⚡ EV Tesla semi-truck debuts in September, pickup by 2019

Chet Donnelly

TCG Elite Member
TCG Premium
Aug 19, 2004
18,382
38,865
As I've said several times on here, Tesla is leaving the other automakers in its dust. While everyone is hyping over the Demon, the P100D is just as fast 0-60 and a much more practical car.

Now Tesla will be getting into the Semi and Pickup truck business. There is no doubt that diesel engines will be gone, and the Raptor will soon be extinct like its name suggests.

Tesla semi-truck debuts in September, pickup by 2019 | Fox News


Tesla just keeps on trucking. Literally.

The company whose stock has reached new highs in recent weeks will be unveiling its electric semi-truck this September and a battery-powered pickup within two years.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the news via Twitter on Thursday:

Musk previously revealed Tesla was working on both products, along with a new Roadster sports car, which is a couple of years further off, but will definitely have one feature, according to Musk:

Several existing automakers and startups are developing electrified semi-trucks, while commercial truck builder Workhorse is taking the wraps off of a plug-in hybrid pickup with an 80-mile battery-powered range on May 2.

In last summer’s Tesla Master Plan, Part Deux, Musk described the pickup as a “new kind of” truck and said the semi would reduce shipping costs, improve safety and be “really fun to operate.”

There’s no word yet on when the trucks will go on sale.

As for Tesla’s upcoming Model 3 compact sedan, Musk also confirmed when the production version will be officially revealed:

Tesla plans to begin low volume Model 3 production this year before ramping up to have the capability to build 500,000 units or more annually by the end of 2018.
 

torquelover

TCG Elite Member
Jun 4, 2013
1,611
2,286
I'm sceptical. We were on the fence on a Model S 70D but found the back seat lacking even against our $30k mainstream sedans. Things you take for granted are not on this car. Center arm rest, cup holders, and switches for the rear seat heaters are missing. Add in the too-low lower seat cushion and it's a deal breaker. Looking at the Model X in 6-passenger mode and the same issues are there, too. Lower seat cushion height is better but then the seat backs don't recline like every other 3-row SUV or minivan.

Not a biggie if you're mostly alone in the car or just bringing with your spouse, but then why isn't there a Model S coupe? Now that would be hot.

Let's hope Elon actually looks at what truck drivers need, as opposed to what the iPhone crowd thinks is looks cool but they'll never purchase/use.
 

sickmint79

I Drink Your Milkshake
Mar 2, 2008
26,890
16,592
grayslake
it's fine to compare the straight line metric but is anyone really cross shopping a p100d and hellcat? seems a silly conclusion to make.

as far as the semi-truck, it would be a lot more interesting if there were some numbers other than "tesla is doing a thing". end of diesel engines? i don't know about that. these things take a lot of fuel and run on deadlines. not really the optimal situation for an all electric drivetrain is it??
 

Mike K

TCG Elite Member
Apr 11, 2008
13,214
2,586
I'm sceptical. We were on the fence on a Model S 70D but found the back seat lacking even against our $30k mainstream sedans. Things you take for granted are not on this car. Center arm rest, cup holders, and switches for the rear seat heaters are missing. Add in the too-low lower seat cushion and it's a deal breaker. Looking at the Model X in 6-passenger mode and the same issues are there, too. Lower seat cushion height is better but then the seat backs don't recline like every other 3-row SUV or minivan.

Not a biggie if you're mostly alone in the car or just bringing with your spouse, but then why isn't there a Model S coupe? Now that would be hot.

Let's hope Elon actually looks at what truck drivers need, as opposed to what the iPhone crowd thinks is looks cool but they'll never purchase/use.

Legit complaints and stuff Tesla needs to fix and they know it too which is why they poached Volvo's head of interior design.

it's fine to compare the straight line metric but is anyone really cross shopping a p100d and hellcat? seems a silly conclusion to make.

as far as the semi-truck, it would be a lot more interesting if there were some numbers other than "tesla is doing a thing". end of diesel engines? i don't know about that. these things take a lot of fuel and run on deadlines. not really the optimal situation for an all electric drivetrain is it??

I was thinking about this and if say the floor of your trailer was your battery pack you would theoretically have as many miles of range as you'd be able to pile on in a legal shift on any given day. It's just a matter of how much that costs. Then again, if these end up being autonomous that solves a bunch of problems as well (and creates a few).
 

sickmint79

I Drink Your Milkshake
Mar 2, 2008
26,890
16,592
grayslake
I was thinking about this and if say the floor of your trailer was your battery pack you would theoretically have as many miles of range as you'd be able to pile on in a legal shift on any given day. It's just a matter of how much that costs. Then again, if these end up being autonomous that solves a bunch of problems as well (and creates a few).

there are some positives in that there seems to be adequate space, and the heavy/low batteries helps your center of gravity. but then there are a lot of real challenges as well.

- most trucking outfits have a small number of trucks - can they afford tesla ones?
- what about range? it appears to be less than what many trucks do daily.
- what about charge time? this is certainly a problem for this market. they are generally paid by the mile, and these things have a huge amount of batteries. a swap would work but how prevalent are those? maybe cars or cargo could be swapped out, but this is still a major logistical challenge.

i consider the autonomous thing a pretty separate issue and thing both technically and politically the reality of a purely autonomous car is still some ways away.

a competitor (nikola) appears to have a package with less constraints; https://nikolamotor.com/ h2 recharges in 15 minutes and a 1000mi range.

outside of motorcycles, which are the perfect place for an all electric market, the next best thing would be a fleet of autonomous driving cars that could easily be switched out to have some do work while others charge. just like with k1 racing karts, how they have extra karts to charge while others are being driven. if uber had a stable of those that would work really well.

competitive middle class/model 3 or semi-truck remains to be seen. so many fanboi i wonder how that will affect the sales on the actual merits of the model 3. will be interesting to see the complete package for sale and how it bears out.

and actually now that i think about it, if tesla is branching out to all these markets, why not motorcycles? their brand presence is there and for all electric drivetrains, it's a huge winner. i wish i could invest in this company. ZERO MOTORCYCLES
 

Mike K

TCG Elite Member
Apr 11, 2008
13,214
2,586
there are some positives in that there seems to be adequate space, and the heavy/low batteries helps your center of gravity. but then there are a lot of real challenges as well.

- most trucking outfits have a small number of trucks - can they afford tesla ones?
- what about range? it appears to be less than what many trucks do daily.
- what about charge time? this is certainly a problem for this market. they are generally paid by the mile, and these things have a huge amount of batteries. a swap would work but how prevalent are those? maybe cars or cargo could be swapped out, but this is still a major logistical challenge.

Range wouldn't be a problem. The space is there to put in an obnoxiously large battery with a negligible net difference on overall loaded weight (I would assume).

Likewise with charging. I see that as a pretty easy to solve problem. These trucks aren't going 24 hours a day in most cases. With their own supercharger network they could be fully charged in a few hours I would think. The complication would be that instead of just pulling over any old place to sleep you'd need to have a network built up of fast chargers so that the trucks could be charged where people are pulling over. I think like the cars, initially it would be an inconvenience and then once the network is built out it would just be different, no less convenient really.

a competitor (nikola) appears to have a package with less constraints; https://nikolamotor.com/ h2 recharges in 15 minutes and a 1000mi range.

Yeah, I have the same issue with this as I do with Faraday and people saying how cool their car is: they haven't built anything. Everyone can promise the moon or say that they've got proof of concept and just need funding to build and then it never happens or in between being funded and actually trying to build the technology they realize it can't be done at scale or can't be done at all. I don't think the market is going the way of hydrogen. Could be but I don't think so and I'm going to toot my own Mike K horn here and say that so far I believe I've called pretty much everything right, going way back to 2013 when everyone assured me electric cars would never be a thing.

outside of motorcycles, which are the perfect place for an all electric market, the next best thing would be a fleet of autonomous driving cars that could easily be switched out to have some do work while others charge. just like with k1 racing karts, how they have extra karts to charge while others are being driven. if uber had a stable of those that would work really well.

I don't see why that couldn't work. That's basically what the Tesla network is going to be when the cars go full level 5 autonomous and Tesla's side business puts Uber out of business.

competitive middle class/model 3 or semi-truck remains to be seen. so many fanboi i wonder how that will affect the sales on the actual merits of the model 3. will be interesting to see the complete package for sale and how it bears out.

People have reallllly high expectations which is a bit concerning. It's gotten so bad that Elon has taken to reminding people that the 3 is not a next generation Tesla but a cheaper Tesla and that people that want all of the features should still buy the S. Even as a fan, I can't see how that will be because the 3 is going to have full autonomous driving and that's really the S's only killer feature. There's nothing else that's mind blowingly amazing. The extent of the features are basically power trunk, air suspension, upgraded audio, ambient lighting, extended leather and then of course all the speed upgrades which add tens of thousands of dollars. But equally equipped, I don't know how they're going to make the 3 distinctly cheaper than the S because the interior of the S, though well built, doesn't exactly scream luxury. They'll need to bring the S way more upscale for the same money or they're going to canibalize it's sales.

and actually now that i think about it, if tesla is branching out to all these markets, why not motorcycles? their brand presence is there and for all electric drivetrains, it's a huge winner. i wish i could invest in this company. ZERO MOTORCYCLES

They have a jet ski with that same drivetrain.
 

Turbocharged400sbc

3800 & 4T80E > ALL
TCG Premium
Jun 16, 2007
32,540
15,849
hangover park IL
the northeast already sucks for truck stocp/semi parking....esp with the new driver hours bullshit and the electronic logs.

it'll be a cali thing since they have the hvy truck year cutoff for the newest emissions requirments....my old mans 07 isn't legal to operate in cali just because its the "old" tier emissions.

oddly enough id think theyd be great for drayage operations over the mountain (tq and regen/braking down the backside) into the truck yards in Arizona/etc. most of hwy 8 is followed by the high tension lines up and over

id laugh if I saw one with an old diesel refer on the back... don't think those will ever be fully electric :rofl:
 

sickmint79

I Drink Your Milkshake
Mar 2, 2008
26,890
16,592
grayslake
Range wouldn't be a problem. The space is there to put in an obnoxiously large battery with a negligible net difference on overall loaded weight (I would assume).

i don't disagree that there's the space - but it's doing a whole lot more work in the truck than in your car. and it's going to be a bear to charge at its size as well. i don't know enough about battery design but perhaps this can be kind of addressed by charging in more degrees of parallelism? it still seems quite unlikely to reach gas/hybrid/h2 levels of speed though.

note the range numbers speculated out there are by the nikola guys so not just the average joe taking a guess. nikola solves this and recharge with h2. the teslas would probably be a better fit for certain markets ie. not the rig traveling across the united states but the one moving containers from port to some local centers.

Likewise with charging. I see that as a pretty easy to solve problem. These trucks aren't going 24 hours a day in most cases. With their own supercharger network they could be fully charged in a few hours I would think. The complication would be that instead of just pulling over any old place to sleep you'd need to have a network built up of fast chargers so that the trucks could be charged where people are pulling over. I think like the cars, initially it would be an inconvenience and then once the network is built out it would just be different, no less convenient really.

the cars aren't initially an inconvenience though, they are somewhat of an inconvenience and that is even for guys like you that have mostly bought your way out of the pain with a big pack. but you're not using that thing like these guys are for work either. it seems a pretty major inconvenience to them.

like all full electrics it does not seem ready for the mainstream, but probably has a place in a niche. likely short haul truckers could do well with these. it hardly seems to be the death of trucking as we know it though.

Yeah, I have the same issue with this as I do with Faraday and people saying how cool their car is: they haven't built anything. Everyone can promise the moon or say that they've got proof of concept and just need funding to build and then it never happens or in between being funded and actually trying to build the technology they realize it can't be done at scale or can't be done at all. I don't think the market is going the way of hydrogen. Could be but I don't think so and I'm going to toot my own Mike K horn here and say that so far I believe I've called pretty much everything right, going way back to 2013 when everyone assured me electric cars would never be a thing.

lack of ability to execute certainly is a problem for some of these other competitors. i would not be ready to call something like h2 dead or a pipe dream though. japan is certainly rolling full steam ahead on it.


I don't see why that couldn't work. That's basically what the Tesla network is going to be when the cars go full level 5 autonomous and Tesla's side business puts Uber out of business.

this would be interesting to see and make their market cap less insane. uber seems struggling already to actually make money. i'm in bali right now and the local taxi mafia is fighting uber hard, to the point where i think uber drivers are scared to pick people up. doesn't seem like it would take much to push uber over in the US.


People have reallllly high expectations which is a bit concerning. It's gotten so bad that Elon has taken to reminding people that the 3 is not a next generation Tesla but a cheaper Tesla and that people that want all of the features should still buy the S. Even as a fan, I can't see how that will be because the 3 is going to have full autonomous driving and that's really the S's only killer feature. There's nothing else that's mind blowingly amazing. The extent of the features are basically power trunk, air suspension, upgraded audio, ambient lighting, extended leather and then of course all the speed upgrades which add tens of thousands of dollars. But equally equipped, I don't know how they're going to make the 3 distinctly cheaper than the S because the interior of the S, though well built, doesn't exactly scream luxury. They'll need to bring the S way more upscale for the same money or they're going to canibalize it's sales.

how many states will actually allow fully autonomous driving yet, do any of them? there are big questions of liability there that seem to be unanswered everywhere so far.

They have a jet ski with that same drivetrain.

sounds good too but from my lazy google search the ones i found did not seem as sexy in comparison to other options, these are all awfully pricey for something someone would use a lot less than a bike too. sickmint79 investment dollars would all go to bike. if i didn't suck on 2 wheels so bad i'd look into actually picking up a zero.
 

Mike K

TCG Elite Member
Apr 11, 2008
13,214
2,586
the cars aren't initially an inconvenience though, they are somewhat of an inconvenience and that is even for guys like you that have mostly bought your way out of the pain with a big pack. but you're not using that thing like these guys are for work either. it seems a pretty major inconvenience to them.

I think you're missing my point. For long trips they were an inconvenience even if you bought yourself a larger pack. That's largely disappeared over the past few years with the expansion of the supercharging network. It used to be you had two chargers between LA and San Francisco. Then it was four. Now it's something like 8 on the main route and a couple of them are 15 miles apart. Now Tesla is contracting with gas stations to install stalls and then there's destination chargers (60 miles an hour range) that are sprinkled all over the city as well as standard level 2 chargers. It's still not perfect but it's getting better by a factor of multiples.

And I think any adoption with trucks would see a similar roll-out. At first they would be limited to very specific routes and then as a network started to appear they would be able to expand to more routes and would see further adoption as people realized there was a network in place. That's what we're seeing with the S now. People that didn't want it 3 years ago because of the spotty network coverage are now starting to come around and it has a snowball affect.

like all full electrics it does not seem ready for the mainstream, but probably has a place in a niche. likely short haul truckers could do well with these. it hardly seems to be the death of trucking as we know it though.

Long term I think it is. Short term I'd tend to agree.

lack of ability to execute certainly is a problem for some of these other competitors. i would not be ready to call something like h2 dead or a pipe dream though. japan is certainly rolling full steam ahead on it.

I follow this stuff daily because I'm a nerd. Hydrogen is being pushed hard but is a complete flop in the US. Even out here in LA it's unheard of. Toyota has a car they've been pushing hard, the Mirrai. Maybe it's different with trucking. Maybe we see that there's some distinct benefit but I doubt it. Without getting into a long explanation, there's not really much improvement over existing technologies. It's expensive, it's still complicated, it's not really any greener and the list goes on. The cost proposition that would entice people to switch to that technology doesn't seem to be there.

this would be interesting to see and make their market cap less insane. uber seems struggling already to actually make money. i'm in bali right now and the local taxi mafia is fighting uber hard, to the point where i think uber drivers are scared to pick people up. doesn't seem like it would take much to push uber over in the US.

Uber just released financials and they're losing money and at an unbelievable pace. They need autonomy to get rid of the drivers because right now they're subsidizing rides. They are entirely too reliant on a technology they have almost no control over. Even in the best case scenario, they get full autonomy and they're completely changing their business model from that of a marketplace to that of an actual provider. They can't make money as a marketplace. They do literally nothing other than connect drivers with riders and they're hemorrhaging money. I have no faith in their management whatsoever.

how many states will actually allow fully autonomous driving yet, do any of them? there are big questions of liability there that seem to be unanswered everywhere so far.

California does. Arizona does. Everyone else will follow for sure. I think this is going to move a lot quicker than you think. I have nothing other than feel to base that on though.

I highly doubt the trailer floor with be the battery. It'll have to stay with the truck.

Why? You have a small battery in the truck for a range of say 100 miles to get around. Then for actual range you pull standardized trailers with batteries in them. That's nothing new actually. It's always kind of been the angle people have taken. It wouldn't even require a big move from current standards either. Most container ship containers are just set on a trailer frame and then connected to a truck. You change out that trailer frame and that's it. You don't even need to change containers.
 

Mike K

TCG Elite Member
Apr 11, 2008
13,214
2,586
How would you safely connect power between the truck and the trailer? That's my concern.

I'm not sure I understand. What is specifically your concern? You're just talking about one large cable between the tractor and trailer or even built in contactors in the trailer hitch.

Keep in mind your overall peak power consumption is likely not greater than a performance Model S and the cables in those are relatively small.
 

RICH17

Dr. Pussy Slayer, MD
TCG Premium
Nov 14, 2008
26,707
1,992
The 007
Real Name
Adam Rich
Air-Line-Pigtal.jpg


This is your typical setup. the green cable controlling lights. Carrying 12 volts. But wouldn't this thing have way more voltage?
 
Old Thread: Hello . There have been no replies in this thread for 90 days.
Content in this thread may no longer be relevant. Consider starting a new thread to get fresh replies.

Thread Info