Nissan Shatai Group, part of Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer Nissan Motor, has signed a partnership with Saitama-based electric vehicle (EV) conversion specialist Yamato Mobility & Mfg to accelerate its EV conversion business in Japan.
Under the deal, signed on 30 September, the two firms will cooperate on the production and assembly of converted electric trucks and strengthen a mass-production framework aimed at expanding operations nationwide, according to a statement released by Yamato Mobility.
Yamato Mobility, which has been developing an EV-conversion business that turns second-hand diesel trucks into EVs, said it expects to benefit from a broad supplier network within the Nissan Shatai Group as it has faced difficulties in scaling up production.
The partnership will add a new production base in Japan’s Kansai region alongside existing operations in the Kanto area, enabling nationwide coverage, said the company, adding that two firms plan to expand the range of vehicle types eligible for conversion and to supply sustainable mobility solutions for the logistics industry and other sectors.
“Across many industries, including logistics, there is a growing demand to reduce environmental impact while cutting costs,” said Yamato Mobility’s chief executive Suzuki Akihisa.
“We aim to deliver new market value by ‘making use of vehicles instead of discarding them,’ contributing to the development of environmentally conscious mobility and enhancing corporate value.”
Japan’s EV truck market remains small
Industry data show that domestic sales of EV trucks are still counted in the low thousands annually. For example, Isuzu forecasts sales of 1,500 light-duty electric trucks in Japan in fiscal 2025–26, along with 200 electric buses, citing the market’s limited scale.
Models like the Mitsubishi Fuso eCanter and Isuzu’s NRR EV and ELF equivalents dominate the light-duty, urban delivery segment, while medium- and heavy-duty electrification has barely started.
By contrast, China sold more than 230,000 zero-emission trucks and buses in 2024, accounting for over 80 per cent of global volumes, according to the International Council on Clean Transportation’s March 2025 report.
In Europe, zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty trucks represented around 3.6 per cent of new registrations in the first half of 2025, up from 2.1 per cent a year earlier.
Tsunetaka Yasujima, president of Tokyo-based consultancy Yasujima Trading that specialises in the automotive industry, said Japan’s slow adoption of EV trucks is mainly due to short driving ranges, long charging times, high costs and limited infrastructure.
“Current EV trucks can travel up to around 400 kilometres at most, which is insufficient for long-haul operations that may exceed 1,000 kilometres per day. While larger batteries could extend the range, they reduce payload capacity and fuel efficiency, making them impractical,” Yasujima told Eco-Business.
He added that EV trucks can be more than twice as expensive as gasoline or diesel vehicles due to the high cost of battery production.
“Although subsidy programmes exist, they are not sufficient, limiting adoption to a small number of companies,” said Yasujima who believes conversion could provide a cost-effective alternative.
“By converting used engine-powered trucks into EVs, the initial investment can be reduced to roughly one-third of the cost of buying new vehicles,” he said.
“EV trucks also have fewer moving parts, lowering maintenance workloads and operating costs, and they produce no carbon dioxide emissions. Re-using existing truck bodies makes the process both environmentally and economically efficient.”
