New Energy Tractors: BEV vs Swap Rivalry

In the first half of 2025, the market for new energy-powered tractors witnessed an exponential growth trend. According to data from the First Commercial Vehicle Network, in June, the sales volume of new energy-powered tractors reached 14,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 217%, setting a new record high. The cumulative sales volume from January to June was 58,500 units, exceeding the full-year sales volume of 2024 (58,000 units). Among them, pure electric tractors accounted for 98.35%, and battery swap tractors accounted for 37.5% of the pure electric vehicle models (21,600 units). This growth was attributed to increased policy subsidies (up to 140,000 yuan per vehicle), reduced battery costs (60% lower than in 2020), and expanded application scenarios.
From the perspective of technological routes, pure electric and battery swap modes present differentiated competition. In 2024, the market share of battery swap trucks decreased from 48.43% to 37.24%, but in the first half of 2025, the sales volume of battery swap tractors increased by 133% year-on-year, significantly higher than the overall growth rate of pure electric tractors. This contradictory phenomenon reflects the market's scenario-based selection of the two modes: pure electric vehicles, with improved range (mainstream models reaching 300-400 kilometers) and a complete charging network, have an advantage in long-distance trunk logistics; the battery swap mode, relying on 3-5 minute rapid charging and battery full life cycle management, has rapidly penetrated in high-frequency short-distance scenarios such as ports and mines.

Battery swapping mode: A battle between charging efficiency and infrastructure

The battery swapping electric hauler achieves "separation of vehicle and battery" through standardized battery packs (such as the Ningde Time EVOGO battery pack). Users only need to pay the battery rental fee (approximately 0.8 yuan per kilowatt-hour), significantly reducing the initial purchase cost. The XCMG Hanfeng G7 battery swapping electric hauler uses a 513 kWh battery, with a single battery swap time of less than 5 minutes. It is suitable for closed scenarios such as steel mills and ports, and can achieve an average daily operating mileage of 400 kilometers. However, the battery swapping mode relies on a high-density battery swap station network. Currently, there are only about 2,000 battery swap stations across the country, and the construction cost of each station exceeds 5 million yuan, which hinders large-scale promotion.

The competition between traditional car manufacturers and new entrants

Traditional giants such as XCMG, Jiefang, and Sany Heavy Industry hold a dominant position: XCMG's cumulative sales for January to June reached 9,532 units, with a market share of 16.3%, and it has consecutively won the top spot in battery-electric traction vehicle sales for 11 consecutive months; Jiefang, relying on the J6P battery-electric model, made a comeback, with 2,245 units sold in June, a year-on-year increase of 448%, and its market share rose by 7.67 percentage points to 15.85%. New energy talents like Remote Commercial Vehicles (with a cumulative sales of 3,138 units) focus on urban logistics scenarios and establish a differentiated advantage through intelligent management systems (such as remote monitoring and energy consumption analysis).

The formation of the Battery Swap Alliance

Nidea Technology has jointly established the "EVOGO Battery Swap Alliance" with FAW and Dongfeng, aiming to build 5,000 battery swap stations by 2025. AutoTong New Energy and Foton have collaborated to launch an integrated "storage, charging, swapping and inspection" power station, with a single station capable of handling 300 services per day. These alliances, through three strategies of decoupling vehicle and battery, battery bank, and unified standards, are attempting to break the "island effect" of the battery swapping model.

1. The leverage effect of subsidy policies
In 2025, the country continued the "trade-in" policy, offering a maximum subsidy of 140,000 yuan (45,000 yuan for the scrap vehicle subsidy + 95,000 yuan for the new purchase subsidy) for scrapping old four-technology trucks and purchasing new electric traction vehicles, directly stimulating market demand. Local governments also introduced differentiated policies, such as Henan Province exempting hydrogen fuel cell trucks from tolls, and Jiangsu Province including charging stations in the scope of new infrastructure subsidies.
2. Scenario-based penetration of regional markets
North China / Northwest China: Hebei and Shanxi, with their steel and coal industrial clusters, have a penetration rate of over 30% for electric traction vehicles, and the application of the battery swapping model in Tangshan Port and Ordos mining area accounts for 70%.
Yangtze River Delta / Pearl River Delta: Shanghai and Shenzhen, relying on port and urban distribution demands, have a proportion of pure electric traction vehicles exceeding 80%, and charging stations are concentratedly located in hub ports such as Yangshan Port and Yantian Port.
Central and Western Regions: Sichuan and Yunnan, through the "new energy + infrastructure" model, promote battery swapping traction vehicles in the Chengdu-Chongqing Twin-City Economic Circle, enjoying a 70% subsidy tilt from the national finance.

1. Technical Route: Short-term Parallel, Long-term Integration
In the next 3-5 years, the two models will present a complementary scenario in terms of application scenarios: Electric vehicles will dominate long-distance trunk lines (accounting for over 60%), while battery swapping will focus on closed scenarios (accounting for 40%). However, the trend of technological integration has already emerged. For instance, CATL has launched "chargeable and replaceable" battery packs, enabling users to choose the charging method flexibly; XCMG has released intelligent connected battery swapping tractors, which can automatically plan the optimal charging path through V2X technology.
2. Business Model Innovation
Vehicle-Energy Separation Financing Solution: Users purchase vehicles in a "0 down payment + monthly rent" model. For example, the BaaS service of NIO has reduced the initial cost of battery swapping tractors by 40%.
Battery Gradient Utilization: Used batteries (with a capacity of ≥ 80%) can be used in energy storage stations. The residual value of each vehicle's battery reaches 5-8 ten thousand yuan, forming a "manufacturing - use - recycling" closed loop.
3. Global Competition
The export volume of China's new energy traction vehicles has increased from 0.8 thousand units in 2023 to 2.1 thousand units in 2025, mainly exported to Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and other regions. XCMG and Sany have avoided trade barriers by establishing local factories (such as the joint project of the Saudi battery swap station), while Tesla Semi is accelerating its entry into the Chinese market with a 480-kilometer range and a super charging network.