So many misconceptions,
So many misconceptions, mostly from the naysayers. The economics are easy to figure out. To make the math easy, let's say our truckers drive 100,000 miles per year. Our author figures about $0.70 per mile in savings. That'd be $70,000 per year. Even at $35,000 per year, you'd get a pretty quick payback in the cost difference. Like, enough to buy another Tesla semi after 5 years if it dies prematurely.
As far as emissions go, a Diesel truck getting 6 mpg will emit about 3.7 lbs of CO2 per mile driven. Ballpark average. Simple math using easily available data. The average power plant in the US emits 0.85 lb CO2 per kwh. If the truck uses 2 kwh per mile, that's 1.7 lb CO2 per mile driven. So for every 10,000 miles, you save about 20,000 lbs of CO2.
I found a source that estimates the CO2 generation in the process of mining, shipping materials and producing a Tesla battery. They figure 400 lb per kwh on the high end. Less than a quarter of that on the low end. Nobody really knows, but these guys are smarter than me, so I have to assume they're in the ballpark. If you assume a 500 kwh battery that's 200,000 lb of CO2 on the high end. If you assume that other aspects of building the truck are similar to a diesel truck, It would need to go about 100,000 miles to get out of the red for carbon footprint. Now, that's on the high end. More realistically, it's probably closer to 50,000 miles. Less than a year for most truckers.
So, yeah, lithium, nickel, and cobalt mining are dirty and bad for the environment. But they don't carry the same potential for geopolitical destabilization, famine, drought, flood, and all sorts of nastiness that comes with CO2. So, much like voting, you have to choose the lesser of two evils. This one, to me, is a no-brainer.