Swedish battery-electric truck developer Einride has filed a lawsuit against Danish shipping and logistics group Maersk in California’s Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleging the company withdrew from a high-profile U.S. electric freight initiative agreed in 2022.
The March 2022 agreement outlined plans for Einride to supply 300 battery-electric Class 8 trucks, develop 150 charging stations, and integrate its digital freight-management platform across Maersk’s U.S. logistics operations. At the time, the project was presented as one of the largest proposed electric heavy-duty truck deployments in North America.
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In its complaint, Einride argues that Maersk retreated from the partnership after seeking sweeping changes to the commercial structure of the deal, including significant price reductions. The startup also claims Maersk failed to meet internal operational readiness targets required to support the rollout and later exited the multi-year arrangement.
Maersk has denied those allegations, countering that Einride failed to meet agreed delivery schedules for the vehicles and did not make payments to several subcontractors involved in the project. Both companies attribute the breakdown of the partnership to the other’s alleged failures.
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The legal dispute effectively ends what had been a cornerstone project for Maersk’s North American decarbonisation strategy and a major expansion opportunity for Einride in the U.S. freight market. Founded in 2016, Einride drew global attention in recent years for milestones in electric and autonomous freight, including the completion of what it described as the world’s first fully autonomous, cabless electric vehicle border crossing in Norway.
Credit: WSJ