(Yicai Global) Aug. 19 -- Shanghai has received its first group of electric trucks with removable battery packs as well as stations to swap power units for more efficient and green logistics.

Lingang New Area, the latest addition to the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone, is looking to invest more than CNY2 billion (USD289 million) to deploy from 2,000 to 5,000 such types of electric trucks and electric engineering machinery and debut no fewer than 30 battery swap facilities in the area in the next five years, Yicai Global learned at the delivery ceremony for the first trucks yesterday.

State Power Investment is teaming up with the administration of the area on the project to create recharging infrastructure that can cut logistics firms' costs and reduce carbon emissions by as much as 108,000 tons. An affiliate of the state-owned electricity company delivered the vehicles whose batteries can be changed as fast as within 3 minutes.

Using electric trucks with fixed batteries costs about 5 to 10 percent less than fuel-powered vehicles, according to Beijing-based SPIC. The firm will cooperate with an industrial park in Lingang to pilot autonomous electric trucks to further reduce the cost by 50 percent or 60 percent.

However, removable batteries may not become the sector's new norm. The price to buy such a vehicle goes from CNY800,000 to CNY1 million (USD115,619 up), which is more than that of a standard electric truck, an analyst told Yicai Global. Limited use and the lacking standardization of battery packs also restrict wider use, the person added.

Editor: Emmi Laine