Tesla Semi tackles the Grapevine with a loaded trailer, leaves fleet operator ‘amazed’
Complete. Here is the key summaryCovenant Logistics, a major US trucking firm, completed a two-week evaluation of the Tesla Semi in California. The test included a loaded run over the steep Grapevine pass on I-5. Matt McLelland, VP of Sustainability and Innovation, reported that drivers were amazed by the vehicle's performance and expressed high confidence, noting it surpassed diesel trucks.
Covenant Logistics, one of the largest trucking companies in the US with a fleet of over 2,600 tractors, completed a two-week evaluation of the Tesla Semi in California — including a loaded run over the notorious Grapevine pass on I-5.
The company’s VP of Sustainability and Innovation, Matt McLelland, said the driver “was amazed at the performance of the Tesla Semi and felt a level of confidence that was hard to match in a diesel truck.”
McLelland shared the results in a LinkedIn post on Sunday, revealing that Covenant had been testing the 500-mile long-range Tesla Semi with one of its larger customers in California for the past two weeks.
The evaluation culminated in one of the most demanding real-world tests you could design for any truck: a loaded run over the Tejon Pass on I-5 between Santa Clarita and the San Joaquin Valley — commonly known as “the Grapevine.”