China's electric heavy trucks pass 50% as battery swapping scales

The September share is not a one-month blip. Electrek reported electric big rig sales rose 37% year on year, while the overall heavy truck market shrank 21%.

For fleet operators, the appeal is cost. In most uses, an electric heavy truck in China is now cheaper to own and run than a diesel one. It is unclear whether battery swapping or megawatt charging wins in the truck market. It is also unclear whether either model scales outside China.

China's heavy truck market flips

CleanTechnica put September sales up 34% year on year. Electrek reported 37%. Both agree on the share. Electric heavy trucks were 13.6% of Chinese sales in 2024. They reached 38.1% across the first nine months of 2026. Sales in that period reached 226,400 units, up 64%. Long-haul tractors reached 64.5% in September, above the 50.3% for the category as a whole.

Diesel demand is following. China's diesel use is on track to fall by about 230,000 barrels per day this year, despite more freight moving.

Why swapping fits heavy trucks

Charging time is the objection that swapping answers. CATL's Qiji brand operated about 300 heavy-truck swap stations at the end of 2025. Its standardized truck packs hold 432 kWh and 513 kWh and swap in about five minutes. In August, CATL agreed to pay 2.56 billion yuan, about $370 million, for nearly 25% of Qiyuan Green Power. That company runs more than 1,600 charging and swap stations.

CATL also supplied 60% of the batteries in China's electric heavy trucks. XCMG led the segment in 2025 with a 15.4% share.

Nio shows swap scale in cars

Nio passed 130 million cumulative battery swaps on 3 November. That was 88 days after it reached 120 million on 7 August.

Daily swaps averaged more than 110,000 over those 88 days, the company said. A vehicle left a station every 0.77 seconds on average. Nio had 4,236 swap stations in China as of 3 November, up by 230 from 4,006 on 7 August. It said 84.5% of users had a station within 3 kilometers of home or work, up from 80.1%.

What happens next

The next checkpoints are network targets. CATL is targeting 900 heavy-truck swap stations by the end of 2026 and 2,000 in 2027.

Nio plans to equip 100 scenic driving routes with charging and swapping facilities by the end of 2026, up from 92.