Most Expensive Electric Trucks in the World

 You’ve probably heard of electric cars by now, but did you know that there are electric trucks? These high-performance vehicles can run entirely on electricity and don’t have to be plugged in—they just need to be charged up at stations along the road. If you can afford them, some electric trucks can go as fast as 80 mph, which makes them useful for deliveries or even company fleets. Check out these most expensive electric trucks in the world to see if they might be right for your business needs! 

Tesla Semi Tires

Costing roughly $600,000 per set (according to Electrek), Tesla Semi’s tires are outfitted with a carbon fiber tread and casing, along with an aggressive summer performance compound. According to Tesla CTO JB Straubel, they were designed specifically for use on heavy electric trucks. We actually custom-designed our own tire, he said at TED 2017. We wanted something that was very energy efficient—so we have very low rolling resistance—but also something that could run at high speed with a lot of loads...we spent a lot of time working on those tires. It’s really important that you get those things right because if you don’t get them right it can actually be worse than having no truck at all. And so, yeah, I think we put a pretty big effort into getting those tires right. And then when you look at where we are today with some of these other companies that are building electric trucks, their batteries aren’t as good as ours either. So I think there’s still plenty of room for improvement there. But I think our approach has been pretty sound in terms of what makes sense from an engineering standpoint and what is going to be able to deliver customer value over time.

Freightliner Inspiration Battery System

Freightliner’s electric truck, called The Inspiration, is built for heavy-duty work. It has a range of about 80 miles per charge, and it can reach highway speeds of up to 75 mph. While it’s designed for short distances and long hauls, it’s still not practical to use without a diesel engine backup. The hybrid was developed by Daimler, Mercedes-Benz, and Ford Motor Company. Its battery system costs $400,000 alone—and that doesn’t include installation or labor costs. This makes it one of the most expensive electric trucks in existence today. For comparison, consider that Tesla’s semi-truck (announced on November 16th) will have a starting price of $150,000. But while Tesla is starting small with their semi model—with just 500 units being produced at first—Daimler plans to manufacture 1,500 of its own electric trucks each year beginning in 2019. And considering its massive investment into these vehicles, we suspect Daimler will be looking for ways to cut costs down significantly before making them available on a large scale.

Tesla Semi Engines

When Tesla unveiled its Semi electric trucks last year, Elon Musk also revealed that they will be powered by a new type of battery with extremely high energy density. But not much was said about how Tesla’s new batteries would work. Today, we are going to take a closer look at those batteries and see why they may be better than anything else on Earth. To get our hands on some actual data, we need to look at patents. This is where things get really interesting... According to patent US20180183589A1, which was filed by Tesla in May 2017 and published last month, Tesla's next-gen battery cells will have significantly higher capacity than any other lithium-ion cells available today. And as we'll soon see - for good reason! It all starts with nickel... What does a Nickel Cathode Have That Others Don't?

Nikola One Propulsion

The Nikola One is a hydrogen-electric-powered semi-truck that is set to launch its first deliveries in 2020. It can travel up to 800 miles on a single tank of fuel and has a very quiet engine—making it ideal for suburban streets, low-traffic roads, and highways with speed limits over 65 mph. But unlike most other trucks, you won’t be driving it—you’ll be riding inside. That’s because there are no seats or steering wheel: passengers use an app to order their truck, then hop into a seat when it arrives at their location. (But don’t worry: there will still be drivers.) When they arrive at their destination, they simply get out of their seat and walk away. The company says they aim to make trucking safer by removing drivers from behind the wheel and making vehicles fully autonomous.

Nikola Two Propulsion

The Nikola Two is a futuristic, electric long-haul truck designed and engineered by Nikola Motor Company. The Nikola Two will be an ultra-high performance Class 8 drayage truck, capable of transporting two 40-foot shipping containers at up to 80 miles per hour for up to 1,200 miles on a single charge. The Nikola Two has been engineered from the ground up and has eliminated over 1,100 redundant components from traditional diesel trucks. It also boasts more power than any other electric vehicle with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 127,000 pounds and peak horsepower of 1,000 hp. This makes it capable of pulling heavier loads than any other zero-emission truck available today while still achieving significantly lower operating costs. In addition to its impressive powertrain capabilities, Nikola’s new high-performance chassis was developed using industry-leading simulation software that allows engineers to design each component individually before they are assembled into final production models.

Nikola Motor Company

The Nikola Motor Company has big plans for electric trucks. The US-based startup is working on creating a whole line of electric vehicles for personal, commercial, and military use. But it all started with their high-performance Class 8 truck—the Nikola One. If you’re looking to order one, you’ll have to wait until 2020; as of now, there are only two pre-production models being tested on public roads. And if you want one? Be prepared to shell out $375,000. It’s not cheap, but it does come with some pretty impressive specs: zero emissions (obviously), 1,200 horsepower, and 2,000 ft.-lbs. of torque. Not bad for an electric vehicle! The company claims that fuel will cost about 50 cents per gallon equivalent over its lifetime, which means about $6,500 worth of electricity over 1 million miles. Pretty good for a price tag that seems astronomical at first glance.