The future of freight transport in China: Electric trucks are replacing LNG vehicles

Last year, more electric trucks were sold in China for the first time than gas-powered trucks. Historically, freight transport has been one of the main drivers of gas demand, and growth was expected. But the Chinese government’s push to cut emissions is giving electric trucks an advantage.

According to Bloomberg, citing registration data tracked by the Chinese platform CVNews, the number of battery-powered heavy trucks in China nearly tripled year on year to more than 230 000 units sold. The development is raising concerns in the liquefied natural gas market, according to some observers.

Policy and demand

Although sales of LNG-powered trucks in the country also jumped by 12%, to just under 200 000 units (according to insurance data cited by CVWorld), analysts are concerned about the stronger rise of battery-powered trucks. LNG vehicles were supposed to be a lower-emissions solution, and some were surprised by the relatively rapid gains made by battery-powered trucks in the Chinese market.

The success of electric trucks—and the fact that they are evidently favored by the central government, which sees them as part of its net zero strategy (and, from the Chinese government’s perspective, their independence from foreign supplies is also important)—is changing earlier expectations.

China is also likely moving away from LNG. Beijing has relatively recent long-term contracts with Qatar and other suppliers, but it also has domestic capacity (which is not large by Chinese standards, but should be taken into account), and since 2022 China has also been the main recipient of Russian gas via pipelines in the Far East. The energy sector is unlikely to drive LNG demand, as China is betting on a combination of coal, nuclear power and renewables in this area.

According to data from China’s National Energy Administration, LNG accounts for about a quarter of gas supplies to the Chinese market. Even so, China is highly relevant to the global market and has been the world’s largest LNG importer since 2024. Chinese demand is therefore closely monitored by foreign analysts and is crucial to the global market.

Unlike conventional vehicles, electric battery-powered freight trucks are a market in which China effectively has no competition. The vast majority of these vehicles have always been sold in China globally. Since around 2019, however, they have been gradually making inroads into the European market.