Briefing
Zero-emission truck market developments and opportunities in Sichuan province China
The zero-emission truck (ZET) market in Sichuan province has grown quickly in recent years and Sichuan was among the top three Chinese provinces for ZET sales from 2019 to 2022. This paper first provides an overview of recent developments in electrification in the heavy-duty trucks market in Sichuan and then identifies challenges and opportunities for increasing ZET adoption. (ZETs are battery-electric trucks and fuel-cell electric trucks.)
The analysis shows that ZET sales in Sichuan in 2022 were nearly quadruple what they were in 2019. Further, while only Sichuan’s five main cities recorded any ZET sales in 2019, all 21 of its cities (including three autonomous prefectures) had sales in 2022. In considering the market by vehicle type, the authors find that ZETs are already a considerable share of sales in the logistics truck segment, but there is a need to support developing zero-emission dump trucks to serve the weight segments in the highest demand in Sichuan (3.5 t–4.5 t and 4.5 t–30 t), and zero-emission tractor-trailers with enough battery capacity to cover long-haul delivery. The paper suggests that Sichuan put forward stronger incentives, especially financial support, to spur manufacturers to build ZETs that have a quantified engine and battery capacity and are capable of taking over duties now handled by diesel trucks.
This paper was revised on 18 July, 2023 to correct the 2022 ZET sales in Figure 1 and Figure 2 and to amend the relative statistical analysis for provincial and city-level ZET sales and penetration. After the correction, Sichuan sold 15,525 BETs and 134 FCETs from 2019 to 2022, which account for 9% of total truck sales. The original can be found here.