Electric truck battery swapping station plan in South Africa
One of the world’s largest manufacturers of electric heavy-duty trucks plans to pilot battery swapping stations in South Africa, starting on the freight-intensive N3 corridor between Johannesburg and Durban.
Chinese heavy machinery manufacturer Sany operates the biggest pure electric heavy-duty truck factory in the world, capable of producing 300,000 units annually.
The company launched its first electric trucks in 2021 and quickly grew its market share in China to around 16%, the most of any single entity.
While the passenger vehicle market initially drove the uptake of electric vehicles (EVs), electric truck sales have shown strong growth amid the surge in diesel prices.
General Heavy Motors (GHM) Group is the exclusive distributor of Sany’s industrial equipment in South Africa, including its trucks.
It showcased two Sany heavy-duty trucks at the launch of Zero Carbon Charge’s off-grid charging station next to the N3 at the Reitz Interchange in the Roadside area on Tuesday, 19 May 2026.
During the event, Sany Southern Africa’s director of sales and marketing, Avinash Singh, explained the benefits of electric trucks.
From an environmental perspective, Singh noted that around 80% of road transport carbon emissions came from trucks, which are mostly diesel-powered.
However, freight transport companies would only be willing to switch to electric if it made commercial sense.
The initial upfront cost of the latest Sany model with a 600kWh battery is around R5 million, compared to about R4 million for a diesel-powered truck with similar power output.
However, speaking to MyBroadband, Singh explained that the difference can be accounted for within a few months with trucks that cover hundreds of kilometres daily.
As with regular passenger EVs and last-mile delivery vehicles, charging electric trucks with electricity is substantially cheaper than running internal combustion engine models on petrol or diesel.
This is especially true for companies with chargers on industrial properties, which can qualify for Eskom’s Megaflex tariff of roughly R2 per kilowatt-hour.
Operating costs as low as a fifth of diesel models
Conventional diesel-powered trucks consume about 50 litres per 100 kilometres, costing about R1,500. Sany’s electric trucks consume roughly 150kWh per 100km, costing R300.
Singh explained that frequently-travelling diesel-powered trucks could consume around R200,000 a month in fuel.
To cover the same distance in an electric truck charged with the Megaflex tariff would cost about R40,000. Even at residential electricity prices, it would be roughly R80,000.
Assuming a saving of R160,000 per month on the industrial tariff, the cost difference between the electric and diesel trucks could be made up in six to seven months.
Singh believes these cost savings could stimulate growth across sectors where fuel expenditure accounts for a substantial portion of operating costs, such as the sugar cane industry.
As it stands, most sugar cane farms must be located within 80km of a processing facility for a company to produce sugar at competitive prices.
By reducing transport costs exponentially, the opportunity arises to establish farms farther from processing plants, potentially boosting revenues and jobs.
The charging power challenge
However, a common issue with electric trucks is that they have substantially larger batteries that require much more charging power.
Due to the heavy weight of long-haul trucks, consumption per kilometre is much higher than in passenger EVs. Even Sany’s high-capacity trucks travel only 300–400km on a single charge.
It costs roughly half a million rand to build a direct current (DC) charging point with a 500kW output to charge one of these trucks in about 45 minutes.
Singh said that with staggered charging schedules, it could be possible to charge two dozen trucks daily at the same point, reducing the cost recovery period on the installation.
However, another problem emerges with longer distance charging — limited electricity distribution infrastructure — which has become tight along some major transport corridors in South Africa.
Building off-grid charging stations is one solution, but the capacity would need to be substantially larger than what is suitable for a typical passenger EV charging hub.
Zero Carbon Charge’s stations currently have the highest peak capacity of any publicly available station, with a maximum power output of 360kW across six DC charging points.
That can fill most modern EV battery packs from 20% to 80% in less than 40 minutes, even when charging simultaneously.
The case for battery swapping
The 600kWh capacity of Sany’s truck battery packs is roughly 10 times larger than the typical passenger EV pack.
The Sany truck can draw up to 400kW, which would see it take up all the capacity at a Zero Carbon Charge station at the peak of its charging curve.
While it is possible to limit the charging power, freight transport operators cannot afford to have their trucks spend multiple hours recharging.
To address this, Sany Southern Africa is exploring the potential of battery swapping stations. Sany’s swapping stations hold multiple battery packs in a container structure with an arch.
For a swap-out, a compatible truck drives under the arch. Its depleted pack is lifted from behind the horse and replaced with a fully charged battery in roughly five minutes.
Singh told MyBroadband the company aimed to roll out the swapping station at Zero Carbon Charge’s N3 Roadside station by the end of 2026 to trial the system and confirm its commercial viability.
The system has an additional benefit for Zero Carbon Charge’s stations. Batteries in storage can provide supplementary backup, increasing the peak capacity of off-grid charging stations.
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