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BYD has spent the past few years filling European showrooms with electric cars. Now it wants a much bigger slice of the working week, from last-mile delivery vans to full-size trucks pounding up and down the motorway.
The Chinese company has used the IAA Transportation show in Hanover to lay out an electric commercial vehicle range stretching from 3.5 to 44 tonnes. The idea is to cover everything from parcels and city deliveries to bin lorries, regional work and long-haul transport.
At the lighter end is the van-sized part of the plan. The new announcement says BYD’s range starts at 3.5 tonnes, the weight class occupied by the E-Vali electric van it first showed at the same event in 2024.
The E-Vali was developed for Europe and aimed mainly at last-mile and courier work. It was revealed in 3.5-tonne and 4.25-tonne forms, with BYD claiming a range of between 137 and 155 miles depending on the version. It also uses the company’s Blade battery and comes with a suite of driver assistance systems.
The BYD ETT 44 makes use of BYD’s ultra-rapid Flash Charging to add 248 miles in just 20 minutes (BYD)
However, there’s still no price, payload figure, order date or firm word on UK availability, making the van the quieter part of this particular show.
The much noisier headline, figuratively speaking, is the new ETT 44. This is BYD’s flagship electric tractor unit, the front part that pulls the trailer. It is built for long-distance work and capable of pulling a combination weighing up to 44 tonnes.
Its numbers are suitably hefty. A 651kWh Blade battery feeds a system producing 733bhp in normal running and up to 986bhp at its peak – BYD claims a maximum range of 372 miles.
Charging could be just as important to operators as the distance between stops. Plug the ETT 44 into one of BYD’s 1.5MW Flash Chargers and the company says a 20 to 80 per cent top-up should take no more than 20 minutes, adding up to 248 miles. A more conventional 420kW connection is quoted as taking no more than an hour for the same top-up.
“Less time charging. More time on the road,” said BYD executive vice president Stella Li.
The ETT 44 is a 4×2 truck with a high-roof, flat-floor sleeper cab. It measures 6,400mm long, 2,530mm wide and 3,820mm tall, while its top speed is limited to 56mph. Inside, there is a 325mm central screen, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, plus a long list of driver assistance and safety kit.
The battery comes with a 10-year or roughly 746,000-mile warranty. BYD says that is longer than the cover generally offered in the European truck market, where extended protection can cost extra.
The new flagship will not be working alone. BYD is also showing 4×2 and 6×2 rigid trucks, represented in Hanover by 26-tonne swap-body and hooklift versions, alongside vehicles for more specialised jobs and yard tractors.
Those rigid models keep the cab and load-carrying body together, making them suited to work such as local distribution and council services. BYD says the wider range is intended to cover city and regional jobs as well as the Ett 44’s longer motorway runs.
The wider pitch goes beyond simply selling the trucks and vans. BYD also wants to supply fleet operators with charging, energy storage, electricity management, servicing and finance. Prices, delivery dates and detailed UK plans for the new van and truck range have yet to be announced.