It is an important data point. But the most important data is the life-cycle cost per mile.
It may be more, or less than a diesel truck.
If it is more, it will be another price increase for consumers as taxpayers pay for all of these new regulations. That's why a car costs $50,000 and up now and not $25k
I haven’t seen the definitive numbers yet and we need to see the pricing for the Tesla truck, but right now it looks like the Tesla semi is slightly more expensive than a diesel.
As the volumes increase, this would drop below diesel. I don’t think it would be (by 2030) such a drastic difference in cost to change, but a good alternative.
“would result in a 23% fuel cost reduction over the most efficient diesel trucks.”
The TCO of this program already has eaten any possible savings. That, and there are no means of an EV of any type having savings over petro fueled vehicles.
The only players in the trucking business who have been able to incorporate battery-powered vehicles into their fleets at a lower cost than diesel or gasoline counterparts are delivery services like FedEx, UPS, Amazon, etc. that use delivery vans instead of heavy trucks. An EV van now has a lower life-cycle cost than a comparable ICE vehicle ... but ONLY if the company managing the fleet is willing to accept a very important limitation of the EV: They have to assume that the EV vehicle has a residual value of $0 at the end of its life cycle in the fleet.
This is a critical concession, because conventional ICE trucks are sold to secondary and tertiary buyers after they are used by the large fleets that purchase them new. The EV vehicles can still function after its three-year or five-year cycle of use in the fleet is over, but EV technology is changing so rapidly that nobody in the trucking business is going to want an EV that is three or five years old.
This points to a major limitation on EVs that doesn't get a lot of attention right now. They function more like computers than heavy equipment over the course of their life cycles. This means they become functionally obsolete long before they physically break down. The end result is that like computers and other home/office electronics, the owners will reach a point where they can't even be given away even though they are still working fine.
I would think a diesel truck would be more difficult to automate driverless functions. Electric trucks have a legitimate place in the commercial transportation industry. I personally have no idea about the final numbers but would think employing the driver would be just behind fuel when it comes to operating costs.
Right off they lose 20% range if they are charged to 80%.
The capacity of the trucks are reduced as well as the batteries weigh so much more and take up more room then a diesel engine. What is the replacement cost of the battery?
Who has 750kw chargers? That must have cost a fortune.