The electric truck industry

The scale of the shift

Road freight is electrifying faster than almost anyone forecast, and not where most people expected. Across the 34 countries the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) tracks, sales of zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles nearly doubled for the second year running in 2025, to about 520,000 units. Of those, 457,300 were registered in China; the rest of the world together bought about 63,000.

Heavy trucks became the largest single category. Sales of heavy battery-electric trucks more than doubled in a year to nearly 240,000 units, and in China 28% of all new heavy trucks were fully electric, a share that has grown more than fivefold in two years. In December 2025, counting plug-in hybrids as well, new-energy trucks outsold diesel in China for the first time, at 54% of the month's heavy-truck registrations.

Why China moved first

Heavy-truck electrification is not a story of range or brand image: it is a calculation of cost per kilometre. It took hold first where that calculation is simplest, on fixed routes where trucks return to the same depot, mine or port every shift. In 2025 battery-electric models took about 38% of China's tractor-trailer sales and 41% of its dump-truck sales, against just over 7% of straight trucks. In Shanghai, 81% of new tractor-trailers were zero-emission; in Shijiazhuang and Zhengzhou more than nine in ten new dump trucks were.

Three things made the numbers work: low-cost lithium iron phosphate batteries, charging and battery-swap networks built for whole fleets, and business models in which the battery is leased separately from the truck. Swap-capable vehicles sold about 68,300 units in 2025, and they have held roughly 30% of China's electric heavy-truck market since 2023. Most heavy trucks now carry 350 to 500 kWh and are rated for 200 to 700 km, the sweet spot the ICCT identifies for regional and medium-haul work.

Europe and North America

Outside China the market is smaller but growing. The European Union registered more than 23,700 zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles in 2025, and zero-emission trucks over 3.5 tonnes reached a 4.5% share. In the United States, 25,427 zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles were registered, 3.1% of the market, most of them medium-duty delivery trucks.

European makers are pushing into long-haul with larger batteries and megawatt charging: the electric semi trucks in our database carry 350 to 861 kWh, and several are prepared for the Megawatt Charging System, which brings a 20 – 80% charge within a driver's mandatory break.

The export wave

The latest change is geographic. After the war that began on 28 February 2026 drove diesel prices up, by 57% in the Philippines and 48% in Sri Lanka, China's exports of electric heavy trucks more than doubled year on year to 16,823 vehicles in four months. Half went to South and South-East Asia. SANY, the world's largest maker of electric heavy trucks, says the time a buyer in these markets needs to recoup an electric truck fell from 28 months to 18, and in June it shipped its largest single order, some 880 trucks. More in China's electric truck exports.

The makers

According to the ICCT, the five largest makers of zero-emission heavy trucks in China (XCMG, FAW, Sinotruk, Shacman and Hunan Truck) held 59% of the market in 2025, far less concentrated than the diesel market, where FAW, Dongfeng, Sinotruk, Foton and Shacman held 82%. Construction-machinery groups such as XCMG and SANY have taken share from the established truck builders. In Europe and North America, Volvo, Daimler Truck (Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner), TRATON (MAN and Scania), PACCAR (DAF, Kenworth and Peterbilt), IVECO and Renault Trucks build the electric ranges.

eTruckWorld covers 18 makers so far, 7 of them Chinese (BYD, FAW Jiefang, Geely Remote (Farizon), SANY, SHACMAN, Sinotruk, Yutong) and 11 from Europe and North America. See all makers.

What comes next

The direction is set; the pace now depends on charging and swap infrastructure, electricity prices and how quickly battery costs keep falling. For fleets outside China, the practical questions are the ones the database answers: which trucks are built for their loads and routes, how large a battery they need, and how they will charge.