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Today I was driving along I-10 from Phoenix AZ to Tucson AZ. I was in the right lane going around 65 mph (driving a rental truck) when I saw a cabover semi truck in the drivers side mirror coming along to pass in the middle lane. That got my attention because cabover semis are rare these days, as in almost extinct. As it got closer I saw a N logo on the front, and wondered what that was - that was no Kenworth, Peterbilt, Volvo, Western Star or Freightliner. After it passed, I saw the back of the cab read Nicola Battery Electric Vehicle.
Anyone else ever seen a BEV semi on the road hauling real freight? This was the first time I have seen such a thing. The truck was hauling a flatbed trailer with what looked like a rather modest sized load. They have a range of around 350 miles, which would be OK for a round trip from Phoenix to Tucson with warm temps on a fairly level route like I-10.
Today I was driving along I-10 from Phoenix AZ to Tucson AZ. I was in the right lane going around 65 mph (driving a rental truck) when I saw a cabover semi truck in the drivers side mirror coming along to pass in the middle lane. That got my attention because cabover semis are rare these days, as in almost extinct. As it got closer I saw a N logo on the front, and wondered what that was - that was no Kenworth, Peterbilt, Volvo, Western Star or Freightliner. After it passed, I saw the back of the cab read Nicola Battery Electric Vehicle.
Anyone else ever seen a BEV semi on the road hauling real freight? This was the first time I have seen such a thing. The truck was hauling a flatbed trailer with what looked like a rather modest sized load. They have a range of around 350 miles, which would be OK for a round trip from Phoenix to Tucson with warm temps on a fairly level route like I-10.
Oh good eye! I have not noticed one, but I don't drive a lot on the big highways for awhile now - I have been working remotely >= 95% of the time since the onset of Covid
I think the ideal commercial EVs are small to medium sized delivery vans (FedEx, Amazon etc). I am not so convinced that semi-truck EVs will have a big impact in the next 5 years or more. Semi truck EVs have some good possible uses such as for moving containers around in a port loading zone, or short haul A to B truck routes. I just can't see the feasible use for EVs for long haul trucking of heavy loads over mountains with ice-cold temperatures and all of the other variables that over the road truckers face on a daily basis.
I think the ideal commercial EVs are small to medium sized delivery vans (FedEx, Amazon etc). I am not so convinced that semi-truck EVs will have a big impact in the next 5 years or more. Semi truck EVs have some good possible uses such as for moving containers around in a port loading zone, or short haul A to B truck routes. I just can't see the feasible use for EVs for long haul trucking of heavy loads over mountains with ice-cold temperatures and all of the other variables that over the road truckers face on a daily basis.
Now that you say it, there were a lot of headlines on the Tesla semi for a few years, and then they rolled it out to Pepsi as I recall, and for the past year or so, I haven't really heard more about it?
There are a lot of brands with class 8 electric semis now with some of them available in the US. Tesla as I last heard it has thus far delivered 36 out of an order of 100 or so electric semis to PepsiCo and apparently hit a milestone of covering 1,000 miles a day with a single vehicle in commercial operation. Other Tesla semis seem to have been for Tesla's own usage. Supposedly this is still a pilot before they figure out what needs to improve and really ramp into mass production.
Volvo Trucks which also owns Mack and PACCAR which owns Peterbilt and Kenworth have also been producing electric semis in what seem to be larger numbers than the Tesla semi.
These ones you're less likely to notice because they look pretty similar to their ICE stable mates even though they are generally much more numerous than either Nikola or Tesla.
They're generally not used for very long OTR trucking routes thus far and there's still quite a bit of market for them to take over before getting to the longer OTR trucking routes.
Fedex and Amazon among others have much larger smaller electric van delivery fleets than anyone has of an electric semi fleet. Amazon along has over 10,000 Rivian EDVs out there and its fleet has other electric vehicles aside from the Rivian EDVs, so that's a pretty good indicator that the shorter delivery routes that need smaller vehicles are much more conducive for battery electric vehicle usage than class 8 semis are.
Heavy loads over mountains is generally in favor of electric semis as electric motors and battery power output are very well suited for having very high torque even starting from a standstill going uphill which is great for safety, get to recuperate a lot of that energy on the way down anytime it needs to slow down or stop which is great for efficiency, and do not get the high elevation efficiency hit that internal combustion engines get since they do not consume oxygen for power. The problem is more of the infrastructure and standards for charging them and current battery energy density for how much range you can conceivably have. Large elevation changes seems to be working out pretty well with the Tesla semis you see going across the Sierra Nevada from the California factories to the Reno, Nevada factory. Chinese electric semi makers seemed to have gotten around this by having battery swapping for these massive vehicles which I think makes sense especially for now and the near future, but there aren't any promising signs of that catching on here.
The route you mentioned from Phoenix to Tucson seems ideal for the state of technology as it is now especially if it can charge up while loading / unloading.
Last edited by OyCrumbler; 04-24-2024 at 09:30 AM..
Unlike consumer passenger EVs (save for the Taycan), these do have a transmission with two speeds (also like the Taycan) which makes sense given there's a much greater variation in power needed for these vehicles especially between without a load and maintaining speed and fully loaded going up a freeway on ramp. It's impressive how quiet the vehicle is. 0.6 miles per kWh is above 20 miles per gallon - equivalent (mpg-e) which is really, really good. It does have a heavy battery so it's slightly less max weight payload, but according to this video which likely translate to here, most payloads are volume constrained rather than weight so it still works for most use cases.
I saw one apprx two years ago at a Pepsi warehouse in Newark, CA. They are very heavy - much heavier than a diesel powered rig. I assume they haul corn chips (Pepsi owns Frito-Lay) and other lighter loads for local grocery delivery due to legal weight limits. And California has the strict mandates on emissions so it wasn't a shock to see my big rig first EV in the Bay area.
I've seen a handful since, mostly on the CA 99 corridor.
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