Tesla’s New Semi Truck Gave the Company’s Stock a Supercharge
Shares of Elon Musk-run Tesla Motors jumped as much as 4% in early trading Friday after J.B. Hunt Transport Services announced that it had reserved a number of the electric automakers’ recently unveiled semi truck, called the Tesla Semi.
The announcement from J.B. Hunt, which previously said it plans to add 600 to 820 trucks to its fleet this year, came hours after Musk unveiled the Tesla Semi and Roadster on Thursday.
“Reserving Tesla trucks marks an important step in our efforts to implement industry-changing technology,” said J.B. Hunt CEO John Roberts in a statement. “We believe electric trucks will be most beneficial on local and dray routes, and we look forward to utilizing this new, sustainable technology.”
Roberts did not specify how many Tesla Semi vehicles he had reserved.
Reservations for the Tesla Semi cost $ 5,000 per vehicle. The Tesla Semi has several Model 3 components, including the mass market car’s handles. The Tesla Semi is expected to go from zero to 60 miles per hour in five seconds and travel 500 miles on a single battery charge, depending on load.
Shares of J.B. Hunt fell about 2% Friday.