The Tesla Electric Semi Truck.

[MacNut]

Elon Musk announced the Tesla Semi on Thursday.
http://fortune.com/2017/11/16/tesla-semi-truck-model-3-unveiling/

Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled Thursday night its latest electric vehicle, a semi-truck that shares a number of parts with its new mass-market passenger vehicle the Model 3, including the same motor. Even the handles come from the Model 3.

The Thursday night reveal, a splashy VIP-filled event held on the grounds of Tesla’s design studio and Musk’s other company, SpaceX, marks a notable milestone and new level of risk (and possible reward) for the company. But in Musk’s view, the truck makes economic sense and is another part of his vision to build a sustainable energy company.

Musk’s entrance, in which he rode in the new Tesla semi-truck, illustrates his hopes for the new product, which he says will travel from zero to 60 miles per hours in five seconds. The Tesla truck will be able to travel 500 miles on a single battery charge when fully loaded and driving 65 mph, Musk said.

The semi truck will drive just like any other Tesla, Musk said, making reference to the passenger electric vehicles the Model S, Model X, and Model 3.

The Tesla semi trucks will be charged via so-called “megachargers”—similar to Tesla’s supercharger network—which will generate the energy required to charge the battery via solar panels.

Tesla is guaranteeing the drive train for 1 million miles, Musk said to the raucous crowd.

The company’s trucks program, which started in January 2016, is led by Jerome Guillen, the previous director of Tesla’s Model S program. Guillen is former Daimler executive who was responsible for the development of the company’s new generation of Class 8 trucks. He joined Tesla in 2010.

The Tesla semi is a Class 8, the largest heavy duty freight trucks.

The Tesla semi is a standard fifth-wheel and can pull any size trailer that would feasibly give the company flexibility. In North America, the Tesla semi would be allowed to pull a trailer as long as 53 feet. With that kind of hauling capacity, Tesla will likely be the first semi truck customer. The Tesla semi trucks would be ideal for shipping batteries and electric motors produced at Tesla’s massive battery factory near Reno, Nevada to its vehicle factory in Fremont, Calif.

The Tesla semi has two drive axles. Each drive axle has two motors—the same electric motors in Tesla’s new Model 3 sedan.

The cab of the truck, which is where the driver sits, is pushed forward, a design that’s possible because there are none of the parts required in traditional diesel semis, such as an engine, transmission, after-treatment system or differentials. This leaves more space for the cab itself, which contains a captain’s chair and a secondary seat.

The cab also has two touchscreen displays—again a Model 3 screen—positioned on both sides of the driver. The Tesla semi has built-in connectivity that integrates directly with a fleet’s management system to support routing and scheduling, and remote monitoring, according to the company. .

The semi- truck has regenerative braking, a feature found in its electric passenger vehicles (as well as electric vehicles from other automakers) that delivers power to the battery when drivers take their foot off the accelerator.

The Tesla semi is also outfitted with Autopilot, an advanced driver assistance system found in the company’s electric passenger vehicles. Autopilot uses sensors, cameras, and radar and software to offer several advanced driver assistance features that when combined provides what some describe as “semi-autonomous” capabilities. It’s supposed to allow Tesla vehicles to drive keep within a lane, match speed to traffic conditions, and automatically change lanes without requiring help from the driver.

 

[juanm]

Production to begin in 2019.

This being Tesla, it means a few units in mid-late 2019 and in significant numbers in 2020.

No mention of the 250 million interest-free loan Tesla got today from the Roadster reservations?

 

[hwojtek]

This truck can be a gamechanger, at least for the hauling companies that are able to quickly replace their fleet and are using a very streamlined, optimised and predictable process in their business. As for the road safety, it's a massive improvement.

 

[Lahmy88]

I think watching the announcement was more exciting than a lot of the Apple keynotes of the last few years.

This truck can be a gamechanger

Absolutely! Whilst I won't pretend to know just how applicable this truck will be across the industry initially, you could already tell Tesla has forever changed how trucking will be done, like once further models are announced in the future more optimised for different trucking applications, everyone will simply just want a Tesla truck (or at the very least an electric truck). How much safer trucking can be done will be amazing and I could actually start to believe that autonomous trucks would be possible lol

A must watch video

 

[Geurt]

We have different electric trucks in the Netherlands running already. Nothing too see here from that perspective.... but what is great is that the specifications of the Tesla truck raised the bar extensively. It would be great to have an environmental-friendly transport sector as a whole so bring it on and create more competition!

However, combined with the Roadster announcement it feels like a master divergence for the actual problem Tesla has at this moment in time: mediocre quality combined with unability to deliver. Two additional products to manage does not help in that perspective.

 

[palmerc2]

I don’t know much about trucking, but 500 miles @ 65MPH is about 7 1/2 hours of driving. I am under the impression truckers will drive 8 hours a day, right? Sometimes there’s 2 drivers to go in shifts, right? So the total time on the road is longer than 8 hours a day.

Perhaps this will be suitable for relatively short drives compared to a diesel, but not for the long hauls (unless I’m missing something).

 

[Eric5h5]

It recharges in 30 minutes.

--Eric

 

[darksithpro]

The range is terrible. Your average modern car with a 13-17 gallon tank gets between 350-550 miles on one fill. A diesel semi holds around 300 gallons "two tanks" and has the range of 1,500-2000 miles. Because of steep hill climbs and different weather conditions, you're not going to get the full 500 miles. So it would take two to three hours of charging time to get the range of a diesel on one fill.

 

[curmudgeonette]

I don’t know much about trucking, but 500 miles @ 65MPH is about 7 1/2 hours of driving. I am under the impression truckers will drive 8 hours a day, right?

In the US, they can drive 11 hours in a 14 hour period, i.e. 11 hours of driving mixed with 3 hours of fuel stops, meals, breaks, waiting to be loaded, and so on. In Canada, they can drive 13 hours with slightly different rules.

 

[NoBoMac]

Saw an article where they quoted a spokesperson for a trucking association: stated most hauls are 200 miles or less. Obviously, not talking about open highway, and judging by Walmart and a Canadian retailer being the first orders for this, guessing these will be used in place of the semis that haul from regional warehouses to stores, which fit into the 500mi range.

 

[hwojtek]

The range is terrible. Your average modern car with a 13-17 gallon tank gets between 350-550 miles on one fill. A diesel semi holds around 300 gallons "two tanks" and has the range of 1,500-2000 miles. Because of steep hill climbs and different weather conditions, you're not going to get the full 500 miles. So it would take two to three hours of charging time to get the range of a diesel on one fill.

Mr Musk has specifically said it's 500 miles under full load at maximum speed.
If you count the necessary breaks for the driver and the recharging time (you can and probably will recharge while loading/unloading cargo) this makes sense.
Not to mention the sheer emissions reduction which is an obvious benefit to the environment, as well as advanced safety features which are not that common in trucks.

 

[velocityg4]

It's interesting. It could work for regional shipping. I don't see it being a replacement for long haul trucking. At least not until there is a reliable charging station network at truck stops.

 

[ejb190]

It's interesting. It could work for regional shipping. I don't see it being a replacement for long haul trucking. At least not until there is a reliable charging station network at truck stops.

Electric will not replace diesel trucks for every route - yet. But we have to start somewhere. There's a certain niche where these trucks will fit right in. It's just like any technology where there is a segment of early adopters who will see the value in taking a risk on developing technology.

 

[darksithpro]

These trucks would probably be more beneficial to European countries in the shorter term, since half their vehicles are Diesel and their Nitrogen oxides NOx levels are so dangerously high. The US doesn't have that problem.

 

[hwojtek]

AFAIK over 80% of trucks in Europe are at least Euro4-compliant, which means they emit about a half of an average US truck...

 

[Foggydog]

I don’t know much about trucking, but 500 miles @ 65MPH is about 7 1/2 hours of driving. I am under the impression truckers will drive 8 hours a day, right? Sometimes there’s 2 drivers to go in shifts, right? So the total time on the road is longer than 8 hours a day.

Perhaps this will be suitable for relatively short drives compared to a diesel, but not for the long hauls (unless I’m missing something).

Truckers, this includes me are allowed to drive 11 hours in a 14 hour day. Up to 70 hours in 8 days.
We are required to take at least a half hour break within an 8 hour window of being on duty.
Example: Fromwhen I start my 14 hour day I can work for 3-4 hours then not have to take a break before finishing.
Or if I drive for 2 hours and take a half hour break, then I will still be required to take another half hour break before reaching 8 hours of on duty time.

 

[darksithpro]

Truckers, this includes me are allowed to drive 11 hours in a 14 hour day. Up to 70 hours in 8 days.
We are required to take at least a half hour break within an 8 hour window of being on duty.
Example: Fromwhen I start my 14 hour day I can work for 3-4 hours then not have to take a break before finishing.
Or if I drive for 2 hours and take a half hour break, then I will still be required to take another half hour break before reaching 8 hours of on duty time.

Question. When on a one way, two lane highway out in the sticks I see semi trucks passing other, slower semis, but when they get into the left lane to pass they go so slow and it takes them a few minutes to pass. If the speed limit is 75, or 80 mph and it takes them that long I'm guessing they have an electronic limiter that doesn't allow them to go over posted speed limit? Some kind of GPS device that knows what the posted speed limit is?

 

[960design]

This truck can be a gamechanger, at least for the hauling companies that are able to quickly replace their fleet and are using a very streamlined, optimised and predictable process in their business. As for the road safety, it's a massive improvement.

It will do great for most of trucking, but still doesn't help the long haulers. The world needs as many charging stations as gas/diesel pumps. 500 miles is just shy of a long haulers day as well. They typically hit 550 - 600 per day ( 11 hours interstate driving ). It would be amazing to drive 600 miles, park and plug in your truck or park over a HUGE induction charger and have it charge the truck during the driver's rest period ( 10 hours ).

 

[960design]

Question. When on a one way, two lane highway out in the sticks I see semi trucks passing other, slower semis, but when they get into the left lane to pass they go so slow and it takes them a few minutes to pass. If the speed limit is 75, or 80 mph and it takes them that long I'm guessing they have an electronic limiter that doesn't allow them to go over posted speed limit? Some kind of GPS device that knows what the posted speed limit is?

Company trucks are speed limited for insurance reasons. Each company decides what they can afford and the trucks run at that speed. Some trucking companies limit their trucks to 60mph, most probably in the 65 to 70 range, and a few 75mph.

Almost all interstate trucks have GPS, but for a completely different reason. Most often it is for automatic logging, location tracking for dispatch, traffic backup avoidance and occasionally to turn off a truck that was stolen, after the police get near.

 

[Moonjumper]

It will do great for most of trucking, but still doesn't help the long haulers. The world needs as many charging stations as gas/diesel pumps. 500 miles is just shy of a long haulers day as well. They typically hit 550 - 600 per day ( 11 hours interstate driving ). It would be amazing to drive 600 miles, park and plug in your truck or park over a HUGE induction charger and have it charge the truck during the driver's rest period ( 10 hours ).

I wouldn't be surprised to see an induction lane on inter city routes in the future. Charge while you drive.

 

[Eric5h5]

The charging time is 30 minutes, so adding significant infrastructure expenses like that seems pointless. Given the mandatory breaks, charging would appear to be a non-issue, aside from actually making the charging stations of course. But Tesla has been pretty aggressive about building superchargers, so I expect that wouldn't be much of an issue in the long run.

--Eric

 

[ChrisA]

The range is terrible. Your average modern car with a 13-17 gallon tank gets between 350-550 miles on one fill....

Telsa is not looking to replace every truck. They only aim to sell a few hundred trucks. They will sell to companies like Walmart who use them for hauling goods from a local warehouse to the retail store. These trips are less then 20 miles in urban areas and maybe 200 miles in rural areas.

All the big box retail and grocery stores have this same use-case. Regional warehouses that are 10 to 100 miles from the stores and they use semi trucks making multiple trips per day. This the is perfect use case for eclectic trucks because they can re-charge while they are being loaded at the warhorse and then only to 25 mile round trip and are back at the re-charge station being loaded again. Eventually Walmat installs chargers at the retail locations and the trucks can be re-charged while unloading.

I'm CERTAIN Tesla can find 100 or 200 buyers. I think already Walmart has signed up to buy 15 trucks.

Replacing the long haul truck is going to be harder. One idea is portable batteries that fit inside the trailer. But they would take up payload space.
[doublepost=1511462862][/doublepost]The real game-changer will be when these trucks are 100% driverless. Then they need not take rest periods and can drive 24x7 without stopping. Goods will move twice as fast. This might be 20 years away, we don't know. Batteries will have improves and maybe 1,500 mile range by then.

I wonder how much cheaper a truck is that does not have a cabin or windshield or any kind of interior? All that space needed for carry the driver could be stuffed with batteries. They might get 2,000 mile range.

 

[Eric5h5]

There's no indication they only want to sell a few hundred, quite the opposite. It looks like they already have at least 100 in reservations from a bunch of companies, and those are just the ones that publicly confirmed it. They definitely focused on long range, and it seems pretty viable. (Assuming the appropriate charging stations get built where needed.) Remember, 30 minutes charge time. Half-hour breaks are already required, so it works out perfectly. No need for weird battery schemes. Particularly for routes that aren't completely flat, going up hills with a full load at full speed saves a lot of time, and what with time being money and all that, it's no wonder there's interest. I'd be more concerned about their ability to actually build the number of trucks that would be in demand.

Also, it looks like they're aiming for a $180K price, which seems insane, but perhaps they can pull it off. If so, fuel savings over diesel pays for itself in a relatively short time, which makes it a no-brainer in most cases. Remains to be seen if 1) The price ends up being what they claim, 2) They can build them in sufficient numbers, especially with the reliability they claimed, and 3) They're produced in the time-frame they claimed.

--Eric

 

[ChrisA]

I said "a few hundred" trucks because I seriously doubt they could build more than that number in the first few years. Given the trouble withModel 3 production. Eventually thy may sell many thousands but that will be years from now

Some people are saying the Tesla might be their own customers. They use trucks for hauling battery and battery parts between the bay area and Nevada. I have not checked but I'm guessing the truck is nearly optimized for that route.

 

[jamisonbaines]

Saw an article where they quoted a spokesperson for a trucking association: stated most hauls are 200 miles or less. Obviously, not talking about open highway, and judging by Walmart and a Canadian retailer being the first orders for this, guessing these will be used in place of the semis that haul from regional warehouses to stores, which fit into the 500mi range.

i work at a distribution center (one of about a dozen) for the canadian retailer mentioned and while i haven't heard much/anything about this at work; until the trucks are delivered it's not really worth discussing. in a typical 24hr period i'd estimate we probably see around 100 inbound and 100 outbound shipments, typing this makes me want to get a more precise number but that's a good ball park. inbound shipments are primarily long haul but outbound go to our own stores and would mostly fall within the tesla's stated range.
realistically stores could add charging stations at their loading docks and the trucks could recharge while trailers are unloaded. it's an exciting progression and i'll be interested to see how autonomous driving features progress between now and the time these trucks hit the streets.