- Zeron raised 1.2 billion yuan ($175 million) from investors including a CATL-affiliated fund, Nio Capital, and Momenta.
- The startup plans to deliver 5,000 trucks in 2026 to achieve break-even and challenge traditional commercial vehicle manufacturers.
Chinese electric heavy truck startup Zeron has secured new funding, marking a continued bet by heavyweight capital on the electrification and intelligent transformation of China's commercial vehicles.
The Taicang, Jiangsu-based startup raised 1.2 billion yuan ($175 million) in its latest funding round, according to a statement released by the company Thursday.
The deal was co-led by CATL-affiliated Puquan Capital, Nio Capital, and autonomous driving company Momenta.
The latest capital injection comes just half a year after Zeron's previous fundraising. In mid-2025, the company completed a 500 million yuan Series A funding round.
Zeron was founded in 2022 by Huang Zehua, co-founder of TuSimple. The executive team also includes Zhang Hongsong, former general manager of Sany Heavy Truck and vice president of Foton Daimler.
Currently, Zeron has a team of nearly 300 people. The company aims to become the Tesla of the heavy truck industry through the vertical integration of hardware and autonomous driving software.
Unlike competitors that rely on traditional internal combustion engine platforms, Zeron developed its truck products from the underlying architecture, which includes an in-house developed chassis integration system and a high-strength integrated frame.
This strategy of integrating software and hardware aims to provide a reliable hardware foundation for high-level autonomous driving systems, it said. Its mass-produced integrated electric drive axle can deliver up to 860 horsepower.
As of the end of 2025, cumulative sales of the company's two flagship models approached 1,600 units. Among them, sales in the second half of last year surged by nearly 300% sequentially, according to the statement.
The company has set a target of delivering 5,000 heavy trucks in 2026. Huang expects that Zeron will cross a critical milestone and achieve break-even by then.
The latest fresh capital will be used to advance the research and development of end-to-end large model autonomous driving technology. Zeron plans to achieve regular driverless operations in the second quarter of 2026.
As China rapidly advances the decarbonization of its transportation network, heavy trucks are becoming a new focal point. Industry giants like CATL are actively positioning themselves for rapid growth in this sector.
CATL chairman Robin Zeng predicted in May 2025 that the heavy truck industry is expected to see explosive growth over the next three years. He said that the electrification rate in this sector is expected to reach 50%.
($1 = 6.8663 yuan)
