Oh, look, it's another article about china dominating in electrification and reaping the rewards of intelligent investment.
Seems like there is a lot of dislike of this comment but not a lot of discussion about. Is it not true that china is dominating here? Or that this is becoming the norm? Isn't the instant negative reaction to this comment the exact problem? Maybe if we decided to get better instead of get mad we would see articles about the west dominating more often.
Comments often follow a u-curve, where immediate downvotes are countered after a few minutes. I suspect the cause is at least in part people directly downvoting from the https://news.ycombinator.com/newcomments page
So so many Tesla bros on here that are pathologically incapable of admitting they made a mistake.
> intelligent investment
I would not call highly disposable and cheap heavy duty vehicles an "intelligent investment." It's headline chasing and there's always very little tying their touted efforts to any actual improvements in the environment our economic outcomes.
Why? Heavy duty trucks are often disposable, they wear out quickly. Mining trucks are probably the worst example.
It’s apparent that the USA is falling deeply behind on all of these things. I look at the rest of my life now as the final days in Babylon and try to still enjoy going down in the sinking ship. I vote to stop it, but my votes haven’t mattered in a long time. It’s important to still do them anyway.
> my votes haven’t mattered in a long time
you vote mattered. It's just that there are more people who didn't vote the way you wanted them. But that's OK, because this is how it is supposed to work.
At least, in theory.
The USSR was considered by many prominent intellectuals a valid counterpoint to the Western capitalist structure, up until the moment it collapsed, and then it wasn't true socialism. Some humbleness should be in order when considering imperfect knowledge
[flagged]
This totally won't work. The infrastructure isn't built. Truck stops are built to store fuel. They're not built to deliver electricity. Cheap electric trucks solve the wrong problem currently.
Are you just talking about the USA or are you also including the rest of the 7.8 billion people that don’t live in the USA? If the former why should the rest of the world care about whatever hangouts the USA thinks it has?
If they're cheap enough that you can swap the tractor unit or its batteries out at a truck stop, does that not solve most of the problem?
[deleted]
Totes bro. Nice backwards hat with a flag on it, brodda. We patriots gotta stick together. There's a war against the American way. These commie Chinese EV semis have no place in the great red white and blue. Here in the land of stars n stripes we only have Erl at our truck stops. It'll never work with electricity!
/s clearly?
You're apparently the only one saying this. Maybe it's time to opt out of the outrage pornography cycle and contribute to the discussion in a more thoughtful way.
I'm contributing with comedy by making fun of Americans for not realizing the rest of the world caught up and is passing them.
A lot of Muricans are blinded by patriotism so it's helpful to make jokes.
One thing I realised after emigrating from the US is that ignorance and the desire to view your own way of doing things as superior is universal.
There are some electric trucks driving around Australian cities already as well.
Though I love the sound of a straight cut gear, I suspect they'll want to work on quieting that drivetrain a bit. Thankfully there is a lot of prior art.
Thanks for sharing, is that engine sound coming from the truck?
It's from the truck, it's the transmission of the truck which is evident by changing pitch as the truck downshifts while slowing down.
It likely uses a transmission as a tradeoff between torque and RPM of the electric motor or because it's a simpler task to retrofit an existing truck driveline with an electric motor bolted onto it.
These are so noisy because of the use of straight cut gears, which you choose when preferring strength over noise and comfort. Most regular cars use helical gears which reduces the noise due to continuously meshing between gear teeth, whereas straight cut gears are like a paddle wheel, so the teeth are smacking into eachother head on each time they engage. That is also why they clunk when getting on and off throttle.
We have some similar trucks running around Australia at the moment and the sound is the same, I'm also familiar with the sound from motorsport!
Sounds like the person taking the video is on an electric bike.
I think its the truck, near the end the bike peels off to the left and you can hear the sound fading off to the right.
The picture of two rows of electric trucks is marked "ChatGPT generated". Note that some of the trucks shown have three front grille slots, while some have two. Also, those trucks appear to have fuel tanks.
The author is mostly talking about what someone else saw at the China Commercial Vehicles Show.
Low-credibility source.
There's plenty of info about that show, with real pictures.[1] BYD has a full range of electric trucks, but what they're pushing seems to be the T3 and T4 trucks. The new T4 is a straight truck, available as a box truck, flatbed, or open top truck. Or they'll sell the chassis for custom jobs. Claimed range is "up to 250km". It's intended for city use with once daily charging. The T3, which has been out for a few years, is an ordinary electric van, comparable to a Ford Transit or a Mercedes Sprinter. These are high-volume commercial products. Light and medium electric trucks are taking over fleet operations.
BYD has a new line of heavy electric trucks, launched in April.[2] This isn't BYD's first try at heavy electric trucks. They delivered some (at least hundreds, but not tens of thousands) in 2022. The 2025 model is at least their third try. They don't claim to have cracked long-haul trucking. "BYD Tractor Q3: Focusing on Short – Haul Transportation and Breaking Through Medium – and Long – Haul Transportation" is their marketing pitch.
There are multiple battery options, and for charging, the Q3 can be plugged into up to four chargers at once. Long-haul operation is possible, but it's not yet the target market.
So the BYD heavy trucks aren't mainstream in China yet, but they're a lot closer than Tesla's Semi (yet another re-announcement: [3]) or the Nikola (only works going downhill and required a Trump pardon for the CEO).
Volvo has a range of electric trucks, mostly sold in Europe.
The text in teeny font under the headline picture is "ChatGPT generated. Chinese electric truck production lines expanding rapidly in 2024 and 2025."
So, in other words, the leading image is a lie. When people say false things that purport to be true in text we call it lying or fraud. I don't understand why when they do it with an image it's not the same thing. Putting teeny, easily missed font that says "ChatGPT generated" doesn't make it OK. I might feel less strongly if the author put a disclaimer, in larger font, that said (more accurately IMO), "The above image is fake."
If your entire take away from this article is "the image is fake" when it declares it's GPT GENERATED then your on a low bar mission.
Go hunt stories which don't declare it's a GPT masthead and excoriate them.
Well sure when you can skip all the safety standards they are cheap. These trucks would not be considered roadworthy in the USA or Europe.
From the article, "China’s low price electric trucks do not arrive as finished products for Europe or North America. They need work." and the article goes on to describe what the author considered and an estimate of the cost.
“The gap between a domestic Chinese tractor and a European or North American long haul tractor is roughly €80,000 to €120,000 once all mechanical, safety and comfort systems are brought to the required levels per my estimate.”
What makes you think/say they’ve skipped safety standards?
Oh, look, it's another article about china dominating in electrification and reaping the rewards of intelligent investment.
Seems like there is a lot of dislike of this comment but not a lot of discussion about. Is it not true that china is dominating here? Or that this is becoming the norm? Isn't the instant negative reaction to this comment the exact problem? Maybe if we decided to get better instead of get mad we would see articles about the west dominating more often.
Comments often follow a u-curve, where immediate downvotes are countered after a few minutes. I suspect the cause is at least in part people directly downvoting from the https://news.ycombinator.com/newcomments page
So so many Tesla bros on here that are pathologically incapable of admitting they made a mistake.
> intelligent investment
I would not call highly disposable and cheap heavy duty vehicles an "intelligent investment." It's headline chasing and there's always very little tying their touted efforts to any actual improvements in the environment our economic outcomes.
Why? Heavy duty trucks are often disposable, they wear out quickly. Mining trucks are probably the worst example.
It’s apparent that the USA is falling deeply behind on all of these things. I look at the rest of my life now as the final days in Babylon and try to still enjoy going down in the sinking ship. I vote to stop it, but my votes haven’t mattered in a long time. It’s important to still do them anyway.
> my votes haven’t mattered in a long time
you vote mattered. It's just that there are more people who didn't vote the way you wanted them. But that's OK, because this is how it is supposed to work.
At least, in theory.
The USSR was considered by many prominent intellectuals a valid counterpoint to the Western capitalist structure, up until the moment it collapsed, and then it wasn't true socialism. Some humbleness should be in order when considering imperfect knowledge
[flagged]
This totally won't work. The infrastructure isn't built. Truck stops are built to store fuel. They're not built to deliver electricity. Cheap electric trucks solve the wrong problem currently.
Are you just talking about the USA or are you also including the rest of the 7.8 billion people that don’t live in the USA? If the former why should the rest of the world care about whatever hangouts the USA thinks it has?
If they're cheap enough that you can swap the tractor unit or its batteries out at a truck stop, does that not solve most of the problem?
Totes bro. Nice backwards hat with a flag on it, brodda. We patriots gotta stick together. There's a war against the American way. These commie Chinese EV semis have no place in the great red white and blue. Here in the land of stars n stripes we only have Erl at our truck stops. It'll never work with electricity!
/s clearly?
You're apparently the only one saying this. Maybe it's time to opt out of the outrage pornography cycle and contribute to the discussion in a more thoughtful way.
I'm contributing with comedy by making fun of Americans for not realizing the rest of the world caught up and is passing them.
A lot of Muricans are blinded by patriotism so it's helpful to make jokes.
One thing I realised after emigrating from the US is that ignorance and the desire to view your own way of doing things as superior is universal.
It is absolutely magnificent to see a electric truck full of sand driving through the street, here is a (sorry, verry bad quality) video of a BYD one I caught: https://youtube.com/shorts/B0akomAQgkM?si=B1JEkKrTk6w7q5Bq
There are some electric trucks driving around Australian cities already as well.
Though I love the sound of a straight cut gear, I suspect they'll want to work on quieting that drivetrain a bit. Thankfully there is a lot of prior art.
Thanks for sharing, is that engine sound coming from the truck?
It's from the truck, it's the transmission of the truck which is evident by changing pitch as the truck downshifts while slowing down.
It likely uses a transmission as a tradeoff between torque and RPM of the electric motor or because it's a simpler task to retrofit an existing truck driveline with an electric motor bolted onto it.
These are so noisy because of the use of straight cut gears, which you choose when preferring strength over noise and comfort. Most regular cars use helical gears which reduces the noise due to continuously meshing between gear teeth, whereas straight cut gears are like a paddle wheel, so the teeth are smacking into eachother head on each time they engage. That is also why they clunk when getting on and off throttle.
We have some similar trucks running around Australia at the moment and the sound is the same, I'm also familiar with the sound from motorsport!
Sounds like the person taking the video is on an electric bike.
I think its the truck, near the end the bike peels off to the left and you can hear the sound fading off to the right.
The picture of two rows of electric trucks is marked "ChatGPT generated". Note that some of the trucks shown have three front grille slots, while some have two. Also, those trucks appear to have fuel tanks. The author is mostly talking about what someone else saw at the China Commercial Vehicles Show. Low-credibility source.
There's plenty of info about that show, with real pictures.[1] BYD has a full range of electric trucks, but what they're pushing seems to be the T3 and T4 trucks. The new T4 is a straight truck, available as a box truck, flatbed, or open top truck. Or they'll sell the chassis for custom jobs. Claimed range is "up to 250km". It's intended for city use with once daily charging. The T3, which has been out for a few years, is an ordinary electric van, comparable to a Ford Transit or a Mercedes Sprinter. These are high-volume commercial products. Light and medium electric trucks are taking over fleet operations.
BYD has a new line of heavy electric trucks, launched in April.[2] This isn't BYD's first try at heavy electric trucks. They delivered some (at least hundreds, but not tens of thousands) in 2022. The 2025 model is at least their third try. They don't claim to have cracked long-haul trucking. "BYD Tractor Q3: Focusing on Short – Haul Transportation and Breaking Through Medium – and Long – Haul Transportation" is their marketing pitch. There are multiple battery options, and for charging, the Q3 can be plugged into up to four chargers at once. Long-haul operation is possible, but it's not yet the target market.
So the BYD heavy trucks aren't mainstream in China yet, but they're a lot closer than Tesla's Semi (yet another re-announcement: [3]) or the Nikola (only works going downhill and required a Trump pardon for the CEO).
Volvo has a range of electric trucks, mostly sold in Europe.
[1] https://www.chinatrucks.org/news/2025/1110/article_11304.htm...
[2] https://www.ctinsa.com/ccnes/5550
[3] https://elonbuzz.com/the-tesla-semi-2026-update-is-here/
The text in teeny font under the headline picture is "ChatGPT generated. Chinese electric truck production lines expanding rapidly in 2024 and 2025."
So, in other words, the leading image is a lie. When people say false things that purport to be true in text we call it lying or fraud. I don't understand why when they do it with an image it's not the same thing. Putting teeny, easily missed font that says "ChatGPT generated" doesn't make it OK. I might feel less strongly if the author put a disclaimer, in larger font, that said (more accurately IMO), "The above image is fake."
If your entire take away from this article is "the image is fake" when it declares it's GPT GENERATED then your on a low bar mission.
Go hunt stories which don't declare it's a GPT masthead and excoriate them.
Well sure when you can skip all the safety standards they are cheap. These trucks would not be considered roadworthy in the USA or Europe.
From the article, "China’s low price electric trucks do not arrive as finished products for Europe or North America. They need work." and the article goes on to describe what the author considered and an estimate of the cost.
“The gap between a domestic Chinese tractor and a European or North American long haul tractor is roughly €80,000 to €120,000 once all mechanical, safety and comfort systems are brought to the required levels per my estimate.”
What makes you think/say they’ve skipped safety standards?