The trucking industry, which moves billions of tons of goods and employs millions of people, is critical to the United States economy. Advancements in technology, such as alternative powertrains, appear poised to radically transform the industry. The suitability of these new technologies to serve the needs of individual fleets can be difficult to determine. Altitude by Geotab is uniquely positioned to answer these questions because we have insight into how trucks across the country are being used. In this report, we address:
In the United States, trucks annually move 13 billion tons of freight worth 14 trillion dollars. The magnitude of this movement is nearly incomprehensible. However, on a daily basis trucks drive near and far to deliver goods to where they need to go. The economy built around this movement of goods is similarly massive, involving millions of personnel, trucks and miles of roadway throughout the country. Today, these trucks are fueled primarily by diesel and gasoline, while in the future, hydrogen and electricity may take over this role. There are several reasons for this energy transition, but the primary factors are efficiency and sustainability. While the trucking industry as a whole is a multi-trillion dollar business, the actual profit margins experienced by most fleets are relatively small. Because of this, advancements in truck efficiency, which allow a truck to perform the same amount of work while using less fuel, are often beneficial to trucking companies. Furthermore, reducing trucks’ dependency on petroleum-based fuels is helpful in shielding the industry from the volatility of fuel prices.
In contrast to these fuels, electricity and hydrogen gas are domestically produced. In the case of electricity, the prices are generally known well in advance (in addition to being overseen by public utilities commissions). Sustainability is also a key driver in the energy transition of the trucking industry. While the movement of goods is necessary for modern life, the negative externalities associated with trucking have come under increasing scrutiny. These externalities are primarily in the form of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other pollutants that are harmful to human health and the environment. This push for more efficient and more sustainable movement of goods has resulted in widespread technological advancements to produce electric trucks in the form of both battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) and fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). For the purposes of this report, we focused on battery-electric trucks, whose development over the last decade has been transformative. Battery electric trucks pose an alternative to internal combustion engines while eliminating the tailpipe emissions associated with trucking. However, as with all new technologies, there are legitimate concerns about the efficacy of electric trucks. These concerns revolve largely around range capabilities and infrastructure readiness and will be explored in more detail below. Nevertheless, electric trucks have been successfully adopted by many fleets around the country.
The decision to transition to electric may be driven by enthusiasm towards the new technology, a desire to reduce emissions, economic benefits, company mandates, local policy and more. While these decisions are largely made at the individual company level, this report aims to understand, at a high level, how many trucks could be electrified based on how they are driven today. Overall, we find that, using a 250-mile electric truck with access to depot charging:
This report outlines why the trucking industry may transition to electric, including an assessment of relevant policy and regulations in the United States, the state of the electric truck market and the methodology we use to quantify electrification potential.
In 2024, nearly 80 different electric MHD vehicle models from 30+ manufacturers were available for sale in the United States. While nearly 75% of these were medium-duty (MD) vehicles, there were still several different electric heavy-duty (HD) trucks to choose from. The ranges of these vehicles currently vary between 100 to 270 miles for MD trucks and 100 and 500 miles for HD trucks. These numbers have steadily improved over the last 5 years. For some duty cycles, such as local delivery, hub-and-spoke and drayage, shorter ranges are enough to complete a day’s work. For other types of duty cycles, such as regional and long-haul, longer ranges are necessary. Among others, Freightliner, Volvo, and Tesla currently offer Class 8 heavy-duty freight options with 200 – 500 miles ranges. Upfront costs for battery powered trucks are typically higher than their internal combustion engine counterparts. However, from a total cost of ownership perspective, electric trucks can be competitive, depending on the application. This is because electricity is much less expensive than diesel fuel. Furthermore, maintenance costs for electric trucks are expected to be lower than those for ICE trucks because battery-powered trucks have fewer moving parts.
For electric trucking to be successful, in addition to reliable and available electric trucks, adequate charging infrastructure is also critically important. Charging infrastructure for trucks currently exists in a multitude of power levels, ranging from as low as 20kW to as high as 1MW. Higher power charging allows trucks to charge more quickly, while lower power charging is slower and typically less expensive. These various charging powers are well suited to different applications. For example, slow charging may work well for trucks that are parked for long periods of time (eight to 12 hours). On the other hand, high power charging may be better for trucks that spend most of their time on the road. There are numerous companies that build, sell and install electric truck charging infrastructure. Many automakers do not sell charging infrastructure for their electric trucks, although this norm is changing. Tesla has always owned and operated public charging infrastructure to accompany its electric vehicles, both for passenger vehicles and trucks. Recently, Daimler and Volvo also introduced programs to facilitate the installation and operation of charging infrastructure.
Charging infrastructure installations can be expensive. This is because of hardware costs as well as potential utility upgrades. Utility upgrades are necessary when projected power demand at a site (for example, a truck depot) exceeds what the local distribution system is capable of delivering. These types of upgrades typically require extensive collaboration with utilities and may take several years to complete. It is sometimes possible for on-site energy storage (such as large, stationary batteries) to help alleviate some of the burden associated with requiring grid upgrades. In addition to the cost of installation, there are also costs associated with power delivery. Typically, these costs consist of an energy charge (kWh) and either a subscription charge or a power demand charge (kW). The energy costs may be time variable. In California, energy is typically less expensive during the day when the majority of the state’s electricity comes from solar power. Utilities have increasingly constructed specific rate plans to accommodate truck charging and facilitate the calculation of costs associated with charging.
Several companies have emerged to offer charging-as-a-service (ChaaS). These companies take on the capital cost and the risk associated with the upfront costs to install infrastructure themselves. In exchange, these ChaaS companies charge fleets an operational fee to use the chargers. The ChaaS business model has been used to build shared truck charging stations as well as by individual fleets who use ChaaS to supply private charging while mitigating their own risks.
While the state of the electric trucking industry has grown tremendously over the last several years, concerns remain about the viability of battery-powered vehicles. A commonly stated concern in the trucking electrification space is vehicle range. Diesel trucks can drive 1,300 – 1,800 miles on a single tank of fuel. However, driving regulations, which limit a driver’s operating hours to 11, mean that in practice a truck is unlikely to exceed ~800 miles without stopping. Nevertheless, with current technology, electric trucks are generally limited to 150 – 225 miles (although some OEMs claim ranges of up to 500 miles). High power charging can quickly recharge truck batteries to allow driving to continue, but operational patterns may have to shift slightly to accommodate the vehicle ranges. Another concern is infrastructure readiness. On one hand, there is the chicken or egg problem of whether widespread charging infrastructure should be deployed prior to widespread electric truck adoption or vice versa. First movers who deploy public charging infrastructure targeting fleets face the near-term problem of huge capital expenditures with relatively little return, since there are currently not a large number of electric trucks in operation. However, some fleets may be hesitant to electrify their trucks without the security of charging infrastructure availability away from the depot. Currently, the most common practice is for fleets to install charging infrastructure at their depots and electrify trucks with duty cycles that allow for regular depot charging. However, numerous charging infrastructure providers are poised to participate in this space and fill the void by deploying, maintaining and operating public and/or shared fleet charging.
Altitude by Geotab is a data platform that provides aggregated and anonymized insights about commercial vehicles’ operational behaviors. This data, which is collected directly from commercial vehicles, can help provide context about where vehicles are going, what routes they are taking, how far they are driving, and where they are stopping. We used this data to quantify truck electrification potential based on existing vehicle usage and currently available electric truck technology. We also used Altitude to identify locations where trucks are already stopping which could serve as future charging station sites. for new fleet charging stations and help support widespread electrification. Altitude data allows us to answer the question: How many trucks could electrify while still completing their same duty cycles? While many factors go into a fleet’s decision to electrify, our analysis shows the potential for electrification based on existing technology and current operational patterns of trucks in the United States.
There are many factors that may influence a fleet manager’s decision to electrify. Some of these factors, such as total cost of ownership, grid power and upgrade needs, etc. are beyond the scope of this analysis. Instead, we use aggregated vehicle telematics data to understand, at a high-level, which trucks might be good candidates for electrification based on how they are currently operated. Our analysis focuses on distance traveled between depot visits as the basis for determining electrifiability. We identified trucks with low-mileage duty cycles that return to depot fairly frequently. This methodology is based on the current practice of electrifying fleets owning and operating their own, private charging infrastructure at or near their domiciles.
We used two modules from Altitude by Geotab to:
These modules are 1) Regional Domicile Analytics (RDA) and 2) Stop Analytics (SA).
Regional Domicile Analytics provides insights about domiciling behavior of vehicles – allowing us to understand where vehicles are primarily stopped, how far they drive, how long they spend between depot visits, how much time they spend at the depot, etc. This module is well-oriented toward understanding trucking electrifiability in the case that charging is available at the depot. The module can also be used to estimate future charging power needs based on how long trucks typically spend at the depot.
Stop Analytics provides insights about where vehicles are stopping and how long they spend stopped. By selecting locations with high stop frequencies and long stop durations, we can identify high potential areas for public and/or shared infrastructure. This analysis focuses on charging locations that would be ideal from a trucking standpoint, but does not take into account grid upgrade requirements.
In our analysis, we analyzed medium-duty vehicles (Classes 3-6) and heavy-duty vehicles (Classes 7-8). This is because these two truck segments exhibit different driving behaviors and the availability of electric truck models differs between the two. We used Altitude by Geotab data from 2024 to understand how vehicles are driving and where they are domiciled.
We studied RDA insights to understand how many vehicles could electrify under various range restrictions if they had access to depot charging. By analyzing the distance vehicles drive before they come back to their depot, we can categorize those vehicles that would be the easiest to electrify using existing electric truck models. We considered vehicles that generally travel less than 150 miles, 250 miles and 500 miles between depot visits (i.e., the 95th percentile of distance traveled between depot stops is less than 150 miles, 250 miles or 500 miles). The tables and maps below show the results of this analysis. The hexagons shown on the maps each cover an area of approximately 100 square miles. These hex zones show where trucks are domiciled (i.e., where they spend the most time parked). We considered the electrification potential for these trucks with respect to their domiciles, so each hex shows the proportion of vehicles domiciled within that hex that travel within the given mileage ranges.
| Medium-duty trucking electrifiability | |
| Mileage range | Portion of trucks in mileage bin |
| 150 miles | 38% |
| 250 miles | 58% |
| 500 miles | 80% |
The map above shows Altitude by Geotab’s coverage of domiciling medium-duty vehicles across the United States. Depending on the geography, Altitude by Geotab can cover up to 25% of the overall trucking population. Altitude’s coverage tends to be relatively representative of the larger population. The map shows higher concentrations of domiciling vehicles coinciding with areas that have high populations of people (west coast, east coast and gulf coast). The number of trucks in each region is important to consider for several reasons. First, in areas with a high population of domiciling trucks, even a small portion of electrifiable vehicles (e.g., 25%) can make a big impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions because the overall number of electrifiable trucks is still relatively high. Second, improving air quality in regions with high populations (of people) can have a profound impact on human health.
The maps above show the proportion of medium-duty trucks that could be electrified, if given access to depot charging and battery-electric trucks of the corresponding ranges (150 miles, 250 miles and 500 miles). In the first map, we considered MD trucks that drive 150 miles or less between depot visits. This is the most conservative definition of electrifiability, as many electric MD trucks available on the market today are capable of driving more than 150 miles on a single charge. Overall, 38% of MD trucks could be electrified under these conditions. There are several areas in which a higher portion, 40-60% of MD trucks, are electrifiable using this definition – especially along the West Coast and in the southwestern part of the country. Using a more expansive definition of electrifiability, in which trucks are considered electrifiable if they drive 250 miles or less between depot visits, we observed that 58% of MD trucks are electrifiable. The western portion of the Midwest (south of the Dakotas) has the lowest portion of electrifiable trucks using this definition, while the eastern and western parts of the country are highly electrifiable. Lastly, we assessed what portion of MD vehicles drive 500 miles or less between depot visits. For these trucks to be electrified, electric trucks would need longer ranges compared to current technology or charging would have to be available to trucks away from their depots. Overall, 80% of MD trucks drive fewer than 500 miles between depot visits in 95% of instances.
| Heavy-duty trucking electrifiability | |
| Mileage range | Portion of trucks in mileage bin |
| 150 miles | 26% |
| 250 miles | 41% |
| 500 miles | 63% |
The map above shows Altitude by Geotab’s coverage of domiciling heavy-duty vehicles across the United States. The location trends shown above mirror those seen in the map of domiciling MD trucks.
The three maps above show the proportion of heavy-duty trucks that could be electrified, if provided access to depot charging and battery-electric trucks of the corresponding ranges (150-miles, 250-miles, 500-miles). Overall, 26% of HD trucks could be electrified if they had access to depot charging and 150-mile range electric trucks. A few locations, including the northern and central coast of California, New Orleans, Las Vegas, central Oregon and Northern Washington have a higher proportion of HD trucks that could be electrified under these conditions. Using a truck model with a larger range (250 miles), about 41% of HD trucks are electrifiable, with several pockets throughout the country offering opportunities for even higher electrifiability. Lastly, considering a 500-mile range, 63% of HD trucks are electrifiable, with noticeable exceptions of higher electrifiability potential throughout the western half of the country.
Our RDA analysis showed the proportion of trucks (both MD and HD) throughout the United States that could electrify using trucks of various ranges if they had access to depot charging. Electrifiability potential varies by geography based on the driving behavior of trucks in each area. Overall, electrifiability potential ranges from 26% – 80%, depending on weight class and electric truck range.
In addition to examining high-level electrifiability, we explore the duty cycles of these trucks to understand how far they drive and how long they spend stopped (both at domicile and away from domicile). Understanding their stop or dwell behavior provides insights into the charging windows these trucks have both at their depots, and for potential off-site charging opportunities. The table below shows duty-cycle median distance and daily total median distance for MD vehicles in each of the 4 range bins. In all cases, the daily median driving distance is less than 100 miles.The box plot below shows that a small percentage of higher mileage duty cycles are possible resulting in 95th percentiles that range from 100+ miles to nearly 350 miles.
| Medium-duty trucking mileage | ||
| Range | Duty cycle median distance | Daily median distance |
| 150 miles | 33 | 52 |
| 250 miles | 44 | 69 |
| 500 miles | 57 | 84 |
| No limit | 63 | 96 |
The operational patterns of HD trucks in the 150-mile, 250-mile, and 500-mile range bins are relatively similar to those of corresponding MD trucks. This pattern does not hold for the unrestricted HD trucks. The HD trucks with no range restrictions have a wide range of operations resulting in 75th and 95th percentile values that are significantly higher than the MD counterparts. This indicates that while many HD trucks are most commonly used for relatively low mileage work (median values ranging from 100-160 miles), these trucks are sometimes required to drive very long distances (higher percentiles ranging from 250 – 550 miles). HD trucks that generally drive shorter distances ( < 150 miles) are good candidates for electrification because of the availability of electric models that are capable of covering this range, even considering the implications of heavy payloads and routes that may lower truck range.
| Heavy-duty trucking mileage | ||
| Range | Duty cycle median distance | Daily median distance |
| 150 miles | 34 | 57 |
| 250 miles | 49 | 76 |
| 500 miles | 73 | 101 |
| No limit | 98 | 155 |
We also explored stopping behavior of these vehicles. The data shows that trucks tend to make a lot of very short stops, resulting in a median stop duration of 11-15 minutes for both MD and HD trucks. This duration is unlikely to provide a good opportunity for charging away from the depot and would only allow for very rapid top up, with very high power (e.g. megawatt) charging. However, some of the longer stops (i.e., between the 75th and 100th percentiles) may be long enough to provide a potential opportunity for away from depot charging. The 75th percentiles are around 30-40 minutes for all vehicles, while the 95th percentiles range from 100 – 230 minutes based on mileage bin and weight class.
| Away from domicile stop duration (per stop) and frequency (median values) | ||
| Range | Medium-duty trucks | Heavy-duty trucks |
| 150 miles | 11 minutes, three stops | 15 minutes, four stops |
| 250 miles | 11 minutes, four stops | 14 minutes, four stops |
| 500 miles | 11 minutes, four stops | 13 minutes, five stops |
| No limit | 11 minutes, four stops | 12 minutes, five stops |
For the electrifiable vehicles that we assessed, we also showed median stop duration at domicile. These times give an understanding of how long trucks would have to recharge in the case where charging is available at domicile. The trucks considered tend to spend between 4-7 hours at depot (median values). The plot below shows how charger power requirements vary based on truck driving distance and how much time trucks have to recharge. For this graphic, we consider an efficiency of 2.8 kWh/ mi to quantify the amount of energy needed to drive the given distance. Given four hours to recharge and a driving distance of 400 miles, a 350kW charger would be required. The bottom right corner of the plot, showing the charging power requirements for trucks that have driven very long distances and have a very short amount of time to recharge would exceed 1MW. While such high powered chargers may become available in the future, 1MW is typically the max power that is currently considered necessary for truck charging.
| Domicile stop duration (median values) | ||
| Range | Medium-duty trucks | Heavy-duty trucks |
| 150 miles | 4.6 hours | 3.8 hours |
| 250 miles | 4.8 hours | 5 hours |
| 500 miles | 5.5 hours | 5.4 hours |
| No limit | 6.9 hours | 7 hours |
Lastly, we explored how many days of the year these trucks typically spend driving. In general, we found that all of the trucks considered in this analysis drive on slightly over ⅓ days per year. For context, the split between weekdays and weekends is 72%:28%.
| Operating days (median values) | ||
| Range | Medium-duty trucks | Heavy-duty trucks |
| 150 miles | 130 (35.6%) | 128 (35.1%) |
| 250 miles | 141 (38.6%) | 137 (37.5%) |
| 500 miles | 148 (40.5%) | 143 (39.2%) |
| No limit | 147 (40.3%) | 152 (41.6%) |
We also analyzed how each hour of the day was spent for the sub-segment of the trucking population that we considered to be electrifiable. The plots below show this hourly behavior for each of the range bins and weight classes considered. The dark blue is the portion of time spent at domicile, and represents the best opportunity to charge. Purple is when vehicles are stopped off-site (not at their domicile), and where supplemental charging could potentially take place. Pink is when vehicles are actively driving. The general shape of these plots remains consistent across vehicle class and mileage bins. Vehicles tend to drive between 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. and are largely stopped between 5 p.m. and 5 a.m.. In addition to driving during the middle of the day, vehicles also spend time stopped away from their domiciles.
In the next section, we explore a way to investigate where vehicles stop away from their domiciles, which could serve as ideal locations for recharging.
We used Stop Analytics to identify potential locations for public and/or shared charging infrastructure based on where trucks already stop. We previously showed that truck duty cycles involve a fairly significant amount of time spent stopped away from domicile. These stopping locations could provide an opportunity for shared charging, which may reduce the financial burden on individual fleets. The map below shows high-frequency, long-duration stop locations in California. Depending on power availability at these sites, which local utility companies could determine, these locations could be ideal for truck charging installations.
Trucking electrification necessitates collaboration between fleet operators and utilities, sectors that have previously not had to interact as closely. Because of this, we explored the trucking electrification potential in the service territories of two Californian utility companies: Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD). These utilities may be interested in understanding where trucks are domiciled within their service territories. Historically, this information would not be known to the utility unless a fleet had approached them to discuss electrification. Our analysis, which relies on the aggregated connected commercial vehicle data of Altitude by Geotab, allows us to know where there are concentrations of trucks and what their driving behavior is in order to ascertain whether or not electrification would be a feasible option for these fleets. Below, we show truck population maps as well as what proportion of trucks in each geographic zone (represented by hexagonal areas) stay within 150-miles, 250-miles and 500 miles from their depots for both MD and HD trucks. The PG&E hexagon areas each cover an area of ~680 square miles, while the SMUD hexes cover ~14 square miles (PG&E’s service territory is significantly larger than SMUD’s). The results of this analysis indicate that there are a large number of trucks in both service territories that could be electrified based on the relatively short distance they travel between domicile visits. This is particularly noticeable near urban centers, such as San Francisco and Sacramento, while trucks in less dense areas tend to drive further distances (e.g., trucks operating around Fresno).
Our analysis found that many trucks in the United States have daily driving patterns that are well suited to electrification, if they were to have access to charging at their depots. This analysis indicates that driving range should not be a limiting factor when it comes to enabling more efficient, lower polluting regional freight movement via electrification. Nevertheless, many challenging factors remain regarding fleets’ decisions to electrify.
Altitude by Geotab provides contextualized transportation insights to help regions scale EV charging infrastructure in targeted, data-driven ways. Our platform’s insights covers 99.9% of primary roadways and 93.7% of secondary roadways in North America, enabling you to see where most trucks are moving (and stopping) within your region and identify optimal sites for freight charging stations. We’re committed to helping you shape the future of your transportation infrastructure through the study of our rich, real-world commercial vehicle insights. Join us on the path to safer, more sustainable and more efficient transportation today.
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