University of California Institute of Transportation Studies

Much has been written about the potential benefits of electric and connected vehicles. However, one important, but often overlooked, implication of electrifying trucks is that if they are powerful enough (such as the Tesla semi), they can eliminate the moving bottleneck or queuing effect created by slow-moving conventional heavy-duty trucks because electric trucks are much more responsive compared to conventional diesel trucks because electric motors provide maximum torque from a standstill. This could substantially increase road capacity in areas with high commercial truck traffic, especially around major ports or logistics complexes, thus alleviating the need to add new lanes to local freeways.