500+ km Standard range for new electric trucks
Trucks
While many countries in Asia-Pacific are advancing car electrification, heavy-duty vehicles remain largely dependent on fossil fuels. But technologies exist to decarbonise trucks.
While many countries in Asia-Pacific are advancing car electrification, heavy-duty vehicles remain largely dependent on fossil fuels. But technologies exist to decarbonise trucks.
As countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, and Malaysia advance in car electrification, the heavy-duty segment across Asia-Pacific remains largely dependent on fossil fuels. In Australia, electricity and land-use emissions have declined since 2005, yet transport emissions have risen by 22%, with HDVs—25% of transport emissions—still unregulated.
Indonesia faces an even more pressing challenge. As one of the world’s largest emitters, its transport sector released 202 million tonnes of CO₂ in 2024, over a quarter of national emissions, leaving the country heavily reliant on oil imports. To meet its 2060 net-zero target, Indonesia urgently needs clear roadmaps to decarbonise transport, including heavy-duty vehicles.
500+ km Standard range for new electric trucks
The technologies exist to decarbonise trucks. With battery technologies improving fast, truckmakers across the globe are now producing vehicles with ranges of 500 km and beyond.
In Europe, 45 battery-electric or hydrogen truck models are on the market. Windrose’s long-haul electric truck, with an alleged 670 km range fully loaded at 49t, completed a test drive in Australia in 2024. Scania’s 624 kWh electric truck was also approved for sale in Australia in early 2025.
Direct electrification is the most efficient way to decarbonise trucks, avoiding energy losses due to inefficient internal combustion engines, CO2 capture, or hydrogen-to-electricity conversion.
Truck electrification also creates growing demand for batteries and critical minerals mined or processed locally. This can promote the development of local e-mobility supply chains, generating value added where the industries are located.
Getting the right policies in place will be key in accelerating this much needed shift. This means a combination of the following three elements:
Supply standards on truckmakers and importers to increase production and sales of zero emission vehicles.
National policies to ramp up development of charging infrastructure and roll out of grids.
National measures to improve the total cost of ownership of zero emission trucks compared to fossil fuel powered vehicles. These could be carbon pricing or road charging.
EU needs stricter truck CO2 standards to help its laggard manufacturers compete with Tesla and BYD.
T&E ranks truckmakers’ readiness to transition fully to zero-emission truck sales.