Battery chemistries in heavy trucks: what LFP, NMC and NCA are and which makers state which

LFP, NMC and NCA are short for lithium iron phosphate, lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide and lithium nickel cobalt aluminium oxide. In the makers’ own documents opened for this page, BYD (ETT 44), DAF (all DAF Electric trucks), IVECO (S-eWay Artic), Mercedes-Benz Trucks (the current eActros portfolio) and Renault Trucks (E-Tech D 12T and D 14T) state LFP; Ford Trucks (F-LINE E) and MAN state NMC; and Renault Trucks states NCA for the E-Tech T 585 and T 780, each on the date shown in the table below.

The page lists what those documents say and when they said it. It does not compare the chemistries with one another, and the list is limited to the documents named in the sources.

What LFP, NMC and NCA stand for

The International Energy Agency (IEA) spells out LFP and NMC in one chart note of its Global EV Outlook 2026: “LFP = lithium iron phosphate; NMC = lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide”. In another chart note it puts lithium nickel cobalt aluminium oxide (NCA) in what it calls the “mid- and high-nickel” group.

Makers also spell the abbreviations out in their own sheets and releases; for example, Mercedes-Benz Trucks writes “LFP (lithium iron phosphate)” in its eActros 600 product sheet, Ford Trucks writes “NMC (Nickel Manganese Cobalt)” in its F-LINE E technical sheet, and Renault Trucks writes “NCA (Nickel, Cobalt, Aluminium)” in its release of 18 November 2025.

The IEA also applies the names to cathode materials, writing of “a supplier of lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) cathodes” and of “LFP cathode materials and their precursors”.

On cobalt, the IEA says that high-nickel chemistries use relatively small quantities of it and that “lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries contain none”. DAF says its LFP batteries are “both cobalt- as well as nickel-free” (14 September 2026), and the Mercedes-Benz Trucks eActros 600 product sheet, which carries no date, describes its LFP batteries as made “without the use of nickel or cobalt”. The nickel statements on this page are those two makers’ own, for their own batteries.

Which makers state which chemistry

The table lists each statement as the maker’s document words it, in alphabetical order of maker.

Maker	What the statement covers	Chemistry as stated	Date of statement
BYD	ETT 44, in its specification table	“Blade Battery (LFP)”	14 September 2026
DAF	“All DAF Electric trucks”	LFP	14 September 2026; earlier, 13 January 2026, for the XG and XG+ Electric “as with its other fully battery-electric vehicles”
Ford Trucks	F-LINE E, 4x2 and 6x2, in the technical sheet	“NMC (Nickel Manganese Cobalt)”	Sheet dated July 2026
IVECO	S-eWay Artic	LFP	12 June 2025
MAN	eTGX release, which speaks of “the NMC battery technology used by MAN for use in commercial vehicles”	NMC	14 September 2026
Mercedes-Benz Trucks	The new eActros Lowliner and “all other models in the current eActros portfolio”	LFP	9 June 2026; earlier, 10 October 2023, for the eActros 600
Renault Trucks	E-Tech T 585 and T 780	NCA	18 November 2025; for the T 780 again on 15 September 2026
Renault Trucks	E-Tech D 12T and D 14T	LFP	15 September 2026

Each row is what the document said on its own date; the page makes no statement about later changes. The list holds only the makers whose documents were opened for this page.

Status is given only where a document gives it. IVECO’s release of 12 June 2025 says “Deliveries of the IVECO S-eWay Artic will begin in 2026”, a statement of intent made in 2025. Daimler Truck’s release of 9 June 2026 says the first new eActros Lowliner models “can be ordered from the third quarter of 2026 in EU30 markets and in additional markets, and will roll off the production line at the Wörth am Rhein plant from the second quarter of 2027”. The BYD release gives no sale or delivery date for the ETT 44, and the Ford sheet gives no status.

The site’s model pages for the DAF XG Electric, MAN eTGX, Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 and Renault Trucks E-Tech T carry the technical data of those trucks.

One maker, two chemistries: Renault Trucks

Renault Trucks’ two releases name two chemistries for different models. The release of 18 November 2025 says the E-Tech T 585 and the E-Tech T 780 “are fitted with high-energy-density NCA (Nickel, Cobalt, Aluminium) lithium-ion batteries”. The release of 15 September 2026 says the E-Tech T 780’s performance “is enabled by the introduction of an electric axle and a new generation of high energy-density NCA batteries”, while for the E-Tech D 12T and D 14T it gives a “176 kWh LFP battery system”.

Neither release names a chemistry for the E-Tech T 540.

What makers attribute to their chemistry

These are the makers’ own statements, attributed to each maker and neither tested nor ranked here.

• DAF (14 September 2026): its LFP batteries “have high thermal stability and can be charged daily up to 100% without compromising durability”. The statement is DAF’s, about DAF’s own batteries.
• IVECO (12 June 2025): for the S-eWay Artic, “a total energy capacity of 603 kWh, with 97% usable energy”. The release calls it a “brand-new generation LFP battery, designed for a lifetime of 12 years and 70% capacity retention”, a design target rather than a measurement.
• MAN (14 September 2026): “The high possible energy recovery through recuperation is another advantage of the NMC battery technology used by MAN for use in commercial vehicles.” MAN says the increase in usable energy of the new battery generation comes “through improvements in cell chemistry”, and writes: “The increase in usable capacity to 95 percent is clearly noticeable: With a gross capacity of 92 kWh per battery pack, this means 88 kWh available for vehicle operation.”
• Mercedes-Benz Trucks (9 June 2026): “the lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cell technology known for its long service life and more than 95 percent usable battery capacity”. For the eActros 600 on 10 October 2023 it wrote that the batteries “are characterized by a long service life”.
• Renault Trucks (15 September 2026): for the E-Tech T 780, NCA batteries “featuring an extended operating window of up to 95 % of total battery capacity”. Renault Trucks calls its NCA batteries “high-energy-density” in 2025 and “high energy-density” in 2026.

The makers word their percentages differently: “total energy capacity” (IVECO), “gross capacity” (MAN), “usable battery capacity” (Mercedes-Benz Trucks) and “total battery capacity” (Renault Trucks). The page sets them side by side and does not rank them. How makers state battery cover is set out in electric truck and bus battery warranties.

The wider EV battery market

The figures in this section are the IEA’s for electric vehicles as a whole, not for trucks. The IEA’s chart note says the chemistry sales share “is based on the battery capacity of new electric vehicles registered” and that “Two/three-wheelers are excluded from the analysis”. Its text says light-duty vehicles “remained the dominant segment, representing more than 85% of the 2025 EV battery deployment”.

In 2025, the IEA says, LFP batteries “accounted for over 55% of EV batteries deployed globally, up from nearly 50% in 2024”. For the European Union it says LFP batteries “accounted for more than 10% of EV battery demand in 2025”. Considering only the EV battery chemistries deployed outside China in 2025, it says almost 80% of batteries used nickel-containing chemistries such as NMC, and the remainder used LFP.

The IEA also says the fastest growth came from electric trucks, “for which battery demand more than doubled”, and puts electric trucks at 8% of total EV battery deployment in 2025. None of the documents opened for this page gives a chemistry share for trucks alone, so these chemistry shares cannot be read as truck shares.

What these statements do not say

• IVECO: the 12 June 2025 release refers to the S-eWay Rigid but gives no chemistry for it or for any other IVECO electric vehicle.
• BYD: the release’s chemistry line is in the ETT 44 specification table; this page gives no chemistry for any other BYD vehicle.
• Ford Trucks: the July 2026 sheet states NMC for the F-LINE E 4x2 and 6x2; no other Ford model is covered.
• MAN: the wording is “used by MAN for use in commercial vehicles”, in a release about the eTGX; this page gives no chemistry for MAN buses.
• Mercedes-Benz Trucks: the 9 June 2026 statement covers the Lowliner and “all other models in the current eActros portfolio”. It is not a statement about all Mercedes-Benz trucks, about buses, about the other Daimler Truck brands or about earlier eActros generations, whose chemistry the documents opened for this page do not give.
• Other makers: Volvo Trucks, Scania and other makers were not opened for this page, so it says nothing about their chemistries.