17 thoughts on “The Tesla Truck”

    1. Agreed. This is not long-haul trucking by any stretch of the imagination. However, following the example of SpaceX & COTS, maybe they should be wooing UPS and FedEx for short haul and delivery fleet replacement vehicles?

  2. Good comments here.

    I suppose if someone had to, they could follow the example of the Pony Express and have stations with replacement tractors, but short of a Venezuela-style command economy, I don’t see how tying up that much capital would make ANY sense.

    (Waiting for the position-paper from Bernie advocating this.)

    1. That seems way too low. Back of the envelope fuel economy for a commercial diesel at highway speeds is 6 mpg. The trucks we’re thinking of probably have two 150 gallon tanks, so that’s 1800 miles.

    2. Yes, but it doesn’t take long to stop and fuel a truck. These things will need replaceable batteries, until they can come up with ones that can be rapidly recharged.

  4. This looks like a niche product to me.

    It might be useful in urban areas with low speed driving (and where regenerative braking would come into play), and for short hauls (like the terminal legs of intermodal transport of shipping containers.) For long haul highway transport the range is way too short.

  5. A fully autonomous fleet operated delivery truck following a programmed route would free the delivery operators from driving so that they can focus on package handling. That’s one possible selling point. Being an EV makes it easy to place into urban areas with noise and pollution restrictions and instantly gives the delivery company a “green story”, which is always politically salient. Both are angles I’m sure Elon has also thought about. But also an EV should bring down the cost of ownership across the fleet. If it doesn’t it won’t sell. This is really the key point Elon will “drive” at. Pun intended….

  7. The 500 mile range makes it competitive with diesel. Let’s remember this is a semi, not a full tractor trailer, much less a tandem rig. A typical diesel semi pulls a max 80,000 lb trailer, and gets 4 mpg while doing so. And I never heard of a semi carrying a 300 gallon fuel tank. Back when I was involved, semi’s often had 70 gallon tanks, but lets say just for the sake of comparison they now have 150 gallon tanks (which I know you can get). At four miles to the gallon that’s 600 miles with a full cargo.

    Let’s also note the 4 million rigs in the US aren’t all running from St. Louis to LA. The routes on the east coast are usually under 500 miles round trip (and anticipating European sales). I agree the big problem with electric plug in vehicles is the slow charge time and lack of infrastructure. The one is amenable to solution, and the other just takes time. Musk said last night the truck’s charge time is comparable to a typical driver break. Be that as it may, just as you could put a huge diesel tank on a truck, you could add battery packs, perhaps in what’s called a “puppy” (a smaller trailer towed behind the main load). Both of those would be at the cost of cargo weight per interstate highway regulation. Diesel’s not exactly fluffy.

    1. I would like to know how these rigs will perform under extreme weather conditions, esp. cold. Diesel “gel” is a well known problem with mitigation strategies. How would electric stack up?

  10. Walmart has already ordered 15 Tesla trucks and JB Hunt has ordered multiple trucks. Each truck reservation requires a $5,000 deposit.

    1. Doesn’t signify much except companies are willing to test new products. Thankfully they didn’t hit that point where they didn’t really need to keep all that money and had some to spend.

  11. People have mentioned that the last mile delivery truck, like a UPS or FedEx might have been a better way to go because of limited range but there is also the sprinter/work van class of vehicles for plumbers, electricians, cable companies, florists, ect. A lot of these vehicles probably don’t travel too far in any given day but are in constant use.

    And if the electric semi works, then there is a market for RV’s.

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