For a growing number of automakers operating in the world’s biggest vehicle market, it’s time to invest in electric vans and trucks.

They are convinced by increasingly stringent restrictions aimed at reining in pollution, generous subsidies as well as robust demand for light-duty trucks as e-commerce flourishes.

Reuters Newsagency reports having just broken ground for a new factory in the southern Chinese province of Hunan, the head of Electric car startup Singulato Motors has grand plans: build up to 50,000 electric vans a year and ride the crest of a wave for e-truck demand in China.

“We think China’s about to see an electric commercial Vehicle revolution,” Singulato co-founder Shen Haiyin told Reuters in an interview.

“In many ways, the EV future might arrive faster with commercial vehicles than passenger EVs.”

Singulato, which is due to launch its first electric car by the middle of next year, hopes to open the e-truck plant by 2020 and quickly ramp up annual output to 50,000.

Mr Shen envisions two main models that would appeal to e-commerce and logistics firms: a small intra-city delivery van the size of the Ford Transit or the Toyota HiAce, and a delivery truck under two tonnes.

Growing momentum for e-trucks could prove to be a tipping point for the electric vehicle, first in China and eventually worldwide, encouraging the mass adoption that Tesla and other EV makers are aiming to give rise to with passenger cars.

“It’s a new game,” said Bill Russo, head of Shanghai-based consultancy Automobility and a former Chrysler executive told Reuters.

“The advantages of electric vehicles become apparent when vehicles are deployed into transportation and logistics services fleets.”

Impediments that come with electric vehicles, such as the high cost of the battery and cumbersome charging needs, could with a truck fleet be erased to make the total cost of operation cheaper than petrol or diesel.

Batteries could be designed smaller since routes would be predictable, charging stations and schedules could be deployed more strategically and as trucks are often operated around the clock, economies of scale could be achieved, Mr Russo said.

Reuters reports while electric trucks may not grab the public imagination in the same way Tesla’s electric vehicles have done, their advent has long been advocated by many automotive experts.

Sceptical of the merits of the industry’s rush into long-range passenger cars, they believe battery electric technology, because of its heavy weight and the limits on driving ranges, has a more natural home in short-haul trucks.

That’s particularly so for intra-city delivery vans and trucks plying routes that are pre-determined or at least predictable.

Last year, the number of electric light-duty commercial vehicles, both all-electric and plug-in hybrids, sold in China was roughly 200,000, about six per cent of the market for trucks under six tonnes.

Growth in e-trucks fits hand in glove with efforts by Beijing and Chinese local authorities to promote electric vehicles, both to jump-start a domestic automotive industry that lags global rivals in internal combustion engine technology and to combat smog, a constant source of public discontent.

Subsidies, up to US$14,500 from the central government alone, are helping to propel the shift.

Nissan’s most popular electric commercial vehicle, the Dongfeng D94 van, is eligible for combined subsidies of up to about US$11,500 from the central government and regional authorities, knocking roughly a third off its purchase price.

Almost 25 cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou have put in place restrictions on fossil-fuelled trucks coming into city centres.

Beijing for instance last year banned heavier trucks from entering the city centre between 6am and 11pm and next year will place further limits on diesel and some other commercial vehicles.