Tesla was selected as the primary supplier for an order of 2,500 battery-electric Class 8 trucks, in what the ZET SCALE coalition describes as the largest order of its kind in United States history. The coalition says this deal alone could nearly double the number of electric Class 8 trucks on U.S. roads, with a later target of more than 10,000 trucks.
ZET SCALE was launched by Catalyst Mobility, a nonprofit freight organization formerly known as CALSTART, in cooperation with Smart Freight Centre. Its founding shippers include Microsoft and PepsiCo. The initiative relies on aggregating demand from major freight companies, allowing carriers to purchase trucks in large quantities and giving manufacturers an incentive to compete on price.
A large order, but not exclusive to Tesla
Tesla won the primary original equipment supplier position after a competitive request-for-proposals process, while Kenworth, Volvo, and RIDE were named secondary suppliers. Therefore, the announcement does not establish that all 2,500 trucks will be Tesla Semi models. Tesla described the deal as an order for “2,500 Semis,” while the ZET SCALE coalition clarifies that the figure refers to the total number of Class 8 trucks, with Tesla serving only as the primary supplier.
The orders are scheduled to be distributed over the coming years across ten freight and transportation hubs: Los Angeles, Stockton, Bakersfield, Seattle/Tacoma, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Chicago, Atlanta, and the Newark/New York area.
Financing addresses one obstacle to electric-truck adoption
A financing arm called ZET Financial will issue purchase orders and operate the “ZET Lease” program. The program aims to remove residual-value risk from fleet operators’ calculations, an important risk when purchasing a relatively new truck that lacks a mature used market. Through this mechanism, the coalition is attempting to address a financial aspect of the problem rather than merely proving that the technology can operate.
Dan Priestley, Tesla’s Semi program manager, said that ZET SCALE’s goals are significant because they expand the operational benefits at large scale. Michael Berube, CEO of Catalyst Mobility, said that having good technology does not necessarily mean that a market exists for it.
What changes in practice?
The deal comes during the opening week of Tesla’s new Semi truck factory in Nevada, which has a nominal capacity of 50,000 trucks per year. However, analysts’ estimates indicate that Tesla may deliver between 5,000 and 15,000 Semi trucks during 2026, making actual production capacity, rather than the size of the order alone, a key constraint in the near term. The announced price for a Long Range truck is approximately $290,000.
In a separate order on the same day, IMC Logistics announced that it would add 50 Tesla Semi trucks to its fleet in California. The company will use Standard Range versions with a range of 325 miles for port drayage operations, and Long Range versions with a range of 500 miles for trips between Southern California and inland warehouses. IMC already operates 56 zero-emission vehicles, but it also uses hydrogen fuel-cell trucks and others powered by renewable diesel.
These details show that the use case closest to broad commercial deployment is concentrated on short, predictable freight routes around ports, where trucks can return to a fixed charging base. The variety of powertrain technologies in IMC’s fleet also highlights an important limitation: the large deal supports the spread of electric trucks, but it does not prove that batteries will be the only solution for every heavy-haul operation.