BYD plans to build heavy-duty e-truck in Europe to ‘become a European company’
Chinese EV-maker BYD is planning to deliver its first heavy-duty truck for Europe by the second quarter of next year, with a long-term plan to manufacture trucks in the continent to embed itself into the market.
BYD's electric truck intended for the European market, the ETT 44 4x2
Source: BYD
The OEM showcased its new ETT 44, an electric tractor unit engineered for long-haul transport and aimed at the European market, at the recent IAA Transportation trade show in Hanover. The truck’s 651 KWh battery has an estimated range of up to 372 miles (600km) and can charge from 20 to 80% in 20 minutes thanks to BYD's 1.5 MW charging technology, adding up to 250 miles of range.
At IAA Transportation, Stella Li, executive vice-president and head of international business at BYD, said: “For the long term, we will produce everything we sell in Europe here locally. Once you move everything produced locally, it’s okay. We become a European company.”
The company hasn’t yet disclosed where its European facility would be or when local production would begin.
It’s uncertain whether BYD would aim to expand on its own supply chain in Europe or lean on existing networks. Aside from its passenger vehicle facilities, BYD already has a factory for electric buses and commercial vehicles in Komárom, Hungary, as well as two battery-related facilities in the country. The OEM had previously announced a $1 billion plant in Manisa, Turkey in 2024, but this June the company put the plans on pause while it considered a second European manufacturing location, potentially through acquisition. In terms of suppliers, BYD has business relationships with many unnamed European companies, but it has disclosed a strategic partnership with Forvia in France and Hungary, and supply agreements with steel and technology provider Voestalpine in Hungary.
In addition, BYD is looking to create a vertically integrated ecosystem including charging infrastructure, energy storage, energy management, and financing. This end-to-end approach aims to ease the transition into the European heavy-duty electric truck market by supplying vehicles, energy and infrastructure from a single provider.
Local production could help the Chinese OEM limit or avoid tariffs implemented by Europe on Chinese imports. At the moment, there are 10% tariffs on imported Chinese vehicles, trucks, and electric trucks. For EVs, there is an additional China-specific duty of between 7% and 35%, dependent on the manufacturer, bringing the full duty to between 17% and 45%. While Chinese electric trucks don’t have an additional China-specific duty, there have been calls from the industry to enforce this.
Traton’s MAN brand has called on the European Union to impose the tariffs on Chinese e-trucks, while the European Automobile Manufacturer’s Association (ACEA) recently warned about increasing competition from Chinese OEMs in the sector. In its May 2026 EU-China trade fact sheet, the ACEA said that the EU imported €1.3bn worth of commercial vehicles and buses from China in 2025.
