The case for shifting to EVs on the passenger side gets stronger every year, as prices fall and the market becomes more competitive, notes Priyesh Ranjan, chief executive officer of Vorto, a vendor of supply chain automation software. But he believes it will be another five or six years before the same trend becomes evident in the market for commercial big rigs. At the moment, he says, “I cannot see the unit economics happening.”

That leaves smaller truckers with a problem: How can they afford the new units that are increasingly being mandated by regulators? And will their failure to do so in a timely manner cause the EV revolution to stall?

“Trucking is a game of small entrepreneurs in America,” Ranjan argues, noting that smaller operators are currently struggling even to make required modifications to their existing fleets.