China's electric truck share reached 50.3% in September — Electrek

In China, electric trucks accounted for 50.3% of all heavy trucks sold in September 2026. A total of 33,100 such vehicles were sold during the month, 37% more than a year earlier, while the overall heavy truck market declined by 21%. This was reported by Electrek.

In the tractor unit segment, which is used to haul semi-trailers over long distances, the share of electric models reached 64.5% in September. At the same time, during the first nine months of the year, 226,400 electric heavy trucks were sold in the country, up 64% year on year. Their market share over this period was 38.1%.

Sales are growing faster than the government target

In 2024, new energy trucks accounted for 13.6% of heavy truck sales in China for vehicles weighing 12 tonnes and above. In 2025, their sales nearly tripled to 231,100 units, while their share reached 28.9%.

In December 2025, the figure temporarily rose to 53.9% as buyers rushed to take advantage of vehicle trade-in subsidies before they expired and before new tax costs were introduced. By March, the share had fallen to about 23%, but subsequently began rising again.

Earlier, 11 Chinese government bodies set a target of raising the share of new energy heavy trucks in sales to 40% by 2030. The plan also envisages 1.6 million such vehicles on the roads, 30,000 km of zero-emission freight corridors, and around 3,000 charging and battery-swapping stations.

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Costs and battery swapping

According to an assessment by the International Council on Clean Transportation, ICCT, and the Chinese center CATARC, under favorable conditions electric trucks are about 19% cheaper than diesel trucks per tonne-kilometer. However, this advantage diminishes at low annual mileage or when battery weight reduces payload.

CATL is developing a network of battery-swapping stations for heavy trucks. At the end of 2025, the Qiji brand had around 300 such stations and plans to increase their number to 900 by the end of 2026. Standardized 432 kWh and 513 kWh batteries can be replaced in about five minutes, according to the company.

Impact on diesel consumption

According to a forecast by analytics company Kpler, China's demand for diesel fuel will decline by about 230,000 barrels per day in 2026. Kpler estimates total diesel displacement by liquefied natural gas trucks and electric trucks at 680,000 barrels per day, of which around 230,000 barrels are attributable to electric vehicles.

Electric trucks are also increasing competition with liquefied natural gas models. According to Kpler, electric vehicles accounted for 47% of heavy truck registrations in July, while the share of LNG models fell to 11%.