Industry estimates suggest that heavy-duty cargo traffic in China is on track to become nearly 100 per cent electric, a transition that could halve the country’s road transport oil consumption.

Speaking at a forum on intelligent electric vehicle development in Beijing on April 11, Liang Linhe, chairman of Sany Truck – a subsidiary of the Changsha-headquartered multinational Sany Group – said China’s heavy truck sector could eventually be almost entirely electrified, although he did not put a timeline on the transition.

Such a move, he noted, had the potential to cut fuel demand within the road transport sector by about half.

Liang said cost was the overriding factor behind the uptake of electric heavy trucks – vehicles that are engineered for hauling, towing and moving massive volumes of cargo, equipment or raw materials.

“As a means of production, economics is the core consideration,” Liang said. He estimated that much lower transport costs would drive market penetration to a point “even potentially approaching 100 per cent, leaving little room for diesel trucks”.

Given that heavy trucks account for a substantial share of China’s petroleum and diesel consumption, the shift from conventional diesel to electric power is widely viewed as a crucial lever for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and advancing the clean energy transition in China.

Liang said the annual carbon emissions from a single diesel heavy truck were equivalent to those of about 100 petrol-powered cars.