at the World Power Battery Conference on the 4th

It is projected that, in China, the share of low-emission heavy truck sales will reach 50% by 2028.

According to Caixin, a Chinese financial news outlet, Wu Kai, Chief Technology Officer at CATL, the world’s largest battery manufacturer, stated this during the World Power Battery Conference held on the previous day.

A large electric truck is parked in Tangshan, Hebei Province, China. /Photo by Reuters Yonhap News

Wu Kai explained that, just as in the development trajectory of passenger cars, the share of new energy vehicles (including electric, hydrogen, and hybrid trucks) among total truck sales is expected to rapidly increase once it passes a pivotal threshold.

In fact, the adoption rate of new energy heavy trucks in China continues to rise steadily. In 2024, new energy heavy trucks accounted for 10% of all heavy truck deployments, marking the entry into a full-scale development phase. According to final sales data (excluding exports) released by First Commercial Vehicle Network, total sales of new energy heavy trucks from January to July this year reached 166,500 units, a 74% increase from the same period last year.

Wu Kai analyzed that advances in battery technology are resolving many of the challenges facing new energy vehicles. Previously, electric heavy trucks were 50% more expensive than internal combustion trucks and required more than one hour for charging, which were considered major drawbacks.

CATL’s newly released battery for heavy trucks comes with a warranty of either 15 years or 2.4 million kilometers. Instead of battery charging, it adopts a battery swapping system, reducing turnaround time to five minutes. The cost per kilometer for electric heavy trucks is 0.6 yuan (about 120 won) less than that of internal combustion trucks, allowing annual savings of 60,000 yuan (about 1.2 million won) for 100,000 kilometers of driving.

In May, 11 Chinese government ministries, including the Ministry of Transport, announced the “Implementation Plan for Large-Scale Application of New Energy Heavy Trucks.” The goal is to reach 1.6 million new energy heavy trucks by 2030, so that new energy vehicles account for around 20% of the total heavy truck fleet in China.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.