Elon Musk is THE man

[Edwin]

Is it just the tractor unit that can do the 650 miles, I would guess dependent on trailer load that would affect the actual range?

It’s 500 miles with a full 80,000lb load assuming 65MPH journeys.
https://newatlas.com/tesla-semi-first-load/53721/

Incidentally it can’t do that speed legally in the UK, because max speed is 60MPH on the motorway. Not a huge difference but worth noting, especially since trucks usually have limiters to physically prevent them going faster.
http://www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/chan...speed-limits-for-lorries-in-england-and-wales

Presumably another place where its extra pulling power will come in handy is on hills, since it is likely to be able to take them much more readily than currrent trucks.

 

[wonder_lander]

That's impressive stuff, thanks for the further details Edwin

 

[martin-s]

500 miles on the flat in perfect conditions?

 

[Edwin]

500 miles on the flat in perfect conditions?

No idea. But if the range ends up wildly less, they’re not going to sell very many, so I don’t think there’s much incentive to fudge the figures given the gigantic global market for trucks.

Some articles have suggested the payback time could be two years just in fuel savings. Now that is more lilely to be optimistically pesented since even 3 or 4 years would be huge.

 

[gimpydog]

I would have thought in future they’ll be prime candidates for automation.

I hope they are either fully autonomous or outlawed altogether.

With automatic gearboxes, power steering & cruise control, lorries are already far too easy to drive. The less the driver has to do, the more easily he is distracted & the more likely an accident.

But I'm not sure Musk will accomplish this anyway. Scania, Volvo Mercedes, MAN et al have huge budgets & vastly more experience in the business, but are keeping their powder dry.

There are lots of problems still to be solved. Branson said he would take us into space in 5 years, Musk says electric trucks in two. The former has already failed, I expect Musk will too.

"Elon Musk and Tesla have made some bold claims for the new Tesla Semi and Roadster. Those who understand batteries have been scratching their heads trying to figure out how the company can deliver the specs it’s promising"
https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-semi-roadster-future-battery-breakthrough-energy-density/

And then there is the question of raw materials. Can the world supply enough for the exponential growth in demand if all vehicles are to be battery powered

"Tesla expects to produce 35 GWh worth of batteries in 2018, which is equivalent to the entire world production in 2013"
https://electrek.co/2016/11/01/breakdown-raw-materials-tesla-batteries-possible-bottleneck/

 

[dee]

Slightly backwards in the thread, but think it's relevant @BREWSTERS. This just came up in an email thread. Good view on why we havent gone back to the moon. Thought you might fancy the read

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/...ent=2018-04-16&utm_campaign=Technology+Review