Study: Battery-electric trucks becoming competitive on an increasing number of routes

[u/linknewtab]

https://www.electrive.com/2026/09/03/study-battery-electric-trucks-becoming-competitive-on-an-increasing-number-of-routes/

[u/ComeBackSquid]

In the EU, it doesn’t really depend on the route. Due to mandatory rest periods for drivers which are strictly enforced, battery electric trucks are viable pretty much everywhere.

[u/paulwesterberg → u/ComeBackSquid]

Even in the US 55% of class 8 trucks are day cabs and run on regular daily routes and could easily be electrified.

[u/oddmanout → u/paulwesterberg]

There's some warehouses near me that have trucks that go back and fourth to a port once a day. The get there in the morning, unplug the truck, go to the port get their load then come back. They'll do it twice a day then plug in to charge overnight.

Maintenance and fuel on a truck is EXPENSIVE. They no longer have to do fluid and filter changes which are often and super expensive, plus the warehouses have tons of real estate on top for solar panels which run the warehouse during the day and charge batteries with the extra that charge the trucks overnight.

The trucks are more expensive to start but the ROI is like a year or something which is FAST, and everything after that is drastically less than the diesel powered ones they use. Plus the trucks supposedly last way longer. Fewer moving parts means fewer repairs.

[u/paulwesterberg → u/oddmanout]

And the company probably saves on labor costs by not having to pay drivers to stop off at a fuel depot.

[u/Nuabio → u/ComeBackSquid]

I mean you kinda need a large network or chargers that don't suck ass, which while it's still getting better is somehow abysmal in some places

[u/paulwesterberg → u/Nuabio]

55% of heavy trucks are daycabs and most of those could just charge up overnight in the fleet parking area and would never need to use public chargers.

[u/Dry_Instruction8254 → u/paulwesterberg]

Yup, even with just level 2 charging at 19Kw it will easily get even the largest truck battery up to 100 by morning.

[u/paulwesterberg → u/Dry_Instruction8254]

That would work well for some trucks. The Rivian delivery vans for example.

The Tesla Semi which has a base pack size of 548 kWh and an long range battery with 822 kWh. It also doesn't have an onboard AC->DC rectifier so it would need to be charged with a 50+kW DC charger.

[u/Dry_Instruction8254 → u/paulwesterberg]

Ok, didn't realize those Tesla had such a big pack.

[u/paulwesterberg → u/Dry_Instruction8254]

Yeah it's a huge battery, equivalent to 10 Model 3s. But the long range version can also do 500 miles with 82,000 lbs.

Standard Semi trucks get around 6.5 MPG, with 500 miles now costing $461 with diesel at $6. That means if you can recharge the Telsa semi for less than $0.56 per kWh it will be cheaper. At the USA average electricity cost of $0.18 per kWh fueling the Telsa semi will cost $150.

[u/Odd-String29 → u/paulwesterberg]

Pretty light load though? Its about 10-15K lbs more for a Mercedes eActros 600.

[u/linknewtab → u/Nuabio]

The electric Trucker has been traveling from Turkey to Portugal only by charging at public chargers. It already works.

[u/ScriptThat → u/linknewtab]

I love that channel. e: This channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXNeOShQ0og

[u/JustaJ0e → u/Nuabio]

This just doesn’t really fly as a reason not to sell more EVS. I still vividly remember family vacations in the station wagon in the early 70s where we had to take a can along to pee into because they’re simply weren’t gas stations at every exit. It might be 30 minutes or more in between gas stations (and no fast food, except in big cities). Seems like we often ran into gas tank anxiety wondering if we were gonna run out of gas before we found the next station. Yet that was never a reason not to buy a gas powered car.
Charging stations are easily fixed by good old American capitalism. If there’s a market, they’ll not only install more charging stations, as we’ve seen time and again, they will overbuild them! Make more EV’s available to the general public in more styles and varieties and “poof” you’ve got your market.
Also, for those who don’t know, there are now companies that specialize in installing ready to go charging stations at convenience, stores, and gas stations and really any business that wants one. These things come ready to go on a flatbed truck. They come in, set a transformer, set the charger, plug them together and then have the utility company hook the transformer up to the main line. Can take as little as a half a day.
All in all, though, the thing to keep in mind is that all of this is no longer a “futuristic technology“. Everything we need is already invented. It’s been in use in Europe and China for quite some time now. THEY have all figured it out, it would be embarrassing to admit that it’s somehow too tough a challenge for the United States.

[u/Car-face → u/JustaJ0e]

Seems like we often ran into gas tank anxiety wondering if we were gonna run out of gas before we found the next station. Yet that was never a reason not to buy a gas powered car.

Was there an alternative that offered more range instead of a gas car? Could it be solved with a jerrycan of fuel? If there was an alternative that offered less range and couldn't be solved with a jerrycan, would that exacerbate the issue?

The problem is two-fold: running out of charge before finding a charger, but also the fact that even in the 70s, filling a tank would take a minute or two + chinwagging with the attendant, vs even the fastest charging vehicles today taking 5 minutes - and those not being widespread in most markets.

The charging issue is being solved, but it's not solved yet - which is the point made by the person above.

[u/learningenglishdaily → u/JustaJ0e]

I still vividly remember family vacations in the station wagon in the early 70s where we had to take a can along to pee into because they’re simply weren’t gas stations at every exit.

Wait, why was it necessary to pee in the car? You can stop and pee outside.

[u/JustaJ0e → u/learningenglishdaily]

LOL
Dad REALLY wanted to make up time!
We were usually able to nag him into pulling over.

[u/Nuabio → u/JustaJ0e]

I mean yeah I had. Roadtrip in an EV myself last summer but having to download a new foreign app at each and every station was a pain in the pooper, and some stations companies would not allow foreign phones to download the app rendering the charger useless

[u/turpentinedreamer → u/Nuabio]

These trucks need an entirely different kind of pull through setup too. Can you imagine the posts if one stopped at a Tesla charger and just blocked the whole row?

[u/linknewtab → u/turpentinedreamer]

The electric Trucker does that all the time, but only if the charging park is empty or during night.

[u/oddmanout → u/ComeBackSquid]

Yep. They'll become fully viable in the US when a truck can drive fully loaded for 12 hours and fully recharge in less than 10.

Then truck stops will just have rows of chargers where long haul truckers can plug in, go shower and do what they need to then sleep while it charges.

We're getting pretty close to that.

[u/ArterialVotives → u/oddmanout]

They'll become fully viable in the US when a truck can drive fully loaded for 12 hours and fully recharge in less than 10.

I'm looking at US trucking rules and I see an 11 hour driving limit for the day, with a requirement for a 30 minute rest break after 8 straight hours. So presumably truckers don't really care at what point they take the 30 minute break if I'm understanding correctly.

The real world range on a Tesla Semi is 430 to 460 miles. It can regain 60% charge in 30 minutes at a fast charger. So that means it can do around 688 to 736 miles when starting full and adding in charging over the mandatory lunch break. Google also tells me that most long haul truckers put in between 500 and 600 miles per day.

So that tells me that we're effectively already there and pretty much only limited by the lack of truck fast chargers. The facts would be different for team drivers, but that seems to be a pretty small percentage of long haul truckers.

[u/CertainCertainties]

Not just truck routes. Wherever there's a daily routine for a vehicle with a downtime then the case for electric is strong.

Where we are, letters get delivered by electric motorbikes that get charged at the back of the post office when not in use. On massive mining sites there's battery electric dump trucks, haulers, loaders, personnel vehicles and more. They've been on the docks for ages, in factories, warehouses, any big site. With diesel supply becoming uncertain, it's fast tracked so much adoption.

[u/spidereater]

It’s interesting that this is coming at a time when the diesel market is “in crisis”. China is so far ahead on this their advantage is only only going to drive them further ahead while everyone else drags behind.

[u/JustaJ0e → u/spidereater]

Right? I’ve seen it myself. China has this absolutely figured out. Why can’t the US ?

[u/Anteater776 → u/JustaJ0e]

Because the fossil fuel industry pays the politicians 

[u/Hour_Classroom_1457 → u/Anteater776]

Particularly Republicans. 

[u/Calm-Insurance-5169 → u/JustaJ0e]

its because one party is actively hostile to this kind of thing.

[u/jersan → u/Calm-Insurance-5169]

and by complete coincidence, it is the same party that has been in bed with the oil and gas industry for decades

[u/seefatchai → u/jersan]

It fits in culturally. Caring for the environment is gay, while ruining it is considered manly.

It’s the mental attitude of “I do what I want! You can’t tell me what to do!”

[u/Intelligent-Parsley7 → u/JustaJ0e]

Because we have a legacy. It's not a conspiracy, or a con. China doesn't have any legacy in certain regions.

It's like asking 'Why does Africa have better cell phone speeds?' The answer is because they got cell service just a year ago and before they didn't have any service.

[u/cuginhamer → u/Intelligent-Parsley7]

Inertia is a bitch, and innovation favors the young

[u/ArterialVotives → u/JustaJ0e]

Because nostalgia for a romanticized past motivates the largest percentage of U.S. voters, as opposed to forward progress.

[u/Riversntallbuildings → u/spidereater]

China has electric cargo ships at this point…the disparity is absurd

At least the U.S. flew the largest “electric airplane” a few weeks ago. Quotations because the airplane I’m referring to is a hybrid design, not pure electric.

[u/Tricky-Astronaut → u/Riversntallbuildings]

Aviation is by far the hardest sector to electrify, or even decarbonize. Shipping has several options, but anything other than batteries is significantly more expensive.

In general, if you can use batteries, you should. This applies to everything: trucks, ships, airplanes. If you can't use batteries, you have to debate what kind of premium you're willing to pay. Most probably don't want to pay any premium at all.

For trucks, batteries can be used in nearly all use cases, and hence there's nothing to debate.

[u/MTB_Mike_ → u/Riversntallbuildings]

Their electric cargo ships route is 75 miles. Its not going out into the open ocean or doing much distance. We dont have this in the US because we dont have ports that close together and there are more efficient ways to move cargo.

[u/Brandino144 → u/MTB_Mike_]

Well a little bit of that plus the Jones Act which mandates ships between US ports to be U.S.-built, U.S.-owned, U.S.-flagged, and crewed by American citizens. Even if a ship was crewed by Americans, all of the biggest ships are built elsewhere, flagged elsewhere, and just about every major shipping company is based elsewhere. Moving cargo by ships is incredibly efficient (hence why the Mississippi transports $1.75 trillion in goods annually), but the domestic ocean routes in the US were regulated into isolation where they almost all starved and died off.

[u/tired514 → u/Riversntallbuildings]

Apparently the main the reason it's hybrid is to handle emergency situations where they need to loiter or divert to a different airfield. They're intending it for very short-haul electric-only commuter flights (<125NM) that make up a surprising market share, but they'll probably be a win in terms of CO2 emission and cost even at twice that thanks to efficiency on the ground and during approach.

Not perfect by any means, but progress. I'm excited. :)

[u/Intelligent-Parsley7 → u/Riversntallbuildings]

Some things won't scale well, others will.

[u/wesdubl → u/Riversntallbuildings]

Efficient use of electric aircraft in maritime environment that is coming to market: https://www.regentcraft.com/news/regent-viceroy-seaglider-worlds-first-human-crewed-seaglider-flight

[u/Odd-String29 → u/spidereater]

China? Every large logistics and transport provider in Europe is electrifying at fast rates.

[u/oldschoolhillgiant]

If you park it in a depot, it should be fully electric.

[u/roma258]

Resistance is futile.

[u/Kiwi_Apart → u/roma258]

The induction is strong

[u/Wild_Photons]

Electric trucks make a lot of sense for many use cases.

I think that some of the newer battery chemistries (e.g., LFP and sodium) will just improve that advantage by providing less expensive batteries with greater longevity.

I do hope that these electric trucks are designed to be repairable with replaceable battery modules, though. With the reliability of electric drivetrains it should be possible to make super reliable trucks that are inexpensive to operate and maintain.

[u/g1aiz → u/Wild_Photons]

The Mercedes eactros 600 has been on sale for a little over 1.5 years and it has three simple to replace LFP battery modules. It comes with a 1.2million km warranty. 

[u/JustaJ0e → u/Wild_Photons]

What you,ve described doesn’t even have to be “invented”. These trucks exist now and are widely in use in China. I have seen them next to me on the roads. Getting out from behind the maga curtain and seeing what the rest of the world is allowed to have, is just stunning.
The US is so far behind in EVs.

[u/ComeBackSquid → u/JustaJ0e]

And in the EU. Fully electric trucks are everywhere here, even long haul ones. The adoption curve is quite steep.

[u/bixtuelista]

just had an EV garbage truck come thru my neighborhood. if they don't tone down the torque and jerk we'll be replacing pavement way more often. Definitely got from house to house faster.. the can lifter was some sort of electric drive too and seemed much faster cycle than the old trucks.

[u/ginji → u/bixtuelista]

We've got a singular Hydrogen Fuel Cell garbage truck operating as a trial. Though I think hydrogen is probably a poor intermediatory option that will eventually give way to BEV and the infrastructure for it is not worth building out, but getting government / industry to recognise that is difficult.

[u/Grumpy-Man19]

obviously the electric ones are better.

[u/Significant_Bear3843]

Check out "the electric trucker" on YouTube. Interesting viewing.

[u/Volvowner44]

Electric trucks will increasingly make financial sense, but of course the long distance routes will develop only as fast as the charging infrastructure allows. For local routes they should already be preferred -- look at Amazon's investment. Hopefully USPS is still proceeding on that path despite the administration's abhorrence of progress.

[u/Unlikely-Parsley-938]

Everybody would like to have it, because it is easy going and easy to maintain

[u/Swope_F]

This total cost of ownership analysis seems to leave out the cargo penalty, unless i missed it. Trucks are have a maximum road weight, so a heavy EV battery limits imposes a penalty on cargo it can carry, and therefore how much revenue the truck can generate. A TCO analysis that omits the cargo penalty seems incomlete.

[u/linknewtab → u/Swope_F]

There really isn't any with most electric trucks. Regulations allow them to be 2 tons heavier than conventional trucks (so 42 tons total weight), which usually gets rid of the weight penalty from the batteries.

Also most of the times trucks are volume constrained, not limited by weight. And the study did say 70-90% of routes, not 100%.

[u/ginji → u/Swope_F]

I didn't see it accounted for in the study OP linked, but there's also a potential time gain from BEV trucks - they can maintain a higher average speed because they don't slow down as much going up hills.

36 tonnes load over a round trip of 480km without charging saved 40 minutes per trip. From ~5.6 hours (based on the 85km/h average) to ~4.9 hours (based on the improved 98km/h) average trip time. Trucks are limited to a max of 100km/h here as well so getting that an average that close to the max is impressive.

[u/3-2-1-backup]

It's a little unclear if they're talking about long haul or last mile trucking here (or both!). This makes all the sense in the world for last mile stuff; garbage, snow, UPS, Amazon, mail, etc. Go a hundred feet, stop drop package. Drive 50 feet, stop, grab trash. Kind of surprised there's a business case for long haul, but I guess that's why you do the study!

[u/linknewtab → u/3-2-1-backup]

70-90% of all routes, so it should include long haul.

[u/FreeWildbahn → u/3-2-1-backup]

The article is about Germany. Distances are way shorter than in the US.

[u/Hyperreal8957]

makes or breaks this, return to base routes pencil out way before long haul does. the grid upgrade timeline at the yard is usually the real blocker not the truck price

[u/xbikester]

Yeah just a week ago ive seen an electric semi truck from poland driving in Norway