Tesla confirms megawatt charging tech for Cybertruck, Semi

Tesla on Thursday night time confirmed that it plans to make use of a brand new immersive cooling methodology for its Supercharger V4 charging cable, able to dealing with as much as 1 megawatt. 

“It’s going for use for Cybertruck, too,” stated CEO Elon Musk. The tech improve is coming to Superchargers subsequent 12 months, he stated.

Tesla didn’t verify that both the Semi or the Cybertruck will be capable of cost at 1 megawatt from the outset, however the announcement does successfully dismiss the chances of both a separate Megacharger ecosystem or Tesla’s early adoption of the Megawatt Charging Normal, or MCS. 

As Tesla outlined final month, its charging connector, now known as NACS, is nice for as much as 1 megawatt with a brand new configuration of the identical connector. Musk didn’t present any demonstration of how a lot heavier or extra cumbersome the V4 might be to deal with at Supercharger stops.

The announcement leaves a whole lot of room for elaboration relating to how Tesla truly plans to include charging choices for its Semi, which wouldn’t match at many present Supercharger stations. Tesla’s senior charging coverage supervisor Francesca Wahl stated in October, on the CharIn North America Convention in Portland that Supercharger websites probably wouldn’t be used as heavy-duty (Semi) websites anytime quickly. The corporate has prompt over years that it was trying to deploy supporting infrastructure for the Semi with different events.

The aim of the Thursday night time occasion was to mark the primary supply of the large electrical hauler to Pepsi. Though Tesla omitted many key particulars just like the battery pack, pricing, or how the manufacturing price will ramp up, it did embrace a bit extra concerning the propulsion tech the Semi makes use of to attain its mixture of energy and vary. 

The Semi is constructed on a brand new 1000-volt system, but it makes use of Tesla’s warmth pump, local weather system, and inverter tech already made at quantity. 

Tesla additionally confirmed in its latest 500-mile run, absolutely loaded at greater than 80,000 kilos, from Fremont to San Diego that it didn’t cost alongside the best way or recreation the run.

As Musk underscored, it’s basically utilizing the tri-motor Plaid Mannequin S and Mannequin X powertrain, with two of the three drive models completely disconnected besides when accelerating. Tesla additionally confirmed that each one the work with integration, traction programs, software program and management was carried out in-house. 

The Semi “has loopy energy in comparison with a diesel truck,” stated Musk, who additionally stated seeing the Semi go unloaded is “like an elephant transferring like a cheetah.”

Tesla claims that the Semi could make a big impact for the surroundings and well being—significantly in cities. Within the U.S., there are 15 million passenger car gross sales and roughly 200,000 huge industrial vans offered per 12 months, however they represent 20% of car emissions and greater than a 3rd of particulate emissions. 

That features the corporate’s personal logistics. It confirmed that it’ll deploy extra Semis to make use of for its personal passenger car supply—which at its current charges should require an ideal many internal-combustion vans.