Here was a lot of news in the battery electric truck sector this week – let’s take a look.
Electric Charging Station Installs Soar in Q2
According to a report from Transport Topics this week, 703 high-speed, public charging stations opened in the US in the second quarter, the second-largest such infrastructure boom on record, according to Department of Energy data.
That makes it 11,400 places in the country to quickly top up a car battery, including dots on the most rural areas of the map.
However, plans for nearly all of the new chargers were likely underway before the Trump administration began gutting EV incentives, according to BloombergNEF analyst Ash Wang.
The Trump administration’s freeze of a $5 billion federal plan to subsidize new charging stations has had little effect on new construction, according to Wang at BNEF.
“Deployment has been mostly driven by the private sector,” she explained. “And we’re seeing increased utilization for a lot of these networks.”
However, a shift in federal policy, specifically tariffs and the scrapping of consumer incentives, will have a chilling effect on EV sales and charging infrastructure. Since Trump took office, BNEF has slashed its forecast for new US high-speed chargers next year by almost half.
“Yes, EV sales are going to slow,” said Chris Pierce, a senior analyst at Needham & Co. Inc. “But you have a bunch of EVs on the road and not enough infrastructure in the ground.”
Daimler Deepens Diesel Engine Focus, Boosts Investment
Daimler Truck executives signaled a renewed focus on diesel powertrains at the company’s Capital Market Day 2025, according to a recent report from Transport Topics.
Execs at the world’s biggest truck maker, including Daimler Truck North America CEO John O’Leary, told analysts and investors the company was pumping the brakes on investment in alternative powertrains, particularly in North America.
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Daimler Truck said it is downshifting its battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell undertakings while accelerating diesel powertrain investment.
“With market maturity for zero-emissions vehicles losing momentum in North America, we’ve reshaped our capital allocation strategy to refocus on further developing our internal combustion technology,” O’Leary said during a speech at the event.
In addition, with no end in sight for ongoing freight market weakness, rolling stock that doesn’t have a traditional internal combustion engine is seen by many as too pricey for all but the deepest-pocketed carriers.
Tesla Semi Generally Matches ArcBest’s Diesels, Pilot Finds
 According to an article in Transport Topics, freight carrier ArcBest offered the latest window into what to what fleets can expect from the long-awaited Tesla Semi battery-electric tractor in recent days, including energy consumption ratings and performance matching its diesel peers.
The lower an energy consumption rating, the greater the returns a carrier gets out of a battery-electric truck.
During a recent three-week pilot test, ArcBest’s ABF Freight less-than-truckload division racked up a total of 4,494 miles with one Semi, averaging 321 miles per day with an overall energy consumption of 1.55 kilowatt-hour (kWh) per mile.
Tesla pitches the Semi by promising energy consumption of less than 2 kWh per mile on its website.
The world’s most valuable automaker by market capitalization also maintains CEO Elon Musk’s celebrated remark in 2017 that the Semi will travel up to 500 miles on a single charge.
ABF’s test of the Semi trounces the standard key performance indicator if taken as a stand-alone metric but also surpasses publicly available data released by carriers in earlier pilot tests and by the North American Council for Freight Efficiency.
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