Tesla Semi Wins Largest U.S. Electric Truck Order From ZET

Tesla has secured the largest electric truck order in U.S. History. The ZET SCALE alliance, a new group of shippers and carriers, selected Tesla as its primary manufacturer on Tuesday for an initial order of 2,500 electric Class 8 trucks.

According to a press release from the nonprofit Catalyst Mobility, the deal alone would nearly double the number of electric heavy trucks operating in the country. Kenworth, RIDE, and Volvo were also selected as secondary manufacturers for the order, though the exact split between the four brands has not been published.

Selection and Financing

Tesla won the top slot through a competitive request for proposals. The alliance, which Catalyst Mobility runs with the Smart Freight Centre, scored bidders on price, range, charging capability, and production capacity. Pooling freight demand from founding shippers like Microsoft and PepsiCo allowed every truck maker to bid lower than it would for a single fleet. "The Tesla Semi is designed for lower cost per mile operations than diesel," said Dan Priestley, director of the Tesla Semi program, in the press release.

The financing is structured to attract carriers who have avoided electric trucks. ZET Financial is issuing the purchase order for all 2,500 units and will place them with fleets through a fair market value lease.

Deployment and Scale

The trucks will be deployed over the next few years across 10 freight hubs in major U.S. Regions. These include Los Angeles, Stockton, Bakersfield, Seattle, Tacoma, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Chicago, Atlanta, and the Newark and New York area. ZET SCALE says the first order is only the opening round, with a longer-term goal of 10,000 trucks or more.

Even if Tesla ends up with only a majority share of the 2,500-truck order, it would still be the biggest Semi deal to date. The previous record was Einride's 500-unit order in August, while WattEV's 370-truck order in May was the largest California deal at the time.

Production Context

The announcement comes two days before Tesla formally inaugurates its Semi factory in Nevada on September 24. The 1.7 million square foot plant is located next to Gigafactory Nevada's 4680 cell lines and is designed for an annual production capacity of 50,000 trucks.

Tesla leads this record order, but not every truck in the ZET SCALE deal will be a Semi.