Electric trucks accounted for 50.3% of all heavy trucks sold in China in September, marking a sharp shift in the country’s commercial vehicle market. Manufacturers sold around 33,100 electric heavy trucks during the month, 37% more than a year earlier, even as total heavy-truck sales declined by 21%.
The change is also affecting fuel consumption. China’s diesel demand is expected to fall by approximately 230,000 barrels per day during 2026. Battery-electric and natural-gas trucks are responsible for much of the displacement, while road freight continued to grow by about 3% through July.
New-energy heavy trucks represented just 13.6% of Chinese sales in 2024. Their share rose to 28.9% in 2025, when sales reached 231,100 units. After a temporary peak of 53.9% in December 2025, the share fell to around 23% by March before recovering strongly.
During the first nine months of 2026, China sold 226,400 electric heavy trucks, a 64% increase from the same period a year earlier. Electric models represented 38.1% of sales over that period. Among tractor units used to pull long-haul trailers, their September share reached 64.5%.
The September result exceeded the Chinese government’s target of achieving a 40% share for new-energy heavy-truck sales by 2030. The plan also includes 1.6 million new-energy heavy trucks on the road, 30,000 kilometers of zero-carbon freight corridors and roughly 3,000 charging or battery-swapping stations. CATL has said new-energy trucks could account for half of China’s annual truck sales by 2028.
Operating costs are a major factor behind the transition. CATL claims electric heavy trucks can save about 0.6 yuan per kilometer. Research from the ICCT and China’s CATARC found that battery-electric trucks were approximately 19% cheaper per tonne-kilometer than diesel models under favorable conditions, although the advantage can disappear with low annual mileage or when battery weight reduces payload.
China is also addressing charging downtime through battery swapping. CATL’s Qiji network operated about 300 heavy-truck swap stations at the end of 2025 and plans to reach 900 by the end of 2026 and 2,000 in 2027. The company has also agreed to invest 2.56 billion yuan, or around $370 million, for almost 25% of Qiyuan Green Power, which operates more than 1,600 charging and swapping stations. CATL’s standardized battery packs have capacities of 432 kWh and 513 kWh and can be exchanged in about five minutes.
Electric trucks are also taking market share from liquefied natural gas models. LNG trucks approached 30% of China’s heavy-truck market in 2024, but their share fell from 37% of heavy-duty registrations in March to 11% by July. Over the same period, electric trucks rose from 23% to 47%, while monthly LNG registrations dropped from more than 30,000 to roughly 6,200.
Kpler estimates that alternative trucks will displace around 680,000 barrels per day of diesel demand in 2026. LNG vehicles account for about 450,000 barrels per day of that figure, while electric trucks account for approximately 230,000. Diesel demand fell by about 420,000 barrels per day year over year in May and by 460,000 in June, according to the same analysis.
Despite the rapid growth in sales, electric trucks are expected to represent only about 8% of China’s heavy-truck fleet by the end of 2026. The country’s diesel consumption had already peaked, with apparent use declining from 4.7 million barrels per day in April 2023 to 4.0 million in April 2025, according to the Rhodium Group.
The transition remains much slower in Europe and the United States. The European Union registered 5,120 heavy electric trucks through September, up 59.9% year over year, but the vehicles accounted for only 2.5% of registrations. Diesel models still represented 91.7% of the EU market. Switzerland, Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden recorded the highest electric shares, ranging from 10.3% to 24%.
In the United States, electric trucks account for less than 1% of annual Class 8 sales. A planned order for 2,500 Tesla Semi trucks through ZET SCALE would roughly double the number of electric Class 8 vehicles on US roads, but the market remains constrained by purchase prices. The median electric Class 8 tractor costs about $411,200, compared with $172,500 for a diesel model, according to the ICCT.
Sources: Electrek.