This story is part of The Energy Mix’s partnership with Small Change Fund.

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Medium- and heavy-duty electric vehicle sales grew “considerably” from 2020 to 2025, with global trends favouring trucks, though in Canada buses and coaches dominated that vehicle category.

Sales shifted by vehicle type in those five years, in the International Council on Clean Transportation’s (ICCT) reported, in an overview of the global zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles (ZE-MHDV) market.

Total global sales for ZE-MHDVs were less than 100,000 in 2020, when 80% of sales were for buses and coaches, “reflecting the early concentration of electrification in urban transit.” But trucks overtook buses and coaches in 2022.

Total global ZE-MHDV sales exceeded 520,000 last year, with medium- and heavy-duty trucks comprising 86%, driven by rapid growth of those vehicle categories in China. Heavy-duty trucks are now the single largest ZE-MHDV category worldwide.

The report adds to findings that the global EV market as a whole is growing. Another report released by ICCT in May showed that light-duty EV sales in 2025 exceeded 20 million and made up about a quarter of all light-duty vehicle sales, up from 19% in 2024. Almost 90% of light-duty vehicle sales were in China, the United States, Europe, and India.

Of 2025’s total ZE-MHDV sales, 88% were sold in China, raising zero-emission vehicles to a quarter of the country’s overall MHDV sales. Buses made up only 11% of China’s ZE-MHDV sales, but nearly all new city buses sold there are zero-emission. Zero-emission buses accounted for only 11% of total ZE-MHDV sales for the country, but in cities they make up almost 100% of ZE-MHDV sales. ICCT says zero-emission sales in China have been strengthened by clean transportation requirements in key industries, including through performance grading and ultra-low emission campaigns. Infrastructure for battery charging and swapping has also improved sales.

However, China’s share of the global market is declining as other countries and regions ramp up.

Among other countries, the U.S. and the EU each accounted for around 40% of the remaining 63,000 vehicles sold outside of China. In the U.S., ZE-MHDV sales were dominated by medium-duty trucks making up over 90%, with buses and heavy-duty trucks accounting for 3% to 4% each. With the Trump administration rolling back policies aimed at reducing vehicle emissions, ICCT says American ZE-MHDV sales are now driven by lower ownership costs for fleets using electric vehicles rather than their diesel counterparts.

The EU recorded over 23,700 new ZE-MHDV registrations in 2025, and sales growth was particularly strong among zero-emissions medium-duty trucks and vans. The zero-emission city bus market drove similar growth among coaches and buses. The report lists increasingly stringent carbon-dioxide standards imposed on E.U. auto manufacturers, as well as directives setting targets for public procurement of zero-emission city buses, as drivers of growth.

Meanwhile, Canada sold 471 ZE-MHDVs in 2025, which made up about 1.0% of the country’s overall sales of vehicles in that size category. Of those zero emission vehicles, 392 were buses and coaches, 44 were medium-duty trucks, and 35 were heavy-duty trucks. The report notes that Canada’s federal government had targeted 35% ZE-MHDV sales by 2030, and national incentives for ZE-MHDVs provided purchase incentives of up to $200,000 per vehicle in 2025.

Canada’s 2025 progress report on its 2030 Emissions Reductions Plan reported that the share of zero emission vehicles in MHDV sales rose from 2021 until 2023, but then dropped in 2024, suggesting that “while progress continues, several challenges remain that are preventing a swift transition to zero-emission vehicles in [Canada’s] commercial and heavy-duty vehicle market.” ICCT says growth resumed in 2025.