The question in the title here is the one a company called Range Energy has set out to answer with an electric-drive system capable to be retrofit to trailer tandems that is set to begin production in 2026, according to company president and CTO Ali Javidan. Javidan is a former Tesla and Zoox engineer who founded Range in 2021 after seeing a lot of electric-drive development put into what he calls the "primary movers," the tractors, yet trailers "stayed the same."
What Range Energy's built is a battery-powered electric drive motor that sits between trailer tandems and is coupled with a software package and sensors that detect "how hard the tractor or the truck is pulling on the trailer, and we provide just enough propulsion to make the trailer feel completely weightless to the tractor," Javidan said. "What we've built is this really smart trailer that is capable of essentially doing all of its own work, waiting for direction" from the tractor and its operator. That direction "can come from your favorite old Peterbilt or a brand-new Tesla Semi," and with all sensing software and hardware onboard the trailer without needing a data connection to the tractor.
At the big Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo out West in late April/early May, Overdrive sister Fusable publication Clean Trucking Senior Editor Jay Traugott talked to Javidan about configuration of the system, weight, specs and more along the way to producing the video below, live this week also at this link, where you can access a full transcript.
The Range Energy system stems from a "weird" idea that was "on the cutting room floor in the early days of Tesla," Javidan said, where he was responsible for "vehicle prototyping during the era of late Roadster, Model S, Model X," and other Tesla electric auto models.

Since he picked the idea back up, the company's put about 100,000 miles down on the roads with the system. Not a huge amount, of course, and time will tell what real-world results show, but keep an eye on the company. They've been taking orders from interested parties with a goal of production starting this coming year.
It adds about 5,500 lbs. to the trailer, Javidan told Traugott in the video, and that weight includes a bank of batteries that, for the trailer the pair were looking at during the Expo, contained "288 kilowatt hours" of energy, Javidan said, less than half of many electric tractors. Bonus -- "we can run out of energy and still get to our destination. We're not stranding anybody," especially if the primary mover is a diesel with plenty fuel in the tank.
Illustration of the components and power flow within the system from Range Energy's website. Regenerative braking in the trailer brakes helps deliver power back to the battery, and when it reaches 20% charge is shifts to a "mild hybrid" mode, Javidan said. Range estimates on the company website are for roughly 300 miles of full power.
Speaking of fuel, savings there won't necessarily be limited to increased fuel mileage you'll get with the electric-power assist from the motor on the trailer drives, particularly for dedicated reefer pullers. On the Range Energy website, a savings calculator is designed with savings to include reefer fuel, given the Range trailer system is set up to power the reefer unit on electricity as well.
How much of a fuel-economy benefit might a non-reefer operator experience? A lot will depend on the operation and the particulars of the power unit and just where it's run, but backing out reefer use and electricity costs from the Range Energy calculator on its website, here's what the results look like for annual fuel savings alone.
Assuming Range works as advertised to make the trailer feel weightless to the tractor, you might just calculate your mpg running bobtail versus loaded as a way to game potential. The calculator with the inputs shown is assuming a gain from 6 mpg to 9.59 mpg, or a more than 50% tractor fuel efficiency improvement. Yet add back in electricity costs to charge the batteries fully -- we used 17 cents/kwh (prices vary considerably by state) -- and fuel savings are reduced from $21,528 to less than $8K annually by the calculator.
Fundamentally, Javidan notes, running with batteries at charge and the trailer tandems' electric motor operating as intended, "the tractor sees a lot less load," he said in the video. "And because the tractor sees a lot less load, we have customers saying, 'Hey, can we buy the small block engine? What does this do to our transmission?'" With electric power assist between shifts, transmissions might last longer, likewise other maintenance items -- note the maintenance savings estimate in the calculator, too.
How long will it take, thus, to make back the investment in the system? Javidan didn't speak to pricing, but the company is in the process of taking reservations. Catch much more via the video.
[Related: New diesel-electric hybrid retrofit]