Featured Electric Semi Trailer Truck

I'd buy one of those b S E M I d shirts they were wearing, but they're not in the Tesla > Shop > Apparel catalog yet.

Of note, they mentioned the rig could also charge at any V2 or V3 stall. If so, there would be a separate regular NACS recepticle somewhere near the MC recepticle. I'd love to have one of these pull in next to me at a SC for a nice photo op. I'd think that L1 charging would not be preferred. Any guess on the kWh pack size for the 500 mi. variant or the current battery type? They didn't mention those details.

 

I love the quality of life improvements for the driver. The ability to stand in the cab is pretty cool.
I hope they got input from actual drivers for the design.

 

Batteries are expensive. How much does it cost?

 

Thanks but that doesn't answer the question.

More questions: how much does a mega-watt charging station costs to feed these? Long haul vehicles run 24/7/365 so charging during peak times will happen but at what costs?

Short range BEV trucks make a lot more sense/cents to me. And address local pollution concerns much better.

 

Pricing announcement from 2017 was $150k to $180k. Price range for semis in 2020 was $75k to $180. There is a lot more customization and options to them than with a car.
Tesla releases Tesla Semi truck pricing details | Mashable

Such long haul trucks can have a tank range of over a 1000 miles, and freight moved such distances by truck is a small part of total tonnage being moved around. Rail becomes a more likely option as the distance increases.
20 Freight Shipping Statistics to Know | Freightquote

• Trucks move 84% of freight less than 750 miles on average.
  
• Freight moved more than 2,000 miles accounts for less than 2% of total tonnage.
  
• About 50% of all trucks usually travel to destinations within 50 miles of their origin.
  
• Rail transport accounts for 37% of freight moved between 750 and 2,000 miles.

I know the data is old, this has newer, and in fun interactive charts. Moving Goods in the United States

Most rucks are making trips in ranges measure is hundreds of miles or less between deliveries. The Semi is a mid range truck with 300 and 500 mile range options Loading and unloading will provide times for charging for those trucks that run 24/7 on such routes, but how many actually do? Cost is an interesting question, but nobody who actually knows is talking.

The fleets taking delivery soon are very likely going to deploying the trucks as they would a CNG fleet, which is probably what they would have bought in the past. The company has to provide the chargers, like CNG pumps, at this time. The trucks will be mostly on set route between warehouses and plants. Most charging will likely be done at night. Most drivers working local routes like these, would prefer to go home to sleep, and late shift operations generally mean higher wages.

 

this is where toyota et al should have been researching hydrogen to prove musk wrong

 

There is no need for the first EV semi to solve every problem. The specs of this truck are good enough to handle enough trips to sell all they can make for a while. The existing fleet of diesel trucks is going to be in use for a long time and can handle those 24/7/365 needs.

Mike

 

There are a few things that make the "500 mile trip" somewhat disingenuous. The presentation says that the trip was done in normal traffic but it was not. The trip was taken on Friday, Nov 25th which is the day after Thanksgiving. In California that's often used as part of a 4 day holiday. What's the impact?

First, is that there is greatly reduced truck and auto traffic on that day of the year, reducing the metropolitan stop and go traffic to almost nothing. They even managed to find one of the few days each year when the San Diego Navy bases did not clog the freeways by letting all their workers leave at the same time. Everyone here understands what a win that is when you can avoid stop and go driving. Even regenerative braking will loose a significant percentage of the energy used to accelerate a 40 ton truck from a dead stop several times each mile.

Second is that they managed to use the state route 152 (local access for smaller trucks) to go from US 101 to I-5 without being busted. I know that because I watched the video, expecting them to pass by my house. I was surprised to see a two lane road and hills in an area that should have had 6 lanes each direction and a mountain pass. CA153 is the only route that matches the miles on their presentation as they get to the Los Banos and Kettleman City exits on I 5. This "shortcut" allowed them to avoid the congestion of the Altamont pass as well as the Dublin grade. and 680/580 interchange. To reiterate... Everyone here should understand what a win that is when you can avoid stop and go driving. Even regenerative braking will loose a significant percentage of the energy used to accelerate a 40 ton truck from a dead stop several times each mile.

So the route was not normal. The traffic was not normal. Virtually no stats were given for the truck itself.

It's a good thing that Pepsi wants these for local (short haul) deliveries, though I have to wonder what a 1 megawatt charger will cost to install and run.

 

Hey! Look!
Is that a baby floating down in the bath water?

I think that Pepsi is smart enough to run the trucks they buy on routes they can handle without worrying about specmanship.
Does your laptop ever last as long as the manufacturers specs say or do you plug it in when it needs a charge?

Mike

 

While this point is valid, even Pepsico will not buy a pig in a poke. They need some assurance that the vehicle can do the job for which it is purchased.

 

And Tesla very likely let them see the data that isn't be shared with the public.

 

Good guess, but incorrect. I'm not sure what the 1,7 number is supposed to be. Possibly just red herring, possibly just sloppy work . You don't get a retail rate when you are using someone else's supercharger, as should be obvious to all Telsa users. You pay the rate plus whatever their cost is plus whatever profit the public will tolerate.

In many areas, a commercial electricity service is charged a base amount based on the maximum wattage that the business uses. Then they add another charge on top of that for the actual kWh that the business consumes.

In order to claim that it works out to be cheaper than the diesel equivalent you need to figure out how many chargers the business has to have to top off their fleet every night, and amortize the cost of buying and installing those into the cost of ownership.

Besides that, you have to figure out what that truck had to do when it got to San Diego with 4% of it's charge left, and no megawatt infrastructure in place. Did the driver have to rent a room to sleep in while the truck charged off an L1 or L2 charger all night? Where does the cost of paying the driver to sit there idle come into the equation?

Don't get me wrong... I think it can be successful, but not necessarily guaranteed to be as cheap nor as quick as our current way of life.

 

If you left the units on the number you'd know. It is 1.7 kwh per mile. I don't know where Bob got that number but it has nothing to do with the price of electricity, it is the consumption of the drive train.

Maybe the Pepsi semis are going to charge at home like most users do. They would need to buy a mega chargers and have it installed at their distribution center. They are big boys with a big factory. They can work with the local utility to have the proper power connections made just like every big factory in the country does.
It makes perfect sense to do this so the trucks can be charged while loading. Or they can be charged by the factory so the driver doesn't have to wait somewhere else while charging

I think the big boys (and girls) at big distribution centers know all about this and have factored it into their TCO for the semis.

Mike

 

Going with electric for a fleet is not different than going with CNG in terms of logistic financial considerations. Most likely the fleet operator is going to need to supply the refueling stations, and they have a choice between fast and slow filling methods.

The companies getting these trucks have been operating their own fleet for quite some time. They may have even already have experience with smaller BEVs.

Gosh, a company did a publicity stunt. What will Tesla do next, tow a Space Shuttle with a Model X.

Three quarters of freight by tonnage in the US is shipped less than 240 miles. Operators don't buy ICE trucks with just enough range for the trip, and they won't do so with a BEV.