Tesla unveils all-electric semi

CEO Elon Musk unveiled the long-awaited Tesla Semi on Thursday and already has multiple orders for the Class 8 truck, which will go into production in 2019, but many questions about its viability for long-haul operations remain unanswered.    Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled the prototypes for two Class 8 Tesla Semis Thursday night with no official price tag and an expected production start date some time in 2019.
   According to Musk, the new all-electric semi truck can reach speeds of 60 miles per hour (mph) in 20 seconds, even with an 80,000-pound load, and 65 mph while traveling up a 5 percent grade, compared with 45 mph in a standard truck. With an operating cost of $1.26 per mile, the Tesla Semi is also cheaper than a standard diesel truck, which clocks in at about $1.51 per mile. Furthermore, Tesla officials say that the payback period in its new electric semi is just two years.
   Musk told USA Today at the unveiling that if Tesla Semis were to drive in a convoy, in which trucks can draft off each other while letting computers and sensors keep them just feet apart at highway speeds, it could even compete on cost with freight trains. With platooning, which would allow the trucks to operate more quickly and efficiently, that operating cost drops to just $0.85 per mile.
   “This beats rail,” said Musk.
   The trucks can drive up to 500 miles at highway speeds at maximum weight on a single charge, and boasts a 0.36 drag coefficient (a bit less than a $3 million Bugatti Chiron, according to USA Today). Musk also said the company was guaranteeing the Tesla Semi for 1 million miles.
   “You can go 250 miles, deliver your load and come back,” he said. And charging to 80 percent would take only 30 minutes, “or about the time of the average driver break” on a new solar-powered Megacharger network, Musk told USA Today.
   Since the trucks don’t have traditional engines, the driver’s seat is placed in the center forward of the cab for greater visibility and screen monitoring. The semi driver will have access to two screens that display the truck’s running condition and shipment details. While the front wheels are not powered, the Tesla Semi’s powertrain powers each of the four rear wheels with four Model 3 drive axles.
   According to multiple reports, investors were quite happy with the reveal, as Tesla shares rose 2 percent late last week.
   Reports also say that trucking companies J.B. Hunt Transport Services and Ryder System Inc., as well as retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. have already placed orders for “multiple” Tesla Semis, while Canadian grocery giant Loblaw announced that it is purchasing 25 semis with a $5,000 deposit for each upfront, according to the Canadian Press.
   However, a Transportation Equipment Industry Update report from investment bank Stifel’s logistics group pointed out there are still several unanswered questions regarding the new trucks.
   First and foremost, the actual purchase price of the semi has still yet to be disclosed, and the company has provides little information as to how the total cost of ownership renders a diesel truck 20 percent more expensive than a Tesla Semi. The company also did not disclose the truck’s weight, and Stifel noted that “a fundamental issue with electric vehicles is that the batteries are heavy, which reduces available payload capacity.”
   The two semis unveiled Thursday night were daycabs, “indicating that the initial target market is local and regional applications and not linehaul, though press reports indicate that the company plans to introduce a sleeper model in the future,” said Stifel.
   Additionally, Stifel said that the shape and size of the semi appear to be built for long-haul highway applications and not for city streets, so the ability for the truck to operate efficiently in various settings is still up for debate.
    And exactly how the Tesla Semi will handle a general lack of electric power infrastructure is a wider problem, given that it will need to recharge in transit in order to travel more than 500 miles in a single trip. Greg Hirsch, a senior vice president at flatbed truckload specialist Daseke Inc., told the Wall Street Journal that “there will need to be an over-the-road infrastructure put into place prior to us being able take advantage of this technology.”