“Freight trucks in China can use the nationwide car-charging network and recharge in minutes”

A national car-charger total does not tell a truck driver where to stop

China's national charging totals count charging guns across different use cases. They do not say which public outlets have the parking length, turning room, cable reach, clearance or power a 12-tonne-plus heavy truck needs. In May 2026, the Ministry of Transport and ten other agencies issued a plan that treats truck replenishment as a separate infrastructure task: it calls for charge or swap facilities along freight-heavy expressways and ordinary highways, at logistics hubs and service areas, and around ports, mines, factories and industrial parks. ^[1]

The same plan says authorities will support and guide construction of about 3,000 heavy-truck charging and battery-swap stations by 2030 in conjunction with highway-network development. It also calls for new or rebuilt expressway service areas to install truck facilities or reserve space for them. The 3,000 figure is a programme goal for construction support, not a forecast of the country's total truck-charging inventory and not evidence that all those sites are already open in 2026. The ministry also calls for connected information platforms, compatible interfaces and cross-brand standards, underscoring that today's passenger-car connector count cannot stand in for a freight route map. ^[1]

Truck-ready access is appearing in specific corridors

Shandong offers a concrete example of what a dedicated network looks like. Ten high-power demonstration sites at five pairs of expressway service areas began trial operation on 31 August 2026, linking parts of seven cities. The report says a wider Shandong loop already had 20 demonstration sites built and planned completion of the remaining route work in the first half of 2027. The accumulated early network had 64 truck bays across 12 sites, single connectors above 720 kW and up to megawatt-level power per bay. This is a meaningful freight corridor, not a nationwide service guarantee. ^[2]

Drivers need truck-specific station information. State Grid's e-Charge app has added a heavy-truck station filter, while CATL's Qiji Swap app has a freight-route planning feature for its battery-swap network. QIYUAN Cube also provides a heavy-truck charging and swap station map with current terminal status. These are operator tools: checking the correct route and site in the relevant app matters because vehicle compatibility and network access can be limited by service provider. ^[5][6][7]

Battery swap makes access even more route-specific. In May 2026, Hunan opened its first pair of expressway-service-area heavy-truck swap stations at Shaodong on the Shanghai–Kunming Expressway and reported a single swap in under five minutes. CATL's Qiji program promotes a standard swap ecosystem and a national trunk network target, but swapping requires a truck designed for the compatible pack and station. The five-minute figure describes a battery exchange at that site, not charging time for any truck. ^[3][4]

A fast replenishment claim still needs its operating conditions

For plug-in charging, Shandong's transport report says mainstream long-haul trucks can replenish in as little as 15–20 minutes at the new high-power stations. The same report identifies the relevant hardware: more than 720 kW at a single gun and up to megawatt-level power per bay. Treat the time as a fastest-case report for the trucks and route operation in that demonstration, not as an average across China's heavy-truck fleet. ^[2]

A site's power rating is not the rate every vehicle will accept throughout the session. Battery capacity, starting charge, pack temperature, compatible voltage and the vehicle's charging curve set the actual rate; the energy needed for the next freight leg also varies with load and route. The five-minute swap is a separate option that avoids waiting for the truck battery to charge, but depends on a compatible pack network and availability of a charged replacement. These service models can shorten a planned freight stop while remaining less interchangeable than filling a passenger car at a general public station. ^[1][2][3][4]

The current evidence supports rapid progress in selected Chinese heavy-freight routes, with truck-specific maps, high-power charging and battery swaps expanding. It does not support treating every public car charger as truck-accessible or reading national connector totals as a measure of heavy-truck route coverage.