Chinese new energy heavy trucks are on a rampage!
The latest data shows that in May 2025, China sold 85,000 heavy-duty trucks, a year-on-year increase of 9%.
New energy heavy-duty trucks performed extremely well, with sales exceeding 15,000 units, a year-on-year increase of about 1.9 times, and the monthly industry penetration rate exceeding 23%.
This is already the third consecutive month that the sales of new energy heavy-duty trucks have exceeded 15,000 units, and the monthly penetration rate has exceeded 20% for three consecutive months.
China's new energy heavy-duty trucks are on a roll!
01 Growth
From January to May this year, the cumulative sales of heavy-duty trucks in China reached 440,000 units, a slight year-on-year increase of nearly 2%.
During the same period, the cumulative sales of automobiles in China were 12.748 million units, a year-on-year increase of 10.9%.
Compared with the entire automobile market, the performance of heavy-duty trucks can be described as "ordinary".
This is not surprising.
Since reaching its peak in 2020, the sales of heavy-duty trucks have been on a downward trend.
Sales of heavy-duty trucks in China from 2019 to 2024
Heavy-duty trucks are short for "heavy trucks" and belong to the category of commercial vehicles.
In addition to the large trucks and muck trucks we usually see, concrete mixer trucks and tractors also belong to heavy-duty trucks.
Heavy-duty trucks are mainly used for logistics transportation and engineering construction.
This determines that the heavy-duty truck industry is a typical cyclical industry, and its sales fluctuations are affected by multiple factors such as policies, the economy, industry cycles, and substitution effects.
In the past two years, China's real estate investment has been sluggish, and infrastructure investment has slowed down. The demand for engineering vehicles has dropped sharply, dragging down the sales of heavy-duty trucks.
Among heavy-duty truck models, new energy heavy-duty trucks have become one of the few bright spots.
From January to May this year, the cumulative sales of new energy heavy-duty trucks in China reached 51,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 195%!
What's even more surprising is that in just four years, new energy heavy-duty trucks have achieved explosive growth.
In 2021, the sales of new energy heavy-duty trucks were only nearly 10,500 units, and the market penetration rate was only 0.7%.
In 2024, the sales reached 82,500 units, a nearly seven-fold increase compared with 2021, and the market penetration rate exceeded 10%.
Penetration rate of new energy heavy-duty trucks in China from 2021 to 2024
In May 2025, the market penetration rate of new energy heavy-duty trucks has exceeded 20%.
A penetration rate exceeding 20% is a milestone, marking that new energy heavy-duty trucks are gradually moving from the "policy-driven introduction period" to the "market-driven growth period".
Other industry data also confirm this.
Compulsory traffic insurance data shows that the number of enterprises selling new energy heavy-duty trucks increased from 64 in 2021 to 124 in the first 10 months of 2024, almost doubling, and market competition is becoming increasingly fierce.
Number of new energy heavy-duty truck enterprises in China from 2021 to the first 10 months of 2024. Picture source: Compulsory traffic insurance
Let's take a look at the performance of industry leaders.
In the first quarter of 2025, Xugong Automobile, with sales of 4,961 units and a market share of 16.38%, firmly held the top position in the new energy heavy-duty truck industry. It also took the lead in the tractor and dump truck segments.
FAW Jiefang sold a total of 3,923 new energy heavy-duty trucks, a year-on-year increase of 551%. It had the highest growth rate among the Top 10 automobile enterprises, with a market share of 12.95%, becoming the enterprise with the largest increase in market share.
Whether it is a "new force" like Xugong Automobile or an "old-timer" like FAW Jiefang, they are all increasing their investment in new energy heavy-duty trucks.
The new energy era of heavy-duty trucks has arrived.
02 Ecosystem
When it comes to new energy vehicles, many people may first think of "range anxiety".
Heavy-duty trucks have a large load and high energy consumption, and may need to be charged after running for a while.
Actually, new energy heavy-duty trucks ≠ electric heavy-duty trucks.
Like new energy passenger cars, new energy heavy-duty trucks also have multiple technical routes.
Currently, there are three mainstream ones: battery electric vehicles (BEV), hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV), and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV/PHEV/REEV).
The latter two have reliable ranges. Even for electric vehicles, the improvement of the "charging and battery swapping" model has greatly alleviated "range anxiety".
Let's first look at charging.
On April 22, 2025, Huawei released the industry's first megawatt ultra-fast charging product for heavy-duty trucks that can be charged in 15 minutes. With a continuous stable current of 2,400A from two guns, the power reaches 1.44 megawatts, and it can be charged from 10% to 90% in 15 minutes.
Shanghai's first megawatt-level ultra-fast charging station has been put into operation in the Lingang New Area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone. In just over a dozen minutes, the battery of a Dongfeng heavy-duty truck was charged from 10% to 90%, as fast as refueling.
Shanghai's first megawatt-level ultra-fast charging station
After being fully charged, it can run for another six hours.
Now let's look at battery swapping.
On May 18, 2025, CATL held a new-generation heavy-duty truck battery swapping ecosystem release event in Datong and released the 75# standardized battery swapping block and a full-scenario chassis battery swapping solution.
At CATL's Qiji standard battery swapping station, drivers don't need to get out of the car, and the entire battery swapping process can be completed automatically within five minutes.
For logistics hubs with high throughput, CATL's super battery swapping stations can swap batteries for multiple vehicles simultaneously. Taking 10 battery swapping channels as an example, a single station can swap batteries up to 2,000 times a day, and the daily battery swapping capacity of a single station exceeds 700,000 kWh.
CATL's Qiji standard battery swapping station
For an 800-kilometer journey from Zhengzhou to Beijing, a pure electric heavy-duty truck with a 432-kWh battery only needs about 30 minutes for three battery swaps, including waiting time.
Charging and battery swapping technologies are just one aspect of observing the electrification of heavy-duty trucks.
The rapid development of electric heavy-duty trucks benefits from China's large ecosystem of electric vehicles.
China's electric vehicle industry has formed the most complete industrial chain in the world. Whether it is the three-electric system or charging and battery swapping facilities, they all benefit electric heavy-duty trucks.
Taking the charging and battery swapping network as an example, Teclai has deployed more than 2,400 logistics heavy-duty truck charging stations across the country.
Teclai's first 800-kilometer cross-provincial trunk line for electric heavy-duty trucks (Quwo, Shanxi - Jining Port, Shandong) was officially opened. This picture is a schematic diagram of the route.
CATL plans to build 300 battery swapping stations in 13 core regions such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Greater Bay Area in 2025, connecting 11 trunk lines such as the Cangyu Line, the Beijing-Shanghai Line (G2), the Shanghai-Guangzhou Line, and the Shanghai-Chengdu Line. By 2030, it will build a national green battery swapping network of "eight horizontal and ten vertical" lines, forming a battery swapping network for 16 major urban agglomerations. The 150,000-kilometer expressways and national and provincial trunk roads will cover 80% of the trunk line transportation capacity.
The scale advantage brings cost advantages.
A report from Sihan Industry Research Institute shows that the tax-excluded price of lithium iron phosphate battery packs has dropped to about 0.5 yuan/Wh, nearly half of the peak period.
This has directly led to a significant reduction in the purchase cost of electric heavy-duty trucks, with an expected reduction of more than 100,000 yuan.
Although the current selling price of electric heavy-duty trucks is still higher than that of traditional heavy-duty trucks, considering the saved fuel costs, they already have significant economic advantages.
In recent years, local governments have directly promoted the popularization of new energy heavy-duty trucks in scenarios such as ports, mines, and urban distribution through policies such as "banning the use of fuel heavy-duty trucks", "subsidies for new energy vehicle replacement", and "preferential road rights" (such as no traffic restrictions and free parking).
On July 31 last year, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Finance jointly issued the "Notice on Implementing the Retirement and Replacement of Old Operating Trucks", supporting the retirement and replacement of old trucks. Those who purchase new energy heavy-duty trucks can receive a maximum subsidy of 140,000 yuan (retirement subsidy + new purchase subsidy).
The country's policy guidance is also heating up the new energy heavy-duty truck market.
03 The Big Picture
Calculated based on an annual mileage of 100,000 kilometers, an electric heavy-duty truck can save 0.62 yuan per kilometer compared with a fuel-powered truck, which means an additional income of 60,000 yuan a year.
This 60,000 yuan a year is the economic account calculated by truck drivers.
When it comes to the electrification of heavy-duty trucks, drivers calculate the "small account", while the country calculates the "big account".
First, we need to calculate the "big account" of the country's logistics costs.
Logistics is the "meridian" of the real economy, connecting production and consumption and affecting people's livelihoods and development.
In 2024, the ratio of the country's total logistics costs to GDP (gross domestic product) was 14.1%, which is relatively high compared with European and American countries.
The country's logistics costs are mainly composed of transportation costs, warehousing costs, and management costs.
Among them, transportation costs account for more than 50%.
To reduce the country's logistics costs, transportation costs are the key.
Specifically in terms of transportation modes, in 2024, the volume of road freight was 4.188 billion tons, accounting for 72.4% of the total freight volume of 5.784 billion tons.
Comparison between the volume of national road freight and the total freight volume
As the main carrier of road freight volume, if the usage cost of heavy-duty trucks is reduced, the cost of road freight will also decrease accordingly.
In April 2025, STO Express purchased the first batch of 36 new energy heavy-duty trucks.
Operation data shows that the cost per kilometer of this batch of electric heavy-duty trucks is 0.53 yuan lower than that of fuel-powered trucks.
Calculated based on an average annual operating mileage of 180,000 kilometers, an electric heavy-duty truck can save 95,000 yuan in energy consumption costs per year.
Reducing the country's logistics costs will "promote blood circulation" for economic development.
Second, we need to calculate the "big account" of the "dual carbon" strategy.
Heavy-duty trucks, which are constantly on the road day and night, are the main force in freight transportation and also major carbon emitters.
Data shows that about 22% of global carbon dioxide emissions from the transportation industry come from heavy-duty trucks.
Although Chinese heavy-duty trucks only account for 3.1% of the total number of vehicles, they account for 30% of the daily road traffic volume and contribute nearly 40% of the industry's carbon emissions.
Reducing emissions from heavy-duty trucks has become an inevitable choice for China's "dual carbon" strategy.
Judging from the actual results, the emission reduction effect of electric heavy-duty trucks is very obvious.
In April this year, the Ningbo - Yiwu new energy heavy-duty truck operation line was officially opened. This is the first market