How China is rolling out electric trucks at vast scale to boost net-zero push
China wants at least 1.6 million electric heavy-goods vehicles on the road by 2030, as it pushes to decarbonise its vast road freight sector
China is pushing to ensure that electric trucks account for at least 40 per cent of new heavy-goods vehicle sales by 2030, as part of a broader effort to reduce carbon emissions in its vast transport sector.
That would mean having at least 1.6 million electric heavy-goods vehicles on the road by the end of the decade, said Cai Tuanjie, an official from China’s Ministry of Transport, at a Tuesday press briefing. Electric trucks currently make up nearly 30 per cent of China’s new heavy-goods vehicle sales, state media reported in May.
The official said the push to overhaul the road freight sector would deliver wins on multiple fronts: boosting China’s electric vehicle industry, reducing carbon emissions by replacing diesel with electricity, and cutting logistics costs.
Demand for electric trucks is already surging in China. Last year, sales of new-energy heavy-goods vehicles soared by 182 per cent year on year, Cai said. The momentum has continued this year, with sales up nearly 80 per cent in the first half of 2026, he added.
“We should capitalise on the current momentum, ramping up efforts to promote their large-scale adoption,” Cai said.
According to Cai, the government will deploy 22 billion yuan (US$3.25 billion) in ultra-long special treasury bonds to support the push to phase out legacy trucks this year, as the government aims to “provide extra policy backing on top of existing market momentum”.
China will also push major freight companies, express courier firms and operators of large fleets of heavy-goods vehicles to take the lead in adopting electric trucks on main transport corridors.
In a new decarbonisation road map released last week, Beijing designated transport as a priority sector for emissions cuts, urging a steady increase in the share of bulk freight shipped by rail and waterways, as well as new-energy vehicles.
According to the Ministry of Transport, the transport sector generates about 10 per cent of China’s total carbon output – and heavy-goods vehicles alone account for nearly 40 per cent of the sector’s emissions.
The carbon-reduction plans sit alongside wider efforts by China to modernise its transport network.
Half of China’s fixed-asset investment in transport over the next five years will be devoted to renovation projects, with the aim of increasing the network’s efficiency, resilience and sustainability in a cost-effective manner, officials told the Tuesday press conference.
Over the next five years, China will also build stronger rail corridors for transporting energy and grain, and raise the share of bulk freight shipped by rail to help cut overall logistics costs, railway officials said at the briefing.
In the aviation sector, Beijing will expand international air freight capacity, with a focus on strengthening connectivity with freight hubs in emerging markets, officials said.