Buyers electrifying rigid cargo fleets keep arriving at the same fork: the Dongfeng KTH1 and the Dongfeng KTH3, our two 8x4 electric rigid cargo trucks. Both are heavy-duty electric workhorses built for industrial and intracity freight; both carry CATL LFP battery power, LvKong electric drive, and the same charging platform; both accept flatbed, box, stake and curtain-side bodies. The difference between them is an engineering trade — battery capacity versus capital cost, tuned for different route profiles — and choosing correctly is worth tens of thousands of dollars per unit across a fleet. This comparison breaks down the real differences and walks through three fleet scenarios where the right answer differs.
| Parameter | Dongfeng KTH1 | Dongfeng KTH3 |
|---|---|---|
| Configuration | 8x4 electric rigid cargo, LHD | 8x4 electric rigid cargo, LHD |
| GVW | 31 t | 31 t |
| Battery | CATL LFP 264 kWh | CATL LFP 350 kWh class |
| Drive | LvKong 450 kW-class peak | LvKong high-output drive |
| Range loaded | 200–260 km | 260–330 km |
| Fast charge 10–80% | ~30–35 min | ~35–40 min |
| Payload sensitivity | Lighter pack, best payload | Heavier pack, small payload give-back |
| Charging platform | Dual-gun DC (shared) | Dual-gun DC (shared) |
| Indicative FOB | USD 82,000–112,000 | USD 95,000–128,000 |
The core delta is roughly 60–70 km of additional loaded range and a deeper daily buffer, purchased at USD 13,000–16,000 more per truck. Whether that premium earns its keep depends on where your trucks end their days:
A fleet hauling palletised industrial goods from a city-edge distribution centre to 15–30 delivery points inside a 120–180 km daily loop, returning to base nightly. This is KTH1 territory in its purest form: the route never stresses the 264 kWh pack, the depot charges overnight at the cheapest tariff window, and the fleet's capital per route-kilometre is the lowest available in our rigid line. Operators running this pattern with mixed loads also value the KTH1's payload edge — on dense-freight lanes, tonnage moved per day is the revenue metric, and the lighter battery directly serves it. If the operation later lengthens routes, the charging platform is already there: a 30-minute dual-gun top-up mid-day adds 100+ km, which most intracity schedules absorb easily during a lunch or loading window.
Trucks running 250–320 km days between regional cities and industrial zones, sometimes with charging only at the home end. Here the KTH3 is the safe specification: the 350 kWh-class pack completes the corridor day with 15–25% margin instead of arriving at zero, absorbs winter accessory loads (heating can cost 10–18% of range in cold markets) and summer battery-cooling loads without route redesign, and allows the fleet to skip marginal mid-route charging stops that the KTH1 would require. On corridors where public fast charging is thin — the situation across much of Central Asia, inland ASEAN, and African trunk routes — the KTH3's buffer is not a luxury; it is the difference between a route that works and one that strands revenue.
Mature buyers rarely standardise. The pattern we recommend for mixed-duty operations: KTH1 units on the dense, short, depot-fed routes (typically 60–70% of a rigid fleet), KTH3 units on the long or temperature-exposed lanes (the remainder). Because the two models share the charging standard, cab platform, diagnostic system and driver interface, the mixed fleet runs as one fleet — one training programme, one common-parts pool, one telematics dashboard. The fleet planner simply assigns each day's manifest to the truck whose battery matches the route, which any dispatch system (or a competent dispatcher with a spreadsheet) handles comfortably.
Per kilometre, both trucks cost the same to run: at industrial power of USD 0.08–0.12/kWh and consumption of 1.1–1.4 kWh/km loaded, energy runs USD 0.09–0.17/km — against USD 0.30–0.48/km-equivalent for diesel in most of our markets, plus 30–40% lower maintenance. The differentiation is entirely in the capital curve: the KTH1 reaches the same per-km operating cost with USD 13,000–16,000 less capital per unit; the KTH3 spends that premium on schedule insurance. A 20-truck fleet choosing KTH1 over KTH3 where routes allow saves USD 260,000–320,000 — enough to fund the depot charging build-out several times over. Conversely, a fleet that under-speccs into KTH1s on long routes and then re-plans its corridors around charging stops pays for the mistake in schedule complexity and driver hours for years.
Both trucks are proven, both are in production, and both ship with the full export documentation and training package. Send us your route table (distances, loads, charging points) and we will run both models through your actual duty cycles and return a costed recommendation — typically within a day.
Ready to electrify your fleet? Contact Shaanxi Fenghan Trading — authorized Dongfeng EV truck exporter. WhatsApp: +86 153 1943 1311 | Email: sales@fenghan-trade.com | dongfengevtrucks.com
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