Shandong subsidizes electric truck premiums as insurers hold back

The province of Shandong, in eastern China, will pay 15% of the commercial insurance premium on new electric heavy trucks, up to 4,000 yuan (about US$600) per truck. Insurance has become a sales hurdle: insurers are wary of the trucks, and some owners are refused cover, a truck-maker executive says.

The Shandong Provincial Transport Department (山东省交通运输厅) and the Shandong Provincial Department of Finance (山东省财政厅) published the plan, dated Oct. 23, on Oct. 26. It covers trucks first registered from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, 2026, except those backed by national scrappage subsidies, from a 20-million-yuan (about US$3 million) pot, first come, first served. Commercial insurance is optional cover, such as for truck damage. Buyers already get two years of compulsory insurance free under the province's earlier push to catch up on electric heavy trucks.

The payment reaches its 4,000-yuan cap at a premium of about 26,700 yuan (about US$4,000), so the pot is enough for at least 5,000 trucks, by our calculation.

It's not Shandong's first truck subsidy. An initial 2026 loan-interest subsidy, 10 million yuan (about US$1.5 million), was used up by Sept. 30, the transport department said. The departments also issued a new loan-interest plan worth 60 million yuan (about US$8.9 million).

Hard-to-get coverage is a common pain point, Wu Ling (吴凌), head of after-sales service at electric heavy-truck maker DeepWay (深向科技), told National Business Daily (每日经济新闻). An uninsured truck can't get temporary plates or be delivered, and most insurers are cautious because they lack data and experience with the trucks, Wu said.

Insurers lost 5.6 billion yuan (about US$830 million) in 2025 covering 43.58 million electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, according to figures from the China Association of Actuaries (中国精算师协会) and China Banking and Insurance Information Technology Management (中国银保信) relayed by the paper. Of 143 model series whose claims exceeded premiums in 2025, 37 were trucks of all sizes, not only heavy ones. The Ministry of Transport (交通运输部) and other agencies called for more insurance support in a May national plan, the paper reported.

Sources

• 山东省交通运输厅 Shandong Provincial Transport Department (Lu Jiao Fa [2026] No. 7)
• 山东省交通运输厅 Shandong Provincial Transport Department (Lu Jiao Fa [2026] No. 8)
• 山东省交通运输厅 Shandong Provincial Transport Department
• 每日经济新闻 National Business Daily
• 卡车之家 360che
• DeepWay (深向科技) home page

Editor: Ian Lamont