The world bought 158,000 medium- and heavy-duty electric trucks in the first half of 2026, 75 percent more than a year earlier.
In China, about one in five trucks sold in the first half was electric, and in Norway and Switzerland the share was even higher.
China's exports of electric tractor-trucks in the first half were more than double the total for all of 2025.
Nine out of ten sold in China
In the first half of 2026, 158,000 medium- and heavy-duty electric trucks were sold worldwide. That is a record and 75 percent more than in the same period the year before, according to the research firm BloombergNEF. Almost all of them were battery-electric.
Trucks are following the same path as cars. In the same half-year, gasoline cars made up less than half of global car sales for the first time, as we recently reported.
China accounted for more than nine out of ten electric trucks sold. BloombergNEF attributes this to strong policy support and a large domestic battery industry. In the first half, about one in five trucks sold in China was electric. Sales there rose by almost 80 percent compared with the first half of 2025.
Among heavy trucks, the shift is even faster. According to Bloomberg, electric trucks are on track to make up nearly a third of the heavy trucks sold in China this year. A couple of years ago, the share was 8 percent. China's plan is for electric and other new-energy trucks to make up at least 40 percent of heavy truck sales and a fifth of the entire fleet by 2030.
Cheaper to run
High diesel prices are driving sales, Canary Media reports. A driver in the city of Yulin told Bloomberg that a charge costs about 200 yuan. That is less than a third of what he used to pay to fill up with diesel.
The consulting firm SCI99 estimates that a heavy electric truck costs about 600,000 yuan to buy, compared with about 400,000 yuan for an equivalent diesel truck. A coal trader in Yulin, whose company bought 15 electric trucks last year, expects to earn back the difference in about two years. The logistics company Nippon Express in China aims to make its entire vehicle fleet electric within three to four years.
Sinopec's research institute estimates that China's diesel consumption will fall by more than 10 percent this year.
Exports more than doubled
China is also selling more and more electric trucks to other countries. In the first half of 2026, the country exported more than twice as many electric tractor-trucks as in all of 2025. They go to Asia, Latin America and Africa.
Sweden among the leaders in Europe
In Europe, 5.5 percent of all trucks sold in the first half were electric. In Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden, the share was over 10 percent. Norway and Switzerland had a higher share than China. BloombergNEF links the increase in Europe to new models from manufacturers and lower prices for electric trucks.
Fast chargers for trucks are being built along Europe's freight corridors, more and more often at existing truck stops. The EU's Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation, which sets targets for how many stations there should be, is speeding up the buildout.
Tesla and new ways to finance
Tesla has started mass-producing its electric truck, the Semi, at a factory in Nevada. According to industry sources BloombergNEF has spoken with, it costs between $250,000 and $300,000. BloombergNEF estimates that it could be cheaper than a comparable diesel truck over its entire lifetime in some duty cycles, depending on the cost of charging.
Lenders have also started financing electric trucks in new ways. Instead of relying only on what the truck will be worth when it is sold in the future, the loans are increasingly based on long-term freight contracts. That makes the deals attractive to large corporate shippers and investors.
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