Tesla's Electric Truck Will Be Revealed October 26th

Megalith

Megalith

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Elon Musk has announced that the Tesla Semi will be unveiled on October 26th: he uses the words “unreal” and “beast” to describe the vehicle, which he has claimed will out-torque any truck on the market. Tesla is reportedly already showing prototypes to early fleet customers who gave inputs into the vehicle program during development

“It is a heavy duty, long range, semi-truck. So it has the highest weight capability and with long range. So essentially, it’s meant to alleviate the heavy-duty trucking loads. And this is something which people do not, today, think is possible. They think the truck doesn’t have enough power or it doesn’t have enough range. And then with those with the Tesla semi we want to show that no, an electric truck actually can out-torque any diesel semi and if you had a tug-of-war competition, the Tesla semi what will tug the diesel semi uphill.”
 
Torque levels are not that big of a deal, but how about some actual values? Most trucks of this level use gearing if they need more grunt somewhere.

Also, these so called "long range" trucks from Tesla, you know, that claim to get 300miles, compared to normal trucks that can do 1,200-1,500 miles and take far less time to refill.
 
BlueFireIce said:
Torque levels are not that big of a deal, but how about some actual values? Most trucks of this level use gearing if they need more grunt somewhere.

Also, these so called "long range" trucks from Tesla, you know, that claim to get 300miles, compared to normal trucks that can do 1,200-1,500 miles and take far less time to refill.
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I wouldn't look at these as an immediate replacement for regular fuel-based trucks. There will be very niche markets where this will take off at first, but as the years go by and battery technologies improve it'll be capable of much more. Longer range with faster charging times. Everything has to start somewhere and this is just a first step. My dad is a truck driver and I don't see this taking off right away either; not with the range, charging times, and other factors. But, I can appreciate the idea and the fact that the first attempt will not be perfect. It'll look cool because it's Tesla, but I am REALLY curious of the cost and how Tesla will try to sell this.
 
BlueFireIce said:
Torque levels are not that big of a deal, but how about some actual values? Most trucks of this level use gearing if they need more grunt somewhere.

Also, these so called "long range" trucks from Tesla, you know, that claim to get 300miles, compared to normal trucks that can do 1,200-1,500 miles and take far less time to refill.
Click to expand...
But is it really necessary for a truck to be able to drive 1500 miles? When the absolute theoretical maximum a driver can (legally) drive on a work day is about 500 miles.

If they can manage to have the charging capacity at every truck stop to "refill" overnight the range won't be an issue. Of course that's easier said than done so yes at first electric trucks will only be viable on a few routes. But you have to start from somewhere. You can't build the entire charging infrastructure before putting the first truck on the market. It's like saying none shall have home internet until it's available everywhere.
 
I don't expect truckers to like being holden into a small range like 500 miles. But I agree with the sentiment that doing a little of something, getting real life data, and improving from there is the best course.
 
You have to crawl before you can walk and so on... Also, I think we have punished this horse enough in the last thread...
 
M76 said:
But is it really necessary for a truck to be able to drive 1500 miles? When the absolute theoretical maximum a driver can (legally) drive on a work day is about 500 miles.

If they can manage to have the charging capacity at every truck stop to "refill" overnight the range won't be an issue. Of course that's easier said than done so yes at first electric trucks will only be viable on a few routes. But you have to start from somewhere. You can't build the entire charging infrastructure before putting the first truck on the market. It's like saying none shall have home internet until it's available everywhere.
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I don't know where you're getting this theoretical maximum as 500 miles because I've definitely never heard of it before. Even worse is the fact that you think one truck means only one driver ever. I'm thinking you don't know much about the trucking industry.
 
zamardii12 said:
I wouldn't look at these as an immediate replacement for regular fuel-based trucks. There will be very niche markets where this will take off at first, but as the years go by and battery technologies improve it'll be capable of much more. Longer range with faster charging times. Everything has to start somewhere and this is just a first step. My dad is a truck driver and I don't see this taking off right away either; not with the range, charging times, and other factors. But, I can appreciate the idea and the fact that the first attempt will not be perfect. It'll look cool because it's Tesla, but I am REALLY curious of the cost and how Tesla will try to sell this.
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The cost will not work for short range either, it will be far past that of normal trucks, or smaller trucks for local and short range, ROI on their cars already takes significant time and that still includes large government subsidy. These things would need to be very cheap, outside of that it will be companies looking for carbon credits and to say "look at us!".

Battery tech is not something that moves very fast, it's not like CPUs, limits on batteries right now deals mostly with new materials, something that is very slow moving, if at all. The newest tech is also reliant on some more rare materials with some very hard processing required. And with Atomic batteries being illegal for most uses, advancement has been slow.

M76 said:
But is it really necessary for a truck to be able to drive 1500 miles? When the absolute theoretical maximum a driver can (legally) drive on a work day is about 500 miles.

If they can manage to have the charging capacity at every truck stop to "refill" overnight the range won't be an issue. Of course that's easier said than done so yes at first electric trucks will only be viable on a few routes. But you have to start from somewhere. You can't build the entire charging infrastructure before putting the first truck on the market. It's like saying none shall have home internet until it's available everywhere.
Click to expand...

Tesla claimed 200-300 miles for the trucks with no other information. Where do you get this absolute maximum? Did you pick a state with really low speed limits? Even with 50-55mph limits you are talking 550miles, most long hauls are going to be hwy where truckers, fully legal, in both drive log and speed limit can do 750-800miles a day as it's time gated, not distance, this also does not account for teaming. Further reducing the total miles a Tesla truck could travel being charge time, even on a Tesla supercharger, we would be talking 6+ hours, now think about trucking stops where they need to recharge at (and slower charge rates) and the time a truck would need to sit there, chances of finding an open slot would be low....very very low, so these would in no way be long distance trucks, these would be local use only.

Now, that is not to say some day we wont get there are trying something out is a bad idea, I just wish real data would be given and they would stop calling them long range when they don't even get close to a fraction of what real long haul trucks can. I would love to see some version of Atomic battery powered trucks and cars, the idea being able to buy a car and never need to charge it for 25+ years is a total fap dream to me. But anytime the word atomic or nuke is mentioned, people lose their shit.
 
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A thing that just occurred to me is they could treat charging the battery as though it was multiple batteries. The long charge time could be negated if there were special truck super chargers. Instead of one plug, they had 10. Instead of one huge battery pack, they had one huge group of battery packs. All could charge simultaneously.
 
SmokeRngs said:
I don't know where you're getting this theoretical maximum as 500 miles because I've definitely never heard of it before. Even worse is the fact that you think one truck means only one driver ever. I'm thinking you don't know much about the trucking industry.
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Where do I get it? Simple primary school maths.. And since I'm in europe I only know european trucking laws form the top of my head, but I imagine it's not much different in the US either.

And the law says a driver can drive 9 hours on a normal work day, all long haul trucks are electronically limited to 88Kph or 55mph, which means if you're driving at the top speed during your entire driving time which is literally impossible, then you'll travel 500 miles.

And while trying to ignore your arrogance hot seat driving is not very popular among long haul truckers in europe. Most companies only use it during education of newbies. Two people holed up in a small cabin together for weeks doesn't work too well. So it's only a fraction of trucking. And again with this flawed logic "If I can find one situation where it doesn't work it means I debunked it" No, it means it doesn't work in that situation, period. It's still viable in many other circumstances, and as time passes electric vehicles will become more and more viable, whether you like it or not.
 
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M76 said:
And the law says a driver can drive 9 hours on a normal work day, all long haul trucks are electronically limited to 88Kph or 55mph, which means if you're driving at the top speed during your entire driving time which is literally impossible, then you'll travel 500 miles.
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Stateside we have 60, 65, 70, and I think in some places out in the west, 75 and 80 MPH roads. And yes, the trucks are pretty much at or above those speed limits most of the time. Assuming a 9 hour day at 70 mph, we're up a 630 miles.

Just letting you know how it can be in this part of the world. I still think that these advances are great - and there are a LOT of uses for these trucks even if they don't have the same absolute max range before refuel/recharge.
 
M76 said:
Where do I get it? Simple primary school maths.. And since I'm in europe I only know european trucking laws form the top of my head, but I imagine it's not much different in the US either.

And the law says a driver can drive 9 hours on a normal work day, all long haul trucks are electronically limited to 88Kph or 55mph, which means if you're driving at the top speed during your entire driving time which is literally impossible, then you'll travel 500 miles.

And while trying to ignore your arrogance hot seat driving is not very popular among long haul truckers in europe. Most companies only use it during education of newbies. Two people holed up in a small cabin together for weeks doesn't work too well. So it's only a fraction of trucking. And again with this flawed logic "If I can find one situation where it doesn't work it means I debunked it" No, it means it doesn't work in that situation, period. It's still viable in many other circumstances, and as time passes electric vehicles will become more and more viable, whether you like it or not.
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Europe is far smaller than the USA, and cities tend to be far more compact. Truckers don't have the same speed restrictions in the USA and are limited to 11 hours driving and 14 hours working. Texas, where I am, speed limits on highways would be rare to find under 70-75mph or 112-120kph and many places where it's 80-85mph or 128-136kph.
 
mnewxcv said:
Does it really take 3 and a half minutes to fill an audi sedan with gas?
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20+ gallon tank, plus time to run the credit card at the pump, remove and replace hose, sure. They could have hustled and taken a good number of seconds off of course, but not enough to still have been able to replace the packs in the 2 Teslas.
 
mnewxcv said:
Does it really take 3 and a half minutes to fill an audi sedan with gas?
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Would depend on the pump, they also picked one of the biggest Audi's, with it seems a 23gal tank, the A8 can go almost 900miles on that one tank. The video shows him getting out, taking his time, running the credit card, setting up, taking receipt, getting back in etc, while the Tesla is getting a full services station as the driver doesn't get out and doesn't pay for anything, rather it shows plain replacement time. However, even if it took 10mins to replace the battery, for myself that would be acceptable time, what becomes a problem is storing and charging that many battery packs as fuel is far more energy rich, now think about gas stations and how busy they can be, and think about each one of those getting a new battery pack....Now increase the number of stops due to shorter range for even more pack changes....You get the idea. Granted all of this is meant to be used in combination with charging stations and battery swap, for the time being at least, would be limited to more long haul locations.
 
BlueFireIce said:
Would depend on the pump, they also picked one of the biggest Audi's, with it seems a 23gal tank, the A8 can go almost 900miles on that one tank. The video shows him getting out, taking his time, running the credit card, setting up, taking receipt, getting back in etc, while the Tesla is getting a full services station as the driver doesn't get out and doesn't pay for anything, rather it shows plain replacement time. However, even if it took 10mins to replace the battery, for myself that would be acceptable time, what becomes a problem is storing and charging that many battery packs as fuel is far more energy rich, now think about gas stations and how busy they can be, and think about each one of those getting a new battery pack....Now increase the number of stops due to shorter range for even more pack changes....You get the idea. Granted all of this is meant to be used in combination with charging stations and battery swap, for the time being at least, would be limited to more long haul locations.
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And the battery swap costs money. Probably more than a tank of gas.
 
mnewxcv said:
And the battery swap costs money. Probably more than a tank of gas.
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Can't really know yet, but charging is still free at them, though not much longer, and most of these stations are subsidized, so we don't really know real market cost for them and charging costs as we are paying for them with tax dollars. Swapping packs will be more than charging costs for sure, but biggest thing would be...What battery do you own? How is range and warranty upheld on them? These packs would be under almost 24/7 use, drain, swap, charge, drain, swap, charge etc vs normal use going back and forth to work with lots of idle/float time.
 
Since battery parks can be compartmentalized I can see a Tesla truck simply plugging into multiple chargers to reduce charging time.

As I recall the initial Tesla design is meant to alleviate the typical local commuter semi routes, the trucks that just travel back and forth within state making short run hauls.
 
When thinking about costs you have to consider that an electric drivetrain is going to require considerably less maintenance... that alone can reduce your overall costs of operating the truck allowing you to spend more on initial investment. These trucks could be leased out as well so that local trucking companies are still paying what they normally would or close to it for trucks they already lease and the leasing company can consume the higher initial costs.
 
I would think that a truck like this would be perfect for the shorter haul routes coming from the docks to the central warehouses where the trips are 200-300 miles with long stops to load and unload in between. Toyota's electric semi is supposedly doing pretty well in its assigned rolls for the Port of Los Angeles and Tesla is undoubtedly aiming for the California contracts which is a similar setup.
 
The power (torque) potential of electric vehicles, depending on motor sizes of course, was never a question for people that understand these issues. Diesel locomotives use electric motors for a good reason (the diesel engines run a generator to provide electricity to the drive motors, making diesel locos the first hybrids to see widespread use). Battery issues will continue to be the limiting factor for all EVs.
 
CombatChrisNC said:
Stateside we have 60, 65, 70, and I think in some places out in the west, 75 and 80 MPH roads. And yes, the trucks are pretty much at or above those speed limits most of the time. Assuming a 9 hour day at 70 mph, we're up a 630 miles.

Just letting you know how it can be in this part of the world. I still think that these advances are great - and there are a LOT of uses for these trucks even if they don't have the same absolute max range before refuel/recharge.
Click to expand...

I know 2 of the largest trucking companies in america, and the largest retailer(with a massive fleet) limits trucks to 65 and below for fuel consumption.
 
Verge said:
I know 2 of the largest trucking companies in america, and the largest retailer(with a massive fleet) limits trucks to 65 and below for fuel consumption.
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That would be a problem in Texas. We have a minimum speed limit of Posted-10mph, so with posted limits in the 70-85mph range that would be too slow. The policy makes sense though, I lose 2mpg (24>22) in my Duramax going from 65mph to 80mph unloaded. The percentage difference is even bigger pulling 12-16K, 12>8mpg. Yea, physics. Fuel cost savings are big money in the transport industry, but that policy is likely regional to play nice with local DOT. 20-30% speed differences at highway speed are just accidents waiting to happen.
 
Full Otto said:
That would be a problem in Texas. We have a minimum speed limit of Posted-10mph, so with posted limits in the 70-85mph range that would be too slow. The policy makes sense though, I lose 2mpg (24>22) in my Duramax going from 65mph to 80mph unloaded. The percentage difference is even bigger pulling 12-16K, 12>8mpg. Yea, physics. Fuel cost savings are big money in the transport industry, but that policy is likely regional to play nice with local DOT. 20-30% speed differences at highway speed are just accidents waiting to happen.
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Minimum speeds have to be posted, i believe 50 or 55 is the highest in the country.

So be careful if you see a walmart truck in an 85mph zone.. you will be closing on it fast!
 
Krenum said:
I predict this will be an expensive flop.
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There is actually a pretty large demand for things like these specifically in the larger ports where they can be used to load/unload boats to and from the local warehouses and train yards. Most of these runs are under 100 miles round trip and make up more than 40% of all the trucking traffic in the US.
 
nysmo said:
Since battery parks can be compartmentalized I can see a Tesla truck simply plugging into multiple chargers to reduce charging time.

As I recall the initial Tesla design is meant to alleviate the typical local commuter semi routes, the trucks that just travel back and forth within state making short run hauls.
Click to expand...

What would be even better is this:

Register for arrival time via app. Arrive, pit crew comes out with freshly charged batteries and swaps. Back on the road man!
 
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