2023_11_Sustainable Truck&Van

FOCUS. CHINA
EYE ON: YUTONG
With a dedicated global event held in June in Zhengzhou,
China, primary truck and bus manufacturer Yutong introduced
the so-called YEA (Yutong Electric Architecture). It’s an
advanced, scalable and self-evolving EV architecture that
enhances the Chinese manufacturer’s CVs through a native
powertrain design. The new architecture integrates hardware
and software and was developed in-house. The YEA can
improve computing power by 200% and control efficiency by
100%. Yutong is considering selling trucks even outside China.
Farizon Auto,
the new energy
commercial vehicle
manufacturer
belonging to the
Geely Group, is
targeting indeed
the European
market. The
international launch
of the newly-built
SuperVAN with
an innovative and
modular design will
be in 2024.
the Chinese domestic market, reaching 54%
of total sales. These were naturally driven by
sales of electric and hybrid cars, which reached
3.5 million in the first half of the current year
alone, more or less a third of the total.
Compared to the automotive sector, the situation
in the ‘heavy-duty’ industry is much
more fluid, with the main Chinese brands still
focused above all on the domestic market,
which has by far the most important volumes
globally. In the first half of 2023, according to
Interact Analysis, 104,000 electric buses and
trucks were sold, a 57% increase compared to
the first half of 2022. A growth driven above all
by lower tonnage vehicles, in particular light
trucks, which grew by 45%, with approximately
30,000 units throughout China. Significant
figures are also starting to be recorded with
regard to heavy trucks, with approximately
11 thousand vehicles marketed in the first six
months of 2023. To make an example, in Europe
(Switzerland and Norway included), just
over a thousand trucks with a gross vehicle
weight equal to or greater than 16 tonnes were
sold throughout 2022.
Electric trucks, a Chinese thing
It is therefore not surprising that, again according
to Interact analysis’ experts, 9 of the top 10
brands for global electric truck registrations in
2022 are Chinese: the ranking is led by Sany
with a 13% share, ahead of Xcmg and Geely,
just under 10%, and Yutong with 7%. The only
exception to the Dragon’s excessive power is
Volvo Trucks with a 4 percent share and 1,211
registered vehicles.
In the first half of this year, Geely itself re-
corded rapid growth on the Chinese market.
This statistic, however, takes buses into consideration,
with a market share rising from 11
to 26% of total registrations, also thanks to the
Farizon car brand dedicated to new generation
vans. Also seeing strong growth this year is
Chery, and Foton, a manufacturer with strong
specialization in freight transport, and one of
the very first to approach the European market.
So, what should we expect from the evolution
of the Chinese heavy automotive sector in the
near future? According to analysts cited by the
Cnevpost website, by 2025, 16% of heavy-duty
trucks sold in China will be electric. And there
is great confidence in the potential of battery
swapping, for which around half of the BEV
trucks currently circulating in China are already
equipped.
In addition to the sectors of waste collection
or street cleaning, which are highly influenced
by public policies, transport relating to the coal
industry or steel production will be the areas
most permeated by electric mobility, while
issues related to vehicle autonomy remain in
long-distance transport.
And all signs suggest that the European market,
even more than the American one, which
is currently more influenced by duties, could
become the main target for Chinese manufacturers
also among commercial vehicles.
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