Tesla is going to destroy the commercial trucking industry

The unveiling of a Tesla commercial truck, expected later this month, could be the “biggest catalyst” in the trucking industry in decades, Morgan Stanley analysts said in a note Wednesday.

The Tesla truck will be electric and “we have high confidence that it could have significant autonomous/autopilot capabilities as well,” the analysts said.

The Silicon Valley company could also announce new partners, such as trucking or shipping and logistics companies, and services such as battery leasing, they said.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk announced the truck in a tweet back in April, amid a record run for the stock. He called the truck “seriously next level” but stopped short of details.

A commercial electric truck and a “high passenger density urban transport” vehicle, presumably a bus, were also part of Musk’s long-term goals for Tesla.

In a blog post last year spelling out such plans, Musk said the truck and the bus were in the “early stages of development” and would likely be ready to be revealed this year. “We believe the Tesla Semi will deliver a substantial reduction in the cost of cargo transport, while increasing safety and making it really fun to operate,” Musk wrote then.

Tesla is fresh from unveiling the Model 3, its all-electric sedan aimed at the masses, and it is hoping to ramp up the Model 3 production by the end of the year. Last month, it sold $1.8 billion in debt, more than it had planned, in part to shore up its finances ahead of that production ramp.

Tesla did not immediately return a request for comment about the truck. Only a “teaser” photo of the semi has emerged.

The Morgan Stanley analysts said they expect the company to unveil a prototype likely later this month, and that sales would begin in 2020. Prices would hover around $100,000 if batteries are to be leased separately, they said.

In terms of range, a perennial preoccupation with electric vehicles, the analysts said Tesla is unlikely to put in a large, 1,000 kWh battery in the truck to give it a 600-mile to 700-mile range as it would be “costly and practically prohibitive.”

Tesla instead would choose to put in a smaller battery, around 250 kWh and 300 kWh, and “choose to solve the range problem either through optional battery swapping or very rapid supercharging/flash charging.”

“We will look for Tesla’s plans to roll out battery swapping/charging infrastructure if separate from the trucks. Since the truck would also be capable of autonomous platooning, there may need to be some discussion of liability/practical applications as well,” the analysts said.

A Tesla truck would put pressure on other truck makers and suppliers to offer their own EV truck plans, they said.

Markets would view that rush as “a key catalyst to the intelligent trucking thesis becoming ‘real,’” the analysts said.

Schneider National, New Dimension Resources, XPO Logistics, Old Dominion Freight Line and Werner Enterprises are Morgan Stanley’s top picks in the trucking industry.

Daimler AG’s Daimler Truck has unveiled its heavy-duty electric truck, with a range of up toaround 124 miles, and already offers an electric light-duty truck.

Shares of Tesla fell Wednesday, but are up more than 61 percent so far this year, which compares with gains of 10 percent for the S&P 500 index.