First Semi Trucks Delivered to Customers
Five years after the battery electric Tesla Semi Truck was unveiled, the first production vehicles were handed over to customers today at the Tesla Gigafactory in Reno. These were handed over to beverage manufacturer Pepsico and food producer FritoLay.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk also addressed the motivation to build a battery-electric semi-truck. In the U.S., trucks represent just 1% of all vehicles, but they are responsible for 20% of vehicle emissions and as much as 36% of particulate matter emissions.
The semitrailers have three times as much horsepower with higher efficiency than today’s diesel-powered vehicles. Production was preceded by intensive testing in a variety of road and weather conditions. Tesla itself will use its own semi trucks for deliveries between its Reno (battery production) and Fremont (vehicle production) factories.
A video also showed a semi truck fully loaded with 36,2874 kilograms (80,000 pounds) driving up Donner Pass on I-80 near Lake Tahoe with a six-percent grade, leaving the slow-moving diesel semi trucks behind. Energy is also recuperated when driving down passes, just like any other electric car.
Also shown was the 800-kilometer (500-mile), approximately eight-hour drive from Fremont to San Diego on Nov. 25, 2022, completed without a hitch and with a full load, which should eliminate any concerns about range. This also involved overcoming several mountain passes and inclines.
The semi-truck drives like any other electric car, which distinguishes this semi-truck from those powered by diesel. It does not require any special training. A remarkable feature is the position of the driver, who sits in the middle and can look around the vehicle via several monitors. Trailer coupling has also been simplified and can be done from the driver’s cab via the touch screens.
These semi-trucks require so-called megawatt chargers with liquid cooling in the chargers. The megachargers will be installed by both Tesla and customers in their own centers. Incidentally, the same chargers are also to be used for the Cybertruck, which will be delivered from next year.
In the presentation, Musk also talked about Tesla’s corporate mission, which along sedans, SUVs, pickups and now the Tesla semi-truck also hinted at a robotaxi. However, this was still shrouded on the slide.
Here is the half hour video of the Tesla Semi Truck handover again:
This article was also published in German.