With the Tesla Semi making headlines consistently since its first public appearance waaay back back in 2017, you might think they were some kind of market leaders. Meanwhile, Volvo Trucks has quietly delivered its 5,000th electric semi truck … and they’re just getting started.
Volvo delivered its first all electric semi truck 2019. Since then, Volvo customers in more than 50 countries around the world have logged more than 100 million miles (170 million km – and almost half of that in the last 14 months as the size of its deployed fleet grows) in real-world commercial operations, eliminating massive amounts of CO2 and NOx emissions and reducing traffic noise. All the while, they’re making life a little cleaner and quieter for the people who live and work near the roads they travel.
They’re massive achievements, and Volvo Truck executives are very rightly proud of themselves for making them happen.
“It’s rewarding to see that transport companies continue to embrace the benefits with electric trucks in a wide range of transport segments,” offers Roger Alm, President Volvo Trucks. “Volvo’s battery-electric trucks are available here and now, providing our customers and transport buyers with a more sustainable alternative that makes business sense, and many of our customers are coming back to us to grow their electric fleets.”
King of the electric road
They say comparison is the thief of joy. That’s especially true if you suck and you compare yourself to people who are awesome – and since Elon sucks like it’s his job, I’m thieving a ton of joy by comparing the 140-odd number of Tesla Semi trucks out there to Volvo’s much larger, less-sucky 5,000-plus number.
With a head start like that, more than half a decade of production delays, and a “dramatic” price increase to something like $420,000 each, it seems like it would be tough for Tesla to catch up (even if they do manage to begin series production in 2026).
That seems especially true in Europe, where Volvo Trucks has established itself as the leader in the heavy electric truck segment for the last five consecutive years with a 47% market share – though the story is a bit different the US and Canada, however, where Volvo’s share of the electric truck segment was “just” 40% in 2024.
Volvo Trucks electric lineup
- Volvo FL Electric
- Volvo FE Electric
- Volvo FM Electric
- Volvo FM Low Entry
- Volvo FMX Electric
- Volvo FH Electric
- Volvo FH Aero Electric
- Volvo VNR Electric
Top comment by Rob Guerney
I really think the Tesla Semi, might have a major design flaw and might not be able to get enough weight on the steer axle and too much on the drives. Trucks have to make axle weight as well as gross weight, and i know electric trucks get an extra 2000 lbs. Tesla has a lot of empty space towards the front axle. Photos Initially show the frunk empty. Now they have moved the HVAC system to the frunk apparently to get some weight up there. So I would guess the original design had no consideration of axle weight, which is a mistake legacy truck builders wouldn't make because on diesel trucks they place the fuel tanks and batteries to get proper weight distribution. It depends on how far Tesla can move the batteries forward but the walk in cab might prevent that. In the the drawings with a see-through cab it looks like the batteries are forward, but it also looks like the batteries are where the walk in door us supposed to be. Diesels obviously have the weight of the engine up there Just look at a European Cabovers to see how much they put ahead of the front axle, this helps get the weight up. I'm guessing Tesla went for the "Wouldn't it be neat to have a walk in cab" look as opposed to the considerations of the real world of trucking. Of course all this is a guess since Tesla won't release the weights.
That said, Tesla has beaten legacy brands with massive, seemingly insurmountable leads before – but the good news is that, when it comes to EVs, whoever wins, we kind of all win, you know? Even Elon! That’s my take, anyway. Head down to the comments and let me know yours.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Volvo Trucks.
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