Diesel Prices Are Surging. This Electric Trucking Company Is Seeing More Interest

The CEO of Einride, an electric freight company, says he's seeing more customer interest in electric trucking due to high fuel prices.

Electric trucks operated by Einride parked at a depot

Photo by: Einride

Tim Levin

By: Tim Levin

Nov 14, at 8:00am ET

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High gas prices have helped drive more interest in electric cars this year. But it’s not just everyday drivers who are looking to ditch fossil fuels.

Eye-watering diesel costs are pushing more shippers to consider a switch to electric trucks, Roozbeh Charli, CEO of electric and autonomous freight company Einride, told me in an interview.

“You’re definitely seeing an upswing in both customer conversations and just general narrative” around electrification, he said.

Diesel prices have risen far more severely than prices for regular gasoline, putting extra pressure on commercial operators. The average cost of diesel in the U.S. has shot up by more than 60% since the war with Iran began, to over $6 per gallon. Shippers are facing far higher fuel costs in Europe too. It all means customers who told Einride they’d revisit the idea of electric freight sometime down the line are deciding to get the ball rolling.

“A lot of those customers are coming back now, saying ‘let’s get started, rather sooner than later,’” Charli said.

Einride says customers are taking a closer look at electric trucking due to high and volatile diesel prices.

Photo by: Einride

There’s some evidence that those conversations are generating actual business. Einride, which was founded in 2016 and sells electric freight services and software, says its sales pipeline tripled year over year during the first half of 2026. Its conversion rate doubled over the same period.

And it isn’t the only one noticing an uptick in demand. In September, a coalition of shippers like PepsiCo placed an order for 2,500 electric trucks in a deal that’s set to double the U.S. fleet of electric Class 8 trucks. Catalyst Mobility, one of the nonprofits running the program, has said it’s noticed more interest in EV trucks from companies that weren’t involved in the deal due to diesel prices.

Charli chalks the increased interest up to a couple of things. The pricing pain today is part of it. It means there’s a broader range of customer use cases where electric trucks are price-competitive with, or cheaper than, using traditional big-rigs. Those are typically what he calls “middle-mile” applications of, say, 100-200 miles back and forth, with high utilization. That last part is key, since battery-powered trucks still tend to cost more than diesel ones.

The situation is also making some companies realize just how exposed they are to drastic swings in the price of diesel, Charli said.

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The trend is encouraging for reasons beyond economics. Heavy-duty trucks make up a relatively small portion of the U.S. fleet, but they account for a disproportionate share of fuel consumption and harmful air pollution.

“Any exposure to diesel exhaust is going to be harmful to your health,” says Ray Minjares, heavy-duty vehicles program director at the International Council on Clean Transportation. “And so since there's really no safe level, the obvious solution, particularly in a world where commercial zero-emission vehicles are already available, is to switch to that technology.”

2026 Tesla Semi

The Tesla Semi represents a "step-change" for electric trucking hardware in the U.S., Einride CEO Roozbeh Charli said.

Photo by: Tesla

High diesel prices aren’t the only tailwind helping to drive trucking electrification this year, Charli said. The long-awaited launch of the Tesla Semi not only helped bring more attention to electric trucking, but it also introduced a genuinely groundbreaking offering to the U.S. market, he said.

“The Tesla Semi, in a U.S. context, is definitely a step-change in the capabilities of the hardware” in terms of range, performance, and price, he said.

In August, Einride announced plans to deploy 500 Semis to service Amazon and other North American customers, tripling its fleet. Tesla’s truck is several years late to full-scale production. But given the diesel situation these days, maybe it’s right on time.

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“They timed it well,” Charli said.

Contact the author: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com

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