Diesel prices are surging. These shippers say Tesla’s electric trucks can save money over time

Tesla just landed the largest-ever U.S. order for electric heavy-duty trucks: 2,500 Tesla Semis, which would double the number of Class 8 electric trucks on the road. A coalition of companies including Microsoft and PepsiCo is behind the order, which Tesla expects to deliver in 18 months. A financing partner is purchasing the trucks and will lease them to shippers. “The real goal here is to help bring down that upfront price barrier,” says Jacob Richard, who manages the trucks project at Catalyst Mobility, a nonprofit working on the program, called the Zero-Emission Truck Shipper-Carrier Alliance Leading Electrification. “We’re doing that by aggregating demand across multiple shippers.” Every heavy-duty electric truck manufacturer selling in the U.S., including Volvo and Kenworth, participated in the group’s request for proposals. Tesla won based on a combination of price, range, charging capacity, and production capacity. The nonprofit declined to share the cost of each truck, though it says that after three years of use, the savings on fuel and maintenance will make the trucks cheaper than diesel. The news comes at a time when diesel prices are surging. Diesel went from an avera…