Electric Semi Trucks Are Actually Cheaper Per Mile Than Diesel Trucks, Report Finds

Energy

Diesel trucks are seen driving along a U.S. highway. Lumigraphics / Getty Images

Heavy duty electric trucks (a.k.a. semis) cost so much less to operate per mile than diesel-powered trucks at today’s prices that they would pay for themselves in just three years, according to a new report by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, UCLA, and UC-Berkeley.


Electrifying heavy-duty trucks would substantially improve air quality.

Semis account for just 11% of vehicles on the road, but more than half of carbon pollution and 71% of deadly particulate pollution.

At today’s costs, electric semis could cost 13% less per mile than a comparable diesel-powered truck, and could cost just half as much per mile by 2030 with the right mix of policy.

For a deeper dive:

E&E, The Detroit Bureau; Commentary: Forbes, Silvio Marcacci op-ed

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