In der Ära des großen Ausbruchs in die Weltmärkte gehen die "Neuen Kräfte" chinesischer Elektro-Lastzüge auf Expedition.

"Going global" has never been such an important protagonist in China's business narrative as it is today.

The battlefield has long since been upgraded and expanded from traditional commodity trade: the wave of services going global, the industrial chain going global, and even cutting - edge technologies going global is surging.

The automotive industry is at the forefront of this upgrade battle. In May this year, CATL listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, one of its ambitions being to pave the way for its global industrial layout. Benchmark cases such as XPeng's alliance with Volkswagen and Leapmotor's partnership with Stellantis all indicate that Chinese automakers are expanding from "selling cars" to "selling technologies" and "selling standards", and the output of core technologies has become a new paradigm.

In this torrent, electric heavy - duty trucks are quietly becoming another key window and value high - ground for Chinese enterprises to go global.

SuBao Technology, one of the new forces in the domestic electric heavy - duty truck market, is focusing on this area. On June 12th, SuBao Technology announced its "Dual - track Empowerment" strategy: on the one hand, it will conduct in - depth joint development with overseas partners to create the next - generation "new species" of electric heavy - duty trucks; on the other hand, it will open up its core product platform to empower a wider range of overseas automakers.

The underlying engine driving this wave of going global is undoubtedly the maturity and concentrated outburst of China's core technologies in new energy vehicles. When the "riverbed" of technology is raised as a whole, niche sectors will naturally find their way to global market depressions with value.

Take a Gamble on the Time Window of Electric Heavy - duty Trucks

2022 was a crucial year for China's automotive industry. BYD stopped producing fuel - powered vehicles that year, and new energy vehicles became a high - speed train. However, behind the rapid development, the price of lithium carbonate, a core battery material, skyrocketed and remained high throughout the year. Battery costs accounted for 40% - 60% of vehicle costs, and automakers joked that they were "working for CATL".

Also in this year, Liu Chao, the CEO of SuBao Technology, made a major decision: he stepped down from his position as the general manager of Continental China's commercial vehicle division and placed his bets on the undeveloped wilderness of electric heavy - duty trucks.

"At that time, I actually had a 'gambling' mentality," Liu Chao recalled to 36Kr. This veteran who has been in the automotive industry chain for 20 years placed his bets on three uncertainties:

Firstly, he gambled that the energy density of power batteries would continue to increase, and although the price of battery raw materials had skyrocketed, it would fall back to a reasonable range. Secondly, he gambled that the mass - production cost of cutting - edge technologies such as the 800V high - voltage platform would be significantly reduced in the context of large - scale implementation in the passenger car field, and the electric heavy - duty truck industry would benefit from it.

Thirdly, he gambled that after the domestic market was fully activated, China's automotive industry would release its surplus production capacity, and some of the high - quality production capacity would meet global market standards and go overseas.

Two years later, Liu Chao's "bet" was verified: currently, the penetration rate of new energy passenger cars has exceeded 50%. After intense competition in the domestic market, automakers are accelerating their overseas expansion. The price of battery products has also dropped by more than half compared to the peak in 2022. New technologies such as the 800V high - voltage vehicle platform, 5C ultra - fast charging capabilities, and intelligent assisted driving are constantly maturing and being implemented on a large scale.

These are all opportunity windows for the extension of electrification from passenger cars to heavy - duty trucks. "Passenger cars are a very important mirror for us to judge future strategies," Liu Chao said. "Looking back now, we basically 'gambled' in the right direction."

Judging from the data, the sales volume of Chinese electric heavy - duty trucks soared from 34,000 in 2023 to 82,000 in 2024, and it is expected to reach 150,000 this year. Liu Chao believes that electric heavy - duty trucks are currently in an explosive stage. He predicts that the penetration rate of electric heavy - duty trucks is expected to exceed 50% in the next three years, and the growth curve will be steeper than that of passenger cars.

SuBao Technology, founded by Liu Chao and his team, has also become a new player in the electric heavy - duty truck market.

Liu Chao graduated from the Department of Automotive Engineering at Tsinghua University with a bachelor's degree and served as the general manager of Continental China's commercial vehicle division for more than 10 years. He has rich experience in R & D, production, and sales. Chen Chao, the co - founder and CTO, is Liu Chao's undergraduate roommate. He obtained his master's degree under the guidance of Academician Ouyang Minggao, a leading figure in China's electric vehicle field. He has comprehensive R & D experience in the vehicle's core systems and is currently the CTO of SuBao Technology. The other two co - founders of SuBao have both served as senior executives at Continental Group.

With its star executive team and global vision, SuBao Technology has received consecutive investments from top investment institutions such as Sequoia Capital China and Shunwei Capital within just two years of its establishment.

In April last year, SuBao launched its first self - developed intelligent electric heavy - duty truck, the SuBao Black King Kong, in Yulin, Shaanxi. The new vehicle integrates many cutting - edge technologies, including a distributed electric drive axle system, an integrated thermal management system, an 800V high - voltage system, and an intelligent chassis domain control system.

After the product was nearly mature, SuBao tried to accelerate its commercialization process.

In June this year, SuBao Technology released its "Dual - track Empowerment" global strategic upgrade plan, aiming to position itself as an "Enabler" and simultaneously implement the "dual - track empowerment" path of industry and products in the global market.

Put simply, the former is to enter the overseas market as a new force in the truck industry and achieve "industry empowerment" locally.

Liu Chao told 36Kr that SuBao has currently reached a cooperation agreement with Steyr, a global truck company. By leveraging Steyr's local production capacity in Europe, SuBao can quickly achieve local production of its models. It is expected that by the end of this year, the first SUPERPANTHER pure - electric heavy - duty truck under this cooperation will roll off the production line at the Steyr factory and officially meet European customers.

In addition, SuBao will also leverage Steyr's local brand recognition and service system to provide logistics customers with a comprehensive range of support, including electric energy replenishment and vehicle services.

This is similar to the cooperation between Leapmotor and Stellantis: Stellantis uses its own channels and sales network to help Leapmotor's products take root in the local market.

However, in the European heavy - duty truck ecosystem, established players such as Volvo, Daimler Benz, and DAF firmly hold the market share. As a new force, how will SuBao Technology compete with them?

"Europe is undoubtedly one of the highest - value markets in the world. When Chinese enterprises enter the market, they cannot simply cut prices by more than 50% right from the start. This approach will only make the market barren," Liu Chao said bluntly. "What we advocate is definitely not this kind of cooperation model, but rather in - depth integration with the local industry to form a diversified model of both competition and cooperation."

Therefore, in addition to the "industry empowerment" strategy, SuBao has also chosen a more diversified path: using its core technologies, system integration capabilities, and the advantages of China's supply chain to cooperate with global vehicle manufacturers on software and hardware.

This is SuBao Technology's "product empowerment" strategy, whose core logic coincides with FAW Group's adoption of Leapmotor's core technologies and Volkswagen's adoption of XPeng's core technologies. Through this strategy, SuBao can help overseas automakers accelerate their transition to new energy and enable them to have sufficient product competitiveness to face the global competitive impact from Chinese new energy enterprises on the east coast of the Pacific.

Self - developed Core Technologies are the Key to Controlling One's Destiny

However, different from new forces in the passenger car market such as NIO, XPeng, and Li Auto, electric heavy - duty trucks are more tool - oriented and have a limited audience, naturally being a more niche sector. The "money - attracting" ability of new forces in the truck industry also pales in comparison to that of new forces in the passenger car industry.

But even in the early days of its establishment when funds were tight, SuBao Technology still insisted on self - developing four independent core systems: IEM energy flow management, electric drive axles, high - voltage platforms, and thermal management systems.

"In the era of fuel - powered vehicles, the electronic and electrical architecture of trucks was often 5 - 7 years behind that of passenger cars. Usually, it was only after the electronic and electrical technologies of passenger cars matured that they were transferred to the truck field," Liu Chao explained to 36Kr. However, in the wave of electrification, the technological advantages of established truck manufacturers in core areas such as engine technology and transmissions are no longer obvious, and trucks are also accelerating towards "software - defined" and intelligent development. "The form of the vehicle has become completely different from the past. This has to be done from scratch and cannot be simply superimposed on the original vehicle platform."

Some traditional truck companies have sought a "shortcut": converting fuel - powered vehicles to electric ones without changing the existing industrial chain and production and manufacturing models. They can roll out products in as fast as 4 - 6 months. However, in both the passenger car and truck fields, the "fuel - to - electric conversion" solution is not the optimal choice in terms of space layout, cruising range, and economy - in essence, it is "carrying" a large battery on a fuel - powered chassis, making it difficult to fully unleash the potential of electrification.

SuBao believes that electric heavy - duty trucks should be a new species, and the core technological advantages must be in its own hands. Therefore, SuBao adheres to full - stack self - development from the "three - electric system" to the chassis architecture and then to the entire vehicle platform.

As a result, SuBao has stronger product capabilities for heavy - duty trucks.

For example, based on its self - developed electric drive axle, the rated power of the SuBao electric heavy - duty truck Black King Kong reaches 540 horsepower, far exceeding the power performance of current trucks based on fuel - to - electric conversion platforms. In terms of energy consumption, the self - developed thermal management system ensures that the vehicle's energy consumption performance in an environment of minus 30 degrees Celsius is similar to that in summer air - conditioning conditions. In terms of software for vehicle steering, braking, etc., "every line of code in the Black King Kong is from SuBao," Liu Chao emphasized.

Notably, with the support of the 800V high - voltage platform, the SuBao Black King Kong can charge up to 80% in 36 minutes, and the charging experience can rival that of intelligent electric sedans. This technology has been implemented even faster than most passenger car manufacturers. Automakers such as Xiaomi, XPeng, and Li Auto only started mass - producing 800V high - voltage systems in 2024.

However, betting on the 800V system two years ago was a significant challenge. Liu Chao admitted that the 800V system itself was difficult enough, and what was even more difficult was that the supporting industrial chain for the 800V high - voltage system was not yet mature, so SuBao had to conduct a lot of joint innovation with suppliers.

"Developing core technologies is a very painful decision," Liu Chao confided to 36Kr. "But if we rely on suppliers for core technologies, not only will the product iteration speed be relatively slow, the boundaries of technological innovation will be easily restricted, but also there will be a black - box effect in terms of cost and technology, with insufficient transparency and controllability."

Liu Chao told 36Kr that because of its perseverance in self - developing core technologies and strict quality control, SuBao has stronger control over supply - chain costs and has the opportunity to hold more profits in its hands.

At the same time, SuBao also has a faster product iteration speed, especially during the stage when truck electrification is developing towards intelligence. The entire vehicle architecture and software capabilities will be a very important foundation.

SuBao not only focuses on self - development but also on manufacturing. Currently, SuBao has an electric drive axle factory in Liyang, Jiangsu, a controller base and a skateboard system base for the overseas market in Yulin, Shaanxi, forming the ability for global delivery and local response.

However, in the initial stage of electric heavy - duty trucks, having strong product capabilities alone may not be enough to truly leverage the huge business ecosystem.

SuBao has made more explorations. In 2024, SuBao reached a cooperation agreement with DHL, a global logistics and supply - chain company. According to the agreement, SuBao will use its electric truck solutions to help DHL's in - house fleet and partners build a more efficient and cost - effective electrified operation model.

In other words, what SuBao provides is far more than just one - time sales of the entire vehicle. It also offers long - term operation and services.

Liu Chao pointed out that in emerging markets such as Europe, logistics customers have a strong willingness to promote electrification, but the local supporting infrastructure for electric vehicles is not as well - developed as in the Chinese market. Therefore, SuBao has made specialized deployments for DHL's fleet usage scenarios, such as warehouses and logistics centers, including the construction and operation of charging stations.

To accurately understand customer needs, in the past year and a half, the SuBao team has spent a lot of time and energy