Einride strikes deal to add 500 Tesla Semis to its fleet

Swedish electric and autonomous trucking company Einride said Tuesday it plans to buy 500 Tesla Semis and make the electric big rigs available to Amazon and other customers. The Tesla Semis will be added in phases to Einride’s fleet over the next 24 months, starting in September, according to the company.

Einride will manage the Tesla Semis through its Saga AI software, a fleet management platform designed to give customers all the benefits of using electric trucks to carry freight without the financial and logistical burden that comes with owning them.

Einride CEO Roozbeh Charli said this “deployment is yet another proof point that we can execute at the scale our customers demand.”

And scale is what this deal promises, if Tesla can deliver. Tesla revealed a concept of the Semi in 2017 and five years later, after numerous delays due to the Covid pandemic and global supply chain shortages, the company delivered the first batch to customers like PepsiCo.

Volume production of the Tesla Semi was delayed even further. It wasn’t until April 2026 that the first Semi rolled off its high-volume production line at its factory in Nevada. Despite that recent milestone, Tesla has pulled back on promises to reach “volume production” in 2026. Tesla said in its second-quarter shareholder letter and earning scall that it’s trying to increase battery production, specifically around the company’s 4680 cell, in order to start building the Tesla Semi (and its Cybercab) at scale. 

Einride, which went public in June, operates a fleet of about 200 of its own heavy-duty electric trucks for companies such as Heineken and PepsiCo. It has also developed autonomous pod-like trucks, which are noticeable for their cab-less design. The Saga AI software pulls it altogether, determining how those vehicles are used, routed, and charged.

The deal with Tesla is outsized in its potential for Einride. It will triple the size of Einride’s fleet while sweetening the company’s sales pitch for its Saga AI software. Einride said the Tesla Semis will be available to customers across North America and extend its electric freight network to key corridors in California, Georgia, New Jersey and Texas. Einride is using a third party to finance the purchase of the Tesla Semis.

And it could help Einride convert about $800 million in “potential long-term annual recurring revenue under joint business plans with shippers” into actual revenue, according to the company.

The company, which was founded a decade ago, spent years developing the various components of its business from its software and electric trucks to the self-driving system in its cabless trucks. Einride is now pushing to scale its business, an effort that has accelerated in 2026.

Einride struck a deal with Amazon to add 75 of its electric heavy duty trucks to the e-commerce giant’s Relay freight network and provide charging infrastructure across five locations in the United States. Einride also acquired EV charging company Flipturn, a deal that allows it to offer customers the full package of services, including electric trucks and the charging software needed to run them more efficiently and reliably.