500-mile Tesla Semi begins supply, options 1-megawatt charging

Tesla late on Thursday began buyer deliveries of its semi-trailer truck, which is dubbed the Semi.

The primary buyer was Pepsi, which positioned an order for 100 of the Class 8 vans following the debut in 2017. Budweiser and Walmart are among the many different prospects for the absolutely electrical semi truck which encompasses a central driving place, similar to the McLaren F1 supercar.

The beginning of deliveries happened at a particular occasion held at Tesla’s plant in Reno, Nevada, the place CEO Elon Musk confirmed just a few extra specs for the Semi. Tesla additionally offered a time-lapse video exhibiting a Semi allegedly driving 500 miles on a single cost with a gross weight of 81,000 kilos. Tesla didn’t disclose the load of the cargo load. 

The model of the Semi within the video featured a tri-motor powertrain, with a single motor at one rear axle for driving below low-load conditions and two extra motors at a second rear axle for acceleration. Tesla mentioned the ability is thrice that of any comparable diesel truck available on the market.

Tesla’s efficiency figures embrace 0-60 mph acceleration in 20 seconds and the flexibility to speed up on gradients as much as 5%. These figures are with the Semi’s most 82,000-pound gross weight. With out a load, Tesla mentioned the Semi can dash to 60 mph in simply 5.0 seconds.

Tesla additionally mentioned the Semi can journey a mile utilizing lower than 2 kwh of electrical energy.

Tesla hasn’t mentioned how huge the battery is however the firm has beforehand said {that a} 70% cost in half-hour is feasible utilizing a brand new one-megawatt charger (1,000 kw) designed for the Semi. Musk mentioned on the Reno occasion that the megawatt charger may also be suitable with the upcoming Cybertruck pickup truck. Tesla plans to roll out the megawatt chargers at its Supercharger stations within the coming 12 months.

Manufacturing of the Semi is dealt with at Tesla’s plant in Austin, Texas. The plant can be the place Tesla builds the Mannequin Y crossover, and in 2023 is slated to begin manufacturing of the Cybertruck.

Manufacturing of the Semi was initially attributable to begin in 2019 however the date was pushed again as Tesla prioritized Mannequin Y manufacturing in Austin within the face of restricted availability of battery cells and different supply-chain points. Since then, established truck producers like Daimler Vehicles and Volvo Vehicles have already launched electrical vans, together with Class 8 vans.

Tesla began accepting reservations for the Semi in Could and began requesting a $20,000 deposit in August, at which level reservations have been closed. The vans have been initially priced at $150,000 for a 300-mile mannequin and $180,000 for a 500-mile mannequin. It is doable Tesla will improve costs when reservations open once more, as has occurred with a lot of electrical automobiles in current months.