Electric Light Trucks: Is More Battery Capacity Always Better?

Since the beginning of this year, the market for electric light trucks with large battery capacities has rapidly heated up, with the mainstream models' battery capacity already jumping from 80kWh to 100kWh, and gradually moving towards 135kWh.

Currently, light truck brands such as Yutong, China National Heavy Duty Truck, and Foton Auman have launched models with more than 100kWh of battery capacity, using large-capacity battery packs and ultra-long driving range as the core selling points to attract consumers.

Whether from the perspective of the industry's upward development or from the perspective of the product's own performance improvement, the advancement of electric light trucks to larger battery capacities has become an inevitable trend.

However, it is worth noting that in the absence of breakthrough progress in power battery technology, increasing the battery capacity will inevitably be accompanied by an increase in vehicle costs and a reduction in load capacity. Therefore, for logistics practitioners, is the battery capacity of electric light trucks really the larger the better?

Enterprises Rush to Launch New Models: The Trend of Large Battery Capacity is Obvious

In recent years, with the advantages of low emissions, low noise, economy, and efficiency, electric light trucks are gradually replacing fuel light trucks and becoming the main force in the urban distribution logistics market.

However, short driving range and long charging time have always been the main obstacles restricting the promotion and application of electric light trucks. To break through these bottlenecks, many new energy light truck companies have focused on technological innovation, increasing battery capacity to improve the vehicle's driving range.

Looking at the electric light truck market in the past two years, the competition among car companies for large-capacity models has become increasingly fierce. From the early models with 81kWh and 89kWh battery capacities, to the large number of electric light trucks with 100kWh large-capacity battery packs that emerged in the market in 2023, to this year's mainstream models equipped with 105kWh battery packs, the vehicle's driving range under comprehensive conditions has exceeded 300 kilometers. This significant progress is inseparable from the close cooperation between battery manufacturers and car companies. Now, larger-capacity battery packs are gradually being applied to electric light trucks.

Specifically, the Yutong New Energy Light Truck T5 Long Range Edition, which was launched in March this year, has a battery capacity of 127kWh, with a full-electric driving range of 520.46 kilometers; the China National Heavy Duty Truck Blue Cube Han Jiang Light Truck is equipped with a 131.98kWh battery, with a claimed comprehensive driving range of more than 400 kilometers; the Auman Zhilan ES1 is equipped with a Ningde Times battery pack, with a maximum battery capacity of 123kWh, and a full-electric driving range of more than 350 kilometers; Weichai New Energy Blue Engine · Yue EH Pro is equipped with the largest 135kWh battery pack in the industry, with an official comprehensive driving range of 400 kilometers.

According to reporters, in addition to the large-capacity electric light trucks that have been launched recently, several new models with large-capacity versions will be released in the near future, including pure electric light truck models with 140kWh and 150kWh ultra-large capacity batteries, which also indicates that the driving range of electric light trucks will usher in a major breakthrough.

Large-Capacity Models are Popular

By sorting out, it is not difficult to find that "large capacity" and "long driving range" have become important labels for electric light trucks, and are also the focus of competition for power battery manufacturers and complete vehicle companies. At the same time, on the market demand side, large-capacity electric light trucks are also favored by users.

Some people believe that the application of large-capacity battery packs is the main driving force to promote the further penetration of the new energy light truck market. The rapid growth of the new energy light truck market is also inseparable from the help of the large-capacity electric light truck segment.

Terminal registration data shows that from January to May this year, the cumulative sales of new energy light trucks was 27,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 231.4%, becoming an important force to promote the growth of the new energy commercial vehicle market. Among them, pure electric light trucks accounted for 88%. In terms of the battery capacity of a single car, the performance of the large-capacity electric light truck market is particularly eye-catching, leading the overall increase of pure electric light trucks. Specifically, from January to May, the sales volume of pure electric light trucks with a battery capacity of 66-77kWh accounted for 34%, a year-on-year increase of 190%; the sales volume of pure electric light trucks with a battery capacity of 80-100kWh accounted for 77%, a year-on-year increase of 233%; the cumulative sales volume of models with a battery capacity of more than 100kWh exceeded 2,400 vehicles, accounting for nearly 10%, a year-on-year increase of more than 300 times.

From the above data, it is not difficult to see that the sales performance of large-capacity electric light trucks is getting better and better, especially the models with a battery capacity exceeding 110kWh, and the sales growth trend is more significant. Among them, the cumulative sales volume of the Yutong T series pure electric light trucks (with a battery capacity of 114-127kWh) in the first five months was 1,206 vehicles, accounting for 59.2% of its total new energy light truck sales; the total sales volume of the Blue Engine Yue series electric light trucks from January to May was 1,468 vehicles, of which the model with a battery capacity of 132kWh had a cumulative sales volume of 249 vehicles, accounting for 16.96%.

Balancing Technology Advancement and Cost Control

Overall, the expansion of the battery capacity of electric light trucks is of great significance for meeting the needs of inter-city logistics transportation, improving transportation efficiency and profitability, and reducing operating costs.

At present, large-capacity electric light trucks have shown significant advantages and are increasingly favored by transportation practitioners.

From the perspective of industry insiders, in the future, large-capacity models are expected to occupy a dominant position in the electric light truck market with their strong driving range and economic benefits.

However, it should be noted that increasing battery capacity is also a double-edged sword. If one blindly pursues large capacity, it may lead to a sharp increase in battery costs, increased difficulty in battery layout, and thus increase the investment of car companies in battery structure design and research and development. Therefore, the core issue that whole vehicle companies need to face is how to achieve a balance between driving range and cost while ensuring the optimization of the overall vehicle performance.

"In the decision to purchase a car, transportation practitioners pay great attention to the purchase cost. Especially in the context of the road freight industry's continued pressure, truck drivers have become more cautious when buying cars." The Secretary-General of the Commercial Vehicle Professional Committee of the China Automobile Circulation Association, Zhong Weiping, said that although the price of power batteries generally shows a downward trend, the purchase cost of large-capacity batteries is still relatively high, which undoubtedly raises the price of pure electric light trucks. For many small and medium-sized enterprises or individual transportation practitioners, the high purchase cost is a huge obstacle. Even with government subsidies, the high initial investment still makes many potential users hesitate. Moreover, large-capacity batteries have relatively large wear and tear during use, and the cost of replacing the battery in the later stage is also a considerable expense.

In addition, the weight of large-capacity batteries is relatively large, which not only increases the vehicle's curb weight but also weakens the vehicle's load capacity. In the field of logistics transportation, load capacity is directly related to operational efficiency. Although the power system of pure electric light trucks is relatively efficient, the overly heavy battery may still affect the vehicle's effective payload, thereby reducing the economic benefits of transportation.

What needs more attention is that the safety and stability of large-capacity batteries also have potential risks. Some large-capacity batteries generate more heat during the charging and discharging process, which puts forward higher requirements for the battery management system and the cooling system. If the battery management is not proper, it may cause safety accidents such as overheating and fire, causing serious losses to users. Therefore, whole vehicle companies must take into account cost control and safety while striving to improve the power and performance of electric light trucks, starting from the actual needs and usage scenarios of users, and try to balance various factors to achieve the optimal solution of economy and safety.

For the vast number of transportation practitioners, they should adhere to the "moderation is the best" car purchase philosophy, choose the most suitable