PepsiCo’s best-performing Tesla Semi traveled an average of 574 miles per day over the course of 18 days at the RunonLess Real World data tracking event. The next best non-Tesla vehicle was WattEV’s Nikola Tre BEV, which traveled an average of 255 miles per day. OK Produce’s Freightliner eCascadia averaged 181 miles per day, and the Performance Team’s best-performing Volvo VNR Electric averaged 175 miles per day.
Nextbigfuture has tracked the Tesla Semi and the Runonless event in detail.
Pepsi has described its experience of using 21 Tesla Semi trucks for ten months and how they operated during the Run on Less trucking event.
Pepsi Confirms that They Have Gotten Over 500 Mile Runs Loads Up to the US Highway Max of 82,000 lbs
The Tesla Semis being deployed out of Sacramento run two different types of routes: long-haul routes that transport between 250 and 520 miles per run and with a gross vehicle weight plus load of up to 82,000 lbs.; And 18 different delivery routes where the trucks cover less than 75 miles per day, hauling a diminishing load that leaves nearly full and lightens throughout the day as deliveries are made.
The three Tesla Semis participating in the Run on Less are driving slip-seated long-haul transport routes. After two weeks (Sept. 11 – Sept. 23), these Semis have accumulated a total of 19,122 miles. Approximately 65 percent of miles driven during the first two weeks of Run on Less were loaded to a gross vehicle weight plus load of over 70,000 pounds.
I accumulated all the data about tractor weights, payload capacity, prices and other factors for all electric semi trucks.
I looked at the truck charging that is being rolled out by Tesla. Tesla has over 5000 charging stops with 50,000 connectors. The connectors are mostly 250 KWh chargers. Three regular chargers can be replaced with one 750 kWh truck charger. Tesla’s domination in charging will let them make hundreds of truck charging locations in the next 15 months and then scale that to thousands and tens of thousands of truck chargers.
Autonews had reports on this event.
US Large and Medium Truck Market
The US Electric and Diesel Medium and Heavy Truck Markets reports were given by Nextbigfuture.com.
CALSTART has a May 2023 report on the zero emission U.S. medium- and heavy-duty (MHD) truck market (Class 2b–8). It presents deployment statistics for on-road zero-emission trucks (ZETs). Deployments or deployed sales are defined as trucks that have been sold, delivered, and placed into service on U.S. roads.
The cumulative number of U.S. MHD ZET deployments has grown to 5,483 (from January 2017 to December 2022).
59% were in states that—as of December 2022—have adopted the Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) rule. About half of the heavy duty electric semi trucks are in California. In 2022 alone, 3,510 MHD ZETs were deployed, surpassing deployments of the previous five years (2017–2021) combined and representing breakthrough growth. Pickup trucks, which became available in 2022, represented nearly one-fourth (831) of these deployments.
The growth in the zero-emission cargo van segment (which experienced a 315-fold increase in deployments from 2017 to 2022) reflects the popularity of the new models on the market (e.g., Amazon’s Custom Electric Delivery Vehicle from Rivian, BrightDrop’s Zevo 600, Ford’s E-Transit, etc.) and their relatively low-price premium compared to gasoline-powered vans.
There is a Commercial Clean Vehicle Credit, which provides up to $7,500 in tax credits to mitigate the incremental cost.
From 2011 through 2022, redeemed and unredeemed vouchers from California’s Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP) for MHD ZETs totaled $315 million over 3,149 units, an average of ~$100,000 per MHD ZET or ~41% of the average original retail price for a deployed MHD ZET.
California’s subsidies have enabled the state to have 47% of total U.S. MHD ZET deployed sales from January 2017 to December 2022. Each dollar invested in MHD ZETs through California’s HVIP program has unlocked $1.42 in private industry investment.
In 2022, total U.S. MHD truck deployed sales (Class 2b–8) increased to 1,186,966 units. Of this total, Class 4–8 deployed sales comprised 334,683 units. California leads the nation in U.S. MHD truck deployed sales, with 78,272 Class 2b–8 units sold in 2022. (California’s Class 4–8 deployed sales were 23,642 units.)
Five states represent 31% of registered U.S. MHD trucks: California (9.5%), Texas (9.4%), Florida (4.8%), Pennsylvania (4.1%), and New York (3.3%). All other states each comprise 4% or less of registered vehicles.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.