Heavy trucks account for 25% of fossil fuel consumption in the US. The brand that saves the most money will win the largest market share. So far that is Tesla. We don’t know the specifications for expected life of batteries for semi trucks in 2030, but today 12 years is good assumption. The price premium is returned in 2 years compared to diesel, so 10 years of savings in fuel and maintenance or about $250,000 every 12 years.
Diesel engines have an expected life of 1,000,000 miles. The EV drive drain has an expected life of 1,000,000 miles. So that implies the battery life with required energy density or reduction in cost needs to be reduced about 90% for the economics to so high that diesel trucks are retired early.
There are many improvements proven in labs or currently prototyped for batteries with 4X density improvements or greater then 10 X life. So not combined but 1/4 price or 10x life, either one will win 100% market share and accelerate the retirement rate for diesel trucks.
The article is correct, the best charging network plus the lowest cost of ownership will be tough to beat.