ArcBest is buying two Class 8 Tesla Semis for ABF Freight’s California linehaul, but only after a 2025 pilot proved the trucks could hold their own against the carrier's most efficient diesels on the exact lanes it already runs.
How we got here: Rather than lease a Semi and trust the spec sheet, ABF ran one unit for three weeks across 4,494 miles on the Reno–Sacramento corridor, along with regional Bay Area and rail-shuttle routes that mirror its daily diesel operations. The truck logged 1.55 kWh per mile and 321 miles a day. This included the climb over Donner Pass at 7,200 feet, making the result a measure of loaded mountain freight performance on a live commercial route, not a controlled flat-course test.
The benchmark: On a three-way comparison, ABF's pilot came out ahead of the field:
ABF pilot: 1.55 kWh per mile
NACFE Run on Less fleet average: 1.61
DHL 2024 pilot: 1.72
The bar: What ABF was measuring against is diesel parity. “We’re not looking for a truck that performs well ‘for an EV’,” ABF Freight President Matt Godfrey said. “It must meet or exceed the performance and total cost of ownership targets of our most efficient diesel units.”
The two new units move the trial into additional California lanes, with Reno next, before the carrier makes any further capital commitments.
The catch: The sticker price. Trucking Dive pegs the Semi at roughly 2.5 times the cost of a comparable diesel, its own characterization rather than a figure ArcBest disclosed, which is why ABF is still evaluating total cost of ownership lane by lane instead of ordering in bulk.
What's next: ArcBest is the first LTL carrier to move from pilot to purchase, days after Lincoln Transportation ordered 300 Semis for the Port of Long Beach drayage corridor. The diesel-parity benchmark is quietly becoming the gate fleets use to decide when an electric Class 8 is actually worth buying.
