Tesla Semi rival Freightliner recently revealed that its test fleet of all-electric commercial trucks has successfully crossed 700,000 miles of real-world travel. In part to several return-to-base type operations, including local and regional pick-up and delivery, Daimler Communications Manager Fred Ligouri detailed the trips and development of its eM2 box truck and eCascadia Class 8 tractor-trailer, the two vehicles responsible for the 700,000-mile travel statistic thus far.
The all-electric vehicle market is raging with competitors, and it goes far beyond the passenger car sector. With Tesla being the dominating force within electric passenger vehicles, fending off competition from several big-name manufacturers, the commercial vehicle sector is definitely wide open. Several companies are testing out all-electric commercial vehicles, and nobody has brought anything to the market that is being mass-produced at the moment. The Tesla Semi has been delayed on several occasions due to battery constraints, and other companies, like Nikola, have disappeared. It’s not to say that there won’t be a dominating company in this sector in the future, but up to this point, it is really anyone’s race.
Daimler Trucks’ line-up of commercial electric vehicles (from left to right): Freightliner eM2, Freightliner eCascadia, Thomas Built Buses Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley, FUSO eCanter [Credit: Daimler North America]
With that being said, Freightliner believes they have what it takes to derail the hype that coincides with the Tesla Semi. After completing so many miles of real-world testing, Ligouri believes that Freightliner is moving closer to putting its all-electric trucks on the road as testing provides its engineers with valuable feedback from drivers who are giving honest opinions about the vehicles moving forward.
“These are real trucks hauling real freight in the real world and racking up zero-emissions mile after mile — in excess of 700,000 thus far,” Ligouri told Inverse. “Through this process of co-creation with our customers, we are ensuring durability and reliability for series-built trucks, incorporating purposeful innovations, and furnishing the opportunity for more and more fleets to experience eMobility.”
Freightliner is in no rush to put anything out before it’s absolutely ready. There are currently 38 preproduction trucks traveling around Southern California to develop modifications and improvements as the truck moves closer to its production stage. The testing phase is apart of Daimler’s Battery Electric Freightliner Customer Experience Fleet. Drivers are responsible for reporting suggestions, dislikes, and areas of improvement to the manufacturer, who considers each comment.
The trucks aren’t prepared for extremely-long and treacherous routes quite yet. The eM2 box truck packs only 230 miles of range, while the eCascadia can take drivers 250 miles per charge. It’s undoubtedly low compared to regular Semi-trucks, but it’s not to say that it won’t improve. And, after all, it travels with zero-emissions.
While Freightliner has an impressive statistic in its 700,000 miles of travel with its two all-electric trucks, it surely doesn’t have the only Semis on the road that are all-electric. The Tesla Semi has made some runs from Fremont, California, to Sparks, Nevada, and has been tested in real-world conditions as well. Additionally, several new sightings of the Tesla Semi have been reported recently, showing Tesla is undoubtedly working to pinpoint a date for a future production run of its all-electric commercial vehicle. After the recent promotion of Jerome Guillen from Automotive President to President of Heavy Trucking, it is evident Tesla is looking to make major strides in Semi development in 2021.
Elon Musk
A Tesla just delivered itself to a customer autonomously, Elon Musk confirms
Tesla CEO Elon Musk says the first self-delivery occurred today, one day ahead of schedule.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that a vehicle has, for the first time ever, delivered itself to a customer autonomously, one day ahead of the company’s original schedule.
To date, this is the first car to ever roll off a production line at a factory and transport itself to a customer for delivery.
Late last month, Musk announced that the first-ever fully autonomous delivery of a Tesla would take place on June 28. The plan was to have the car roll off the production lines at Gigafactory Texas and drive to a local customer without the assistance of anyone on board or remotely controlling the car through teleoperation.
Teslas will self-deliver to customers, Elon Musk says: here’s when
Musk said on Friday that it has officially happened:
🚨 Elon Musk confirms the first Tesla to self-deliver to a customer has happened, one day ahead of schedule! https://t.co/Zvb9y4m0uu
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) June 27, 2025
The vehicle traveled as fast as 72 miles per hour, according to Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s Head of AI and Autopilot.
Musk continued on X:
“There were no people in the car at all and no remote operators in control at any point. FULLY autonomous! To the best of our knowledge, this is the first fully autonomous drive with no people in the car or remotely operating the car on a public highway.”
He said a video of the delivery would be uploaded soon.
We have seen cars autonomously transport themselves from production line to logistics lot at Gigafactory Texas, but this is a whole new level.
Tesla’s Giga Texas vehicles now drive themselves to outbound lot
Tesla just recently launched its Robotaxi for the first time in Austin on Sunday. Opened to a limited number of people, the company rolled out an Early Access Riders Program, but has been expanding it to more people in recent days. These cars featured a Safety Monitor in the passenger’s seat to ensure safety.
This seems to be something Tesla would like to perform more frequently in the coming months, especially locally. Eventually, it seems that Tesla will plan to have every vehicle it manufactures self-deliver, as a hauler would transport it to local delivery centers, then the car would drive itself to the customer’s house.
This is likely a few years off, but Tesla has already completed one self-delivery, which is an incredible accomplishment.
Yesterday, I wrote about Tesla’s two big milestones that are still planned for launch before the end of Q2. This was one of them. One to go: unveiling of the affordable models.
News
Tesla dispels reports that it hired ex-Cruise Autonomy head Henry Kuang
Tesla has denied reports that it hired former head of GM’s Cruise Henry Kuang.
Tesla has dispelled reports that it has hired ex-Cruise Head of Autonomy Henry Kuang.
This morning, several media outlets reported that Tesla had filled the position of Director of AI and Deep Learning for Autonomous Driving with Kuang, who was the Head of Autonomy at General Motors’ failed autonomous vehicle company, Cruise.
The rumor then circulated to X, but Tesla has now denied that those reports are true.
Tesla’s Head of Autopilot and AI, Ashok Elluswamy, revealed that the reports are false:
fake news
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) June 27, 2025
It would be easy to see how the hire might have been construed as real. Someone appears to have created a fake LinkedIn profile for Kuang, listing the new role at Tesla as their latest career move. The account appeared legitimate and bore all the hallmarks of a genuine page for Kuang, but it has since been removed from the site.
Additionally, there has been some rather high-level turnover at Tesla in recent days. The company recently let go of Omead Afshar, who was widely recognized as CEO Elon Musk’s right-hand man. Afshar assumed the role of North American sales head and European operations head late last year. He has been relieved of his duties, according to a Bloomberg report.
Tesla’s Omead Afshar, known as Elon Musk’s right-hand man, leaves company: reports
Alongside the loss of Afshar, Tesla’s Human Resources Head in Austin, Jenna Ferrua, also left the company this week.
This past week, Tesla launched its Robotaxi platform to a handful of people, marking the first time the company has given driverless rides to members of the public.
News
JB Straubel’s Redwood launches energy business focused on second-life EV batteries
Redwood stated that many EV battery packs retain more than 50% of their capacity after being retired from vehicles.
Redwood Materials, the battery recycling firm founded by Tesla co-founder JB Straubel, has launched a new venture called Redwood Energy. The business aims to repurpose used electric vehicle batteries into large-scale, low-cost energy storage systems.
In a post on X, Redwood revealed that it has already deployed a 12 MW, 63 MWh microgrid powered entirely by second-life EV batteries. The system is currently powering a modular data center for Crusoe AI, and it already operates at a lower cost than conventional solutions.
Repurposed batteries for scalable storage
Redwood Energy is designed to bridge the gap between battery recovery and recycling by extracting value from discarded EV packs that still hold usable charge. In a blog post, Redwood stated that many EV battery packs retain more than 50% of their capacity after being retired from vehicles. That remaining energy is well suited for stationary storage applications even without recycling.
The process begins with Redwood’s collection and diagnostics system, which identifies battery packs that are still suitable for reuse. Those packs are then integrated into modular energy systems that can store energy from solar, wind, or the grid. Once the batteries reach true end-of-life, they are recycled through Redwood’s closed-loop system to recover critical minerals.
Meeting the demands of an AI-driven grid
Redwood estimates that more than 100,000 EVs will be retired this year in the United States, with millions more currently on the road. These vehicles represent hundreds of gigawatt-hours of storage potential. These resources are coming in at the right time, as electricity demand is rising rapidly amid the rise of artificial intelligence, which tends to be power-hungry.
Redwood Energy already has more than 1 GWh of second-life batteries in its deployment pipeline. That figure is expected to grow to 5 GWh in the coming year. Larger 100 MW projects are also in development.
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