40 Electric Semi Trucks Hit Texas Highways This Year

Texas highways are getting cleaner thanks to 40 battery-powered semi trucks now hauling cargo between Houston and Dallas.

LA-based Nevoya just launched the electric fleet on one of Texas' busiest commercial routes. The Freightliner eCascadia trucks can travel up to 220 miles on a single charge, perfect for the roughly 240-mile trip between the two cities.

Strategically placed DC fast chargers from Greenlane keep the trucks running with minimal downtime. The charging stations dot the route so drivers can power up quickly and get back on the road.

What makes this rollout special is how it's funded. The Washington DC-based Center for Green Market Activation worked with the Netherlands-based Smart Freight Centre to create a competitive procurement program that attracted corporate advance purchase commitments.

Companies using Nevoya's service receive verified zero-emission trucking certificates through multi-year carbon agreements. This "book and claim" approach lets businesses support electric trucking even if their own shipments don't travel this exact route.

GMA CEO Kim Carnahan calls it "the first large-scale application of book and claim to zero-emission trucking." The model removes traditional barriers to EV adoption while letting Nevoya deploy trucks where they make the most business sense.

The impact goes beyond just 40 trucks. Once fully operational, the fleet will travel up to 7 million miles each year along the Houston-Dallas corridor.

The Ripple Effect

That's 60,000 metric tons of CO2 kept out of the air annually, equivalent to taking about 13,000 gas-powered cars off the road for a year. Communities along the busy corridor will breathe easier as diesel fumes decrease.

The success of this program is already inspiring expansion. GMA is planning an even bigger procurement round with more trucks and routes across the country.

Other logistics companies are watching closely to see if the book-and-claim model can work for their operations. If it does, electric semi trucks could become common sights on highways nationwide within just a few years.

The partnership proves that creative financing can overcome one of the biggest hurdles to cleaner transportation: the upfront cost of going electric. When nonprofits, international organizations, and corporations work together, they can accelerate change faster than any single entity could alone.

Texas might seem like an unlikely place for an electric vehicle breakthrough, but the Lone Star State's long, flat highways are actually ideal for battery-powered trucks. The Houston-Dallas route is just the beginning of what could become a statewide network of zero-emission freight corridors.

Clean air is coming to Texas highways, 40 trucks at a time.