Tesla’s long awaited electric Semi Truck will be unveiled tonight at 8:00 PM PST (11:00 PM EST).
The new vehicle will be a fully electric Class 8 truck, a category for vehicles that weigh more than 33,000 pounds, including tractor-trailer rigs that form the backbone of commercial road freight. The Tesla version is expected to have a range of 300 miles and will likely feature self-driving capabilities.
Some informed speculation and analysis at electrek.co/…
Class 8 diesel trucks these days cost around $120,000, but in order to get any kind of significant range with a full load, Tesla will need to have a massive battery pack in that truck. I would expect between 400 and 600 kWh, which could easily be worth $100,000 by itself.
By taking that into account, and the fact that Tesla has never built a truck before, I find it hard to believe that they could deliver that truck for less than $250,000 outright.
They can spend over $70,000 per year in diesel alone to operate a class 8 truck. Without accounting for the salary of the driver, we are talking about roughly $1 per mile of operation (maintenance, insurance, etc.).
That’s what Tesla needs to beat – or crush – if Musk wants to blow the minds of people buying semis.
I expect that Tesla could announce something between $0.40 to $0.60 per mile. For reference, I’d be disappointed if Tesla doesn’t even put forward a number for the cost of operation. I’d be impressed if it’s between $0.50-$0.60, and it will blow my mind if it’s below $0.50, which is apparently the goal.
Also see www.theverge.com/...
But the freight industry seems ambivalent at best. Trucking leaders say they welcome Tesla’s entry into the market, while acknowledging that their industry as a whole is clearly trending toward some form of electrification. But they also point out that truck manufacturers and operators have already embraced alternative fuel technologies, from natural gas to propane to hydrogen fuel cells. And battery-powered electric vehicles will face steep challenges, from weight restrictions to the availability of convenient charging stations, before they can be widely adopted.
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But that hasn’t stopped the industry from chasing the zero-emission dream. Bosch is partnering with Nikola Motors to develop a Class 8 hydrogen-electric truck by 2021. Daimler recently unveiled an electric light-duty truck called the Fuso eCanter. And last August, Indiana-based Cummins, a leader in diesel and natural gas engines, revealed Aeos, a fully electric Class 7 truck with a range of about 100 miles on a single charge.
Here is the video of the event —
