Veteran Trucker Drives Tesla Semi, Says It Could Change the Industry

A veteran truck driver who went into a Tesla Semi test looking for its weaknesses came away with a very different conclusion, saying the electric Class 8 truck could change the trucking industry.

Adam Wingfield, editorial director at FreightWaves and a trucker with 30 years of industry experience, joined MotorTrend for a drive of the Tesla Semi in Nevada after touring Tesla’s Semi factory in Sparks.

Wingfield described himself as a longtime Tesla skeptic. Before driving the truck, he had criticized its centre seating position and questioned whether demonstrations showing the Semi climbing steep grades were being done with little or no cargo.

“I didn’t believe anything. I didn’t I was I was a huge skeptic,” Wingfield said. He went to the event wanting to “put it to the test” and see whether Tesla’s claims held up.

MotorTrend’s video says Wingfield, who has driven more than a million miles during his trucking career, tested the 1,076-horsepower Tesla Semi both without a trailer and while towing 37,000 pounds.

His first surprise was the acceleration. Wingfield said the Semi “took off like a rocket ship,” something he said a traditional diesel tractor cannot match from a stop. In a diesel truck, a driver may need to work through several gears before reaching the strongest part of the engine’s torque curve. The Semi delivers its power immediately.

The bigger test came once a trailer was connected.

Wingfield deliberately avoided building speed before a roughly 7% grade because he wanted to see whether the Semi would lose momentum under load. He entered the hill at about 35 mph, waited until reaching the bottom before flooring the accelerator, and said the truck fell to just 34 mph during the climb.

“When I say the very base of the hill, I mean when the hill did this,” Wingfield explained. “And then and then I put my foot on the floor and then those motors kicked in and I’m like this is pretty badass.”

He said maintaining essentially the same speed while climbing was the moment that changed his view of the truck.

Wingfield also praised the Semi’s tight turning ability. Tesla uses independent front suspension, and MotorTrend noted the steering takes five turns from lock to lock. Wingfield said the turning radius was impressive, particularly when manoeuvring the tractor without a trailer in tight yards, although drivers still need to be careful about trailer clearance during extremely tight turns.

The Semi’s potential operating costs may ultimately matter more to fleets than its performance.

Wingfield pointed to Tesla’s claim of 98% uptime and the elimination of diesel-related maintenance including oil changes, diesel exhaust fluid and particulate filters. Regenerative braking could also reduce wear on traditional friction brakes.

For a fleet operator, he said those savings quickly become significant. Wingfield estimated a diesel truck can consume $40,000 to $50,000 worth of fuel each year, then questioned why a fleet running regional, drayage or local routes would continue buying diesel trucks once charging infrastructure is available.

“Why would I buy a diesel truck again?” he said.

Wingfield acknowledged diesel still has important advantages, particularly for long-haul operations. Diesel trucks can travel farther and refuel much faster, while charging infrastructure remains one of the biggest limitations facing electric heavy trucks.

Still, the experience changed his broader view of Tesla’s approach to trucking.

“Walking away yesterday, I was like this industry is going to be changed,” Wingfield said, adding that Tesla appears to be thinking further ahead technologically than much of the traditional trucking industry.

That conclusion came from someone who arrived in Nevada hoping to prove the opposite.

“I came in here with that mentality like, ‘All right, listen. I got to take it back to my folks that we did it. We proved that that Tesla is not going to be able to to to to to scale in this industry,’” Wingfield said. “And that ain’t how that work.”