Tesla Semi outperforms other electric trucks during real-world testing

Ever since the Tesla Semi was officially delivered to its first customer back in December last year, the EV community has been wondering about its real-world performance. 

Over the last couple of months, an independent organisation in the US, the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE), has been testing the PepsiCo Tesla Semi range along with other electric trucks in the Run for Less challenge to find out just that.

Now results are being compiled by NACFE and that first Tesla Semi customer, Pepsico which paints a very interesting picture of how the Semi performs on its own and against other electric trucks.

These results show that Tesla’s Semi has outperformed when compared with its competitors. According to NACFE, the key metrics it did this in while delivering goods while being loaded include:

• Driving range
• Charging efficiency
• Performance

The Semi has done so well that it’s started to get attention from the broader transport sector which is evaluating whether battery electric trucks can work well in the real world.

With this in mind and driving range being a key metric for the industry, on the tail-end of the 18-day NACFE Run on Less challenge one of the Tesla Semi trucks had impressed the organisers and observers of the challenge by completing 1,732 km (1,076 miles) in a single day. The same truck averaged travelling 923 km over the course of the challenge.

This was compared against other electric trucks in the challenge which included:

• Freightliner’s eCascadia – averaged 291 km
• Volvo VNR Electric – averaged 282 km
• WattEV’s Nikola Tre BEV – averaged 410 km

According to the initial reports, the Semi appears to have a large lead when it comes to average daily distance travelled. 

Having said that, it’s unclear if the other trucks were being used on a similar route or if their respective routes demanded that they travel further than the daily averages.

The exact loading of these trucks has also not been shared but the event organisers have previously shared that the average loads have been around 31.8 tonnes (70,000 lbs).

When it comes to charging, the Semi which conducted the over 1,700 km trip on day 17 of the challenge had three charging stops at 750 kW.

Two of these charging stops were under 45 minutes and the third longer stop was around mid-day lasted for over an hour and got the truck’s 3% state of charge up to nearly 90%.

More data and insights from the NACFE Run for Less challenge are expected to be released in the coming weeks. This will help outline the capabilities of electric trucks of today which will help decarbonise heavy road transport in the coming decades.