China’s Electric Trucks Hit 50% Sales Share, Cut Diesel Demand — SkimNews
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- China saw electric heavy trucks make up 50.3% of monthly sales in September 2026, with 33,100 units sold—up 37% year-on-year—even as the overall heavy-truck market shrank by 21%.
- CATL supplies 60% of batteries for China’s electric heavy trucks and is expanding its Qiji swap station network, aiming for 2,000 stations by 2027 and investing 2.56 billion yuan in Qiyuan Green Power, the country’s largest heavy-truck swap operator.
- Diesel demand in China is on track to fall by 230,000 barrels per day in 2026, with electric and LNG trucks displacing a combined 680,000 barrels per day, despite continued 3% growth in road freight volume.
- XCMG, SANY, and FAW Jiefang dominated China’s electric heavy-truck market in 2025, with XCMG leading at 15.4% share, while domestic production and falling operating costs drive rapid fleet adoption.
- Europe registered 5,120 electric heavy trucks (16+ tonnes) in the first nine months of 2026, a 59.9% increase, but electric models still only reached a 2.5% market share, led by Switzerland at 24% and Norway at 14.4%.
- U.S. electric Class 8 truck adoption remains below 1%, with the median price at $411,200—2.4 times the cost of diesel trucks—and no federal tax credits since 2025, despite Tesla’s Semi factory capacity and a recent 2,500-unit order through ZET SCALE.
Why it matters: Chinese fleets are cutting fuel costs by switching to electric trucks that are now cheaper per kilometer than diesel, displacing 230,000 barrels of diesel daily despite electric models making up only 8% of the on-road fleet—compounding pressure on oil demand while leaving U.S. and European markets far behind due to cost and policy gaps.
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