Tesla wins a huge order
Tesla has been named lead supplier for the largest order for electric heavy-duty trucks in US history. The ZET SCALE programme will order 2,500 battery-electric Class 8 trucks, with the Tesla Semi as its main model. However, not all 2,500 trucks will necessarily be Teslas.
ZET SCALE, or Zero-Emission Truck Shipper-Carrier Alliance Leading Electrification, combines demand from major shippers into a single order. The programme is led by Catalyst Mobility and Smart Freight Centre, with Microsoft and PepsiCo among its founders. The aim is to expand the programme to at least 10,000 electric trucks in the future.
Tesla won the tender, but is not the only supplier
Tesla was selected as the lead manufacturer for the 2,500-truck programme following a tender that assessed, among other things, price, range, charging and production capacity.
Other suppliers alongside Tesla include Kenworth, Volvo and RIDE. The programme totals 2,500 electric trucks. Tesla is the lead supplier, but the organisers have not disclosed how many Semis will actually make up that total. That does not make the contract small. As recently as August, the largest public Semi order was Einride's 500 trucks.
Electric trucks will operate in 10 logistics hubs
Over the coming years, the programme's trucks will operate in 10 major US freight hubs, including Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta, and the New York and Newark area.
The idea behind ZET SCALE is not simply to buy as many electric trucks as possible at once. Major shippers are combining their freight volumes to give carriers sufficiently reliable demand to adopt expensive electric trucks. The large order should in turn drive down truck purchase prices and reduce carriers' financial risk.
This is particularly important for heavy-duty trucks. In 2025, only 875 zero-emission heavy-duty trucks were sold in the United States, accounting for around 0.3% of the relevant market.
The Semi must now prove Tesla can actually build it at scale
The timing suits Tesla perfectly. The company is opening a dedicated Semi factory in Sparks, Nevada, and aims to bring annual production capacity to 50,000 trucks eventually. Production has been the weak point in the Semi's history so far. Tesla unveiled the electric truck back in 2017, but reaching large-scale production was delayed for years.
That is why the ZET SCALE order matters more to Tesla than simply being a large number in a press release. The Semi has shown for years that an electric heavy-duty truck can work technically. Tesla must now demonstrate that it can build them by the thousands, at a competitive price and with sufficient reliability.
This is becoming interesting for Europe as well. Tesla has begun displaying the Semi more actively in Europe, and large-scale production in the United States creates the conditions for the electric truck to eventually reach the European market. However, Europe's 40-tonne truck combinations, weight limits and charging infrastructure mean the Semi will face a very different test from the one it faces on US highways.
