US Electric Trucks Launched Into The US Market With A Bang

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…But is a fizzle in store? That remains to be seen. President Trump has thrown more than a few monkey wrenches into the US electric vehicle transition since taking office just a few weeks ago. However, the outlook for sales of electric passenger cars in 2025 looks pretty good considering the circumstances. The picture for electric trucks is more complicated, but the fleet electrification movement has already gathered a head of steam that could help it outlast temporary setbacks.

NEVI Meddling Will Have A Limited Impact On Electric Truck Sales

Trump has gummed up the works, at least temporarily, by suspending the $5 billion NEVI charging station program approved by Congress during the Biden administration. The impact on charging station availability for electric trucks will be limited, though. Many electric trucks can charge up at privately-owned fleet depots.

Last week, for example, the California Energy Commission launched a new online dashboard to help keep electric truck drivers, and the general public, informed on the location of charging and fueling points for battery-electric and fuel cell electric medium- and heavy-duty trucks. The dashboard also aims to inform stakeholder input on priorities for installing new truck charging and fueling points.

At launch, the dashboard identified 16,237 charging and fueling points statewide.

“Most of the charging points are located in private depots that serve specific fleets, which deploy dedicated infrastructure to support their local and regional needs,” CEC noted. “These private depots are supplemented by the growing number of publicly available stations being developed across the state, supported by grant funding programs.”

The Great Electric Truck Takeover

In California, the uptake on MDHD electric trucks was running hot as of last year, contributing to strong growth in overall EV sales.

CEC notes that one in six new vehicles sold in the state last year were MDHD electric trucks, a category that includes school buses as well as freight transportation and last-mile delivery.

In November, the Environmental Defense Fund ran the numbers for electric trucks deployed nationwide and concluded that “the shift to zero-emission is not slowing down.”

To be clear, that assessment was reached two months before Trump took office. Much water has passed under the electric vehicle bridge since then. Still, the finding suggests that electric truck momentum is strong enough to weather Trump’s efforts to stall it out.

EDF looked at fleet electrification activity in truck classes 2B through 8 for 2024, using a tracking tool that compiles publicly available orders, deployments, and commitments.

The tracker shows that more than 12,894 electric trucks were already on US roads by the end of 2023, representing an increase of 10,000 over 2022 deployments. Those numbers easily were easily crushed by new deployments in 2024.

“This year saw over 15,316 new MHDEVs deployed from January to mid-November, an increase of nearly 44% from last year, establishing 2024 as the new record year for MHDEV deployments,” EDF noted.

With additional deployments later last year, EDF anticipated a total of more than 29,000 electric trucks on the road.

Significantly, electric truck adoption has grown well beyond early adopters and demonstration projects. In addition to electric fleet expansion by first movers like Amazon and Walmart, the number of new and small fleet electrifying is rapidly increasing.

“This year, an additional 127 new fleets announced their first deployments, bringing the total number of fleets with MHDEV deployments to 331 nationally,” EDF notes.

“This rapidly growing list of deployments shows that electric trucks are here to stay, and 2025 promises even more transformative changes in the transportation sector,” EDF enthused.

Next Steps For Fleet Electrification

Granted, EDF reached that assessment last year, before Trump upended expectations for federal tax credits and other support. This week, a Fortune reporting team painted a different outlook for truck elecrification following Trump’s first month in office.

“President Donald Trump, who is taking aim at California’s more stringent vehicle requirements, is also expected to go after the federal tailpipe rules. Meanwhile, 19 states, all of which voted for Trump in the most recent election, filed a legal challenge against California’s requirements for truck manufacturers,” the Fortune team noted.

The US is already far behind the electric truck curve, according to the reporters, and the Trump Effect will have lasting effects on the truck supply chain, impacting costs. “All told, electrics make up about 0.5% of new heavy-duty truck registrations in the US. By contrast, China and Norway have surged past 7%, Sweden topped 6%, the Netherlands reached 3%, and Europe reached 1.4%,” they observed.

Tesla Vs. Nikola — Oh…Wait…

The Fortune team did find signs that some firms are still committed to electrifying their US fleets, but they also took note of signs that investors and trucking companies are already pulling back.

Uncertainty over the future also probably helped pound the final nail into the coffin of electric truck maker and Tesla rival Nikola, which was banking on fuel cell technology for a foothold in the truck market. The company declared bankruptcy earlier this week, though other fuel cell truck makers still have a hand in the game.

The rewrite of federal policy on fleet electrification could also make things interesting for Tesla*, where sales have taken a nosedive in recent months. The much-publicized Cybertruck was supposed to boost overall sales when it launched in December of 2023 but it quickly ran out of steam. Nevertheless, Tesla reportedly plans to scale up production of its Semi Class 8 battery-electric truck. later this year, towards a full scale ramp-up in 2026.

More Electric Trucks, More Truck Charging Stations

Assuming the truck electrification movement outlives Trump’s term in office, the next hurdle is the availability of enough EV charging stations with enough power to fill the batteries of all long haul trucks. Charging stations at fleet depots fit the bill for overnight charging, but long haul trucks can’t sit around at the local Pilot all day.

Keep an eye on the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which has been working on something it calls the “Megawatt Charging System,” a set of global standards that will enable electric trucks to charge up at the 3.75 megawatt level.

“To charge more than one heavy-duty truck at a time, and get them all back on the road quickly, a charging station may need to pump out 20 megawatts (MW) of power or more,” NREL states.

*Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been fiddling with the levers of power in the US government while his car company burns. His EV sales in Europe have fallen off a cliff, according to the latest reports. If you have any thoughts about that, share in the comment thread or better yet, share with your representatives in Congress.

Photo (cropped): Electric trucks are gaining traction all over the world, though a recent shift in federal EV policy raises questions about the US market (courtesy of California Energy Commission).