NACFE Research: Business Economics Drive Electric Terminal Truck Adoption Over Sustainability Goals

The yard has been the proving grounds to fleet electrification as early adopters move to standardize with EV terminal trucks.

Fort Wayne, Indiana — September 22, 2026 — The North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) today announced the release of its new Collaboration report titled Beyond the Pilot: Electric Terminal Tractor Adoption, Four Years Later.

NACFE published its first terminal tractor report, The Use Case for Terminal Tractors, in 2022, and revisited it this year to assess the changes in fleet experiences and market development, which lead to the publishing of the new report.

“NACFE gathered insights about fleet procurement behavior and preferences related to electric terminal tractors and found that today terminal tractors are a proven option for a growing number of fleets,” said Bruce Stockton, NACFE’s senior fleet consultant and one of the report’s authors.

The research uncovers three clear signals that electric terminal tractors have moved past the pilot phase. First, the economics have solidified: 76% of fleet operators surveyed report real operating-cost savings compared to diesel, and direct economic benefit — not just sustainability goals — is now the top-cited reason fleets adopt the technology. Second, fleets are scaling electric terminal tractors, not just testing them: 54% of fleet operators surveyed have moved past the pilot stage into partial deployment or full standardization. And third, terminal tractors are emerging as fleets’ entry point into electrification more broadly — 58% of fleet operators surveyed either adopted electric terminal tractors before any other battery electric vehicle type or have electrified terminal tractors exclusively, using the yard as a low-risk way to build confidence before electrifying on-road vehicles.

Included in the report, one fleet with nearly a decade of side-by-side performance data reported roughly 50% lower maintenance cost per operating hour and 75% to 95% lower energy cost per operating hour compared to diesel, independently corroborated by the trade press at more than $5 million combined savings.

This report was produced in collaboration with Orange EV, a manufacturer of electric terminal tractors, which helped sponsor the research, facilitate interview participants, promote the online survey, and provide a manufacturer’s viewpoint. Orange EV did not write any part of the report nor provide any of the data within it.

The report draws on a survey of NACFE’s fleet and industry-partner network (62 respondents: 44 fleet operators and 18 industry partners) and was supplemented with seven in-depth interviews along with significant additional independent research.

“This research confirms trends we’ve seen for over a decade: the yard is where fleet electrification is proven to deliver outstanding financial and operational benefits,” Zack Ruderman, vice president of sales and marketing at Orange EV said. “Fleet operators used to be skeptical about whether electric terminal tractors could actually do the job. Now they are asking about how quickly they could standardize around EVs.”

The report also features seven case studies that represent a range of outcomes from complete standardization to the decision not to adopt.

To help fleets assess their readiness for adding electric terminal tractors, NACFE developed an interactive Terminal Tractor Electrification Readiness Tool that scores an organization across seven factors — daily duty cycle, capital access, external motivators such as regulation or internal decarbonization targets, incentive availability, power and charging infrastructure, prior EV experience, and site control — and maps the resulting score to one of five readiness tiers, from “strong candidate” to “not yet a fit.”

NACFE is holding a webinar on October 7 at 2 pm ET to discuss the report findings in depth. You can register for the webinar here.