New energy trucks in the eyes of users: concerns about charging and swapping, light trucks are more

On August 11th, the China Automobile Association released relatively new data: From January to July, the cumulative sales of new energy commercial vehicles in China were 80000 units, a year-on-year increase of 58.9%. Among them, the cumulative sales of pure electric commercial vehicles reached 78000 units, a year-on-year increase of 64.4%.

This data intuitively reflects that the sales base of new energy commercial vehicles in China is relatively low. Despite a year-on-year increase of 60%, the sales volume from January to July was only 80000 units.

Relevant analysts say that China's new energy commercial vehicles still have huge growth potential.

Data shows that in 2020, the total sales of commercial vehicles in China were 5.133 million, while the sales of new energy commercial vehicles were 121000, accounting for only 2.3%. In the new energy commercial vehicles, as a promotional product in the urban transportation network, the sales of new energy buses account for a higher proportion of 65.26%, while as the main model in the transportation industry, the proportion of new energy trucks is only 34.74%.

It is worth noting that the energy-saving and carbon reduction of commercial vehicles has always been the focus of attention in relevant industries. In the past July, China's heavy-duty diesel vehicles officially implemented the "National Phase VI Motor Vehicle Pollutant Emission Standards" (hereinafter referred to as "National VI"), which means that heavy-duty diesel vehicles that do not meet the national VI emission standards will be prohibited from production and sales.

This also means that for traditional trucks, the cost of technology and spare parts due to emission restrictions will further increase.

Shi Jianhua, Deputy Secretary General of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, stated in an interview that after the implementation of the National VI emission standards for heavy-duty diesel vehicles, the emission limits for nitrogen oxides and particulate matter will be reduced by 77% and 67% respectively, which is of great significance for energy conservation and emission reduction. However, in order to meet emission requirements, car manufacturers need to update the post processor of diesel engines, including DPF (Exhaust Particle Trap), SCR (Nitride Processor), DOC (Diesel Oxidation Catalyst), EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) and other environmental protection devices installed on the engine.

However, relying solely on upgrading the emission standards of diesel heavy-duty commercial vehicles is clearly not enough to accelerate the pace of carbon reduction in commercial vehicles. According to the 2020 China Mobile Source Environmental Management Annual Report of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the nitrogen oxide emissions of diesel vehicles exceed 80% of the total vehicle emissions, and the particulate matter emissions exceed 90%.

Therefore, further increasing the conversion of new energy for commercial vehicles, especially trucks, is a key task in the current environment.

At present, new energy trucks with green license plates have been promoted in multiple cities, and most of the right-of-way restrictions have been waived in various regions. For example, Shanghai's new energy freight vehicles prioritize the issuance of passes. Except for some roads in Chongqing, new energy light trucks are not subject to truck traffic restrictions and do not need to apply for a truck pass (for vehicles with less than 4.5 tons)