Electrification towards carbon neutrality is a wait-and-see situation in the commercial vehicle sector.

Unlike passenger cars, the electrification of commercial vehicles differs from passenger cars in that, while extending cruising range is a matter of course, maintaining and improving vehicle availability and payload capacity, which are directly linked to the profits of transport operators, is of paramount importance. At the same time, vehicle downtime due to charging times is a major bottleneck for BEV commercial vehicles.

As one of the measures to solve these problems, Japanese commercial vehicle companies have proposed a series of interchangeable battery systems for 2023. The interchangeable system will lead to shorter recharging times, thus reducing downtime. In addition, a number of other benefits exist from the increased flexibility of charging times.

Interchangeable battery systems have been introduced in China for large BEV commercial vehicles, and may be introduced in Japan in the future.