All the comments regarding
All the comments regarding the true cost of electricity are interesting, but I'd like to address some of the other questionable calculations that were used in this article to make the case for the superiority of the Tesla Semi.
Mr. Johnson used 6 mpg to calculate diesel tractor fuel costs. That's very misleading. The majority of diesel tractors on the road are less than 5 years old, and are either Freightliner Cascadias, Peterbilt 579's, or Kenworths.
I lease a 2020 Peterbilt 579 Ultraloft, and over the past 2 years, when loaded, I usually average around 8.5 mpg. I primarily work as a subcontractor for a company with a very large fleet of trucks, and the fleet average most weeks is between 8.4 and 8.6 mpg.
The 6 mpg figure used in the story has to be based on old data that tracked the fuel mileage of old school long nose tractors, which are the aerodynamic equivalent of bricks on wheels. The resulting cost per mile figure of 85 cents per mile is misleading. When calculated using a more accurate 8.5 mpg, the cost per mile is around 59 cents per mile. Still substantially more expensive than the cost per mile given for the Tesla Semi, but not the ridiculous difference outlined by the article.
It'll be interesting to see what the true MSRP of the Tesla Semi ends up being. Only then will it be possible to accurately estimate the long term savings.