(Yicai) July 22 -- China has allocated CNY22 billion (USD3.3 billion) raised through ultra-long-term special government bonds to replace old trucks with new energy heavy-duty vehicles this year, in an effort to speed up the transportation sector’s greening.

New energy heavy-duty trucks have entered a critical stage of widespread adoption, Cai Tuanjie, director of safety and head of the transport service department at the Ministry of Transport, said at a press briefing yesterday. China will continue to strengthen policy support and promote market adoption of these vehicles through equipment upgrades and trade-in policies, he added.

China has been issuing ultra-long-term special government bonds every year since 2024 to support large-scale equipment upgrades and trade-in programs for consumer goods. This year, the government has earmarked CNY200 billion (USD29.5 billion) for equipment upgrades and CNY250 billion for consumer goods trade-ins.

Driven by policy and market forces, sales of new energy heavy-duty trucks in China have seen explosive growth over the past two years, surging 182 percent last year and nearly 80 percent in the first half of this year from a year earlier, Cai noted.

Last month, the transport ministry and 10 other government departments jointly issued a plan to promote the mass use of new energy heavy-duty trucks. They should account for 40 percent of new truck sales and for about 20 percent of all trucks in operation by 2030, according to the plan.

Based on current development trends, China will likely surpass the targets by 2030, Cai said. “But we must strive to do even better,” he added.

China will also hasten the building of a charging network for new energy heavy-duty trucks, with the plan specifying it aims by 2030 to build more than 3,000 charging and battery swapping stations along highways and in freight hubs, ports, and mining areas, as well as at factories. The country will also construct 30,000 kilometers of zero-carbon highway transportation corridors.

Furthermore, the ministry plans to expand the application scenarios for new energy heavy-duty trucks. In addition to increasing their use in short- and medium-haul transportation, it will encourage large logistics providers to take the lead in adopting them for long-haul highway transportation, Cai noted.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Futura Costaglione