Artist's impression
Credit: Twitter
Semi
Tesla Semi truck unveil set for September. Team has done an amazing job. Seriously next level.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 13, 2017
Electric semi has long been in the too hard basket:
● road-freight is low-margin
● making a profit depends on keeping the vehicle moving, which makes long charging times a problem
● battery size & weight is less of a barrier in a such a big vehicle● battery price remains a problem
● energy & maintenance costs will be significantly lower than internal combustion
● battery swapping has been demonstrated,1 but hasn’t taken off for electric cars – perhaps in this application, high utilization in freight centres may make it viable
● short-haul may be the best application for battery-electric prime movers, at least initially
Teslarati – “Tesla Semi-truck: What will be the ROI & is it worth it?”
https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-semi-truck-return-investment-roi/
Wired – “Unlike Hyperloop, Elon Musk’s Electric Big-Rig Actually Makes Sense”
https://www.wired.com/2017/04/tesla-electric-truck/
Pickup truck
__________@NoahMagel Pickup truck unveil in 18 to 24 months
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 13, 2017
1 HitchHiker’s Guide 2 Tech: “Demonstration of Tesla Model S battery swap today – video – update”, https://hhg2tech.blogspot.com/2013/06/demonstration-of-tesla-model-s-battery.html
/ Tesla semi-truck semi truck semi trailer truck prime mover tractor ROI return on investment battery cell lithium ion LiIon charge recharge battery swap battery swapping station Supercharger Elon Musk Tesla Semi reinvention entire industry Tesla truck program Jerome Guillen history with Daimler specifically Freightliner large Class 8 semi-trucks Tesla how far tractor-trailer tractor trailer operations two basic types of freight moving short-haul long-haul short haul long haul types of freight hauling return on investment ROI battery-electric rig Tesla unveil equipment current paradigms in tractor-trailer freight hauling battery electric vehicle BEV trucking industry freight moved United States commercial truck U.S. Department of Transportation USDOT moved by trucks agricultural products pharmaceuticals goods moved highways surface roads nationally trucking industry change technology improves freight hauling Internet faster communications traditional consignee-broker-hauler paradigm goods haul contacted freight broker contracted freight hauler move the goods skimming percentage off the top connection middleman cut out trucking trucking companies having load brokers on staff electronics and global positioning changed how trucks operate computers more efficiently organizing load and truck movements minimize empty movement USDOT truck movement pulling an empty trailer freight drop-off point drops exponentially networks of computers get more efficient organizing trucking trucking companies consolidate larger fleets longer average trip load delivery tractor-trailer faster truck’s ROI owner shorter hauls higher per-mile maintenance costs longer hauls cost of fuel equipment maintenance costs engine fuel higher with shorter distances how often brakes are used time spent not working idling or sitting higher incidences of accidents short-haul operations are less than ideal roads breakdown flat tire hours wasted waiting for repair potential ROI short-haul long-haul Tesla electric semi-trucks short haul short-haul operations tractor-trailer shipments moving 250 miles or less long-haul long haul types of shipments more than 250 miles large Class 8 semi-trucks pulling freight overlap between short-haul and long-haul shipments distribution location reassembled for longer distance hauling short-haul diversity grain stones to specialized equipment trucks day cabs no sleeper unit attached driver rest quarters when not at the wheel electrified Class 8 vehicles short-haul category battery-electric hydrogen fuel cell hybrid yard dogs moving trailers around a dock area portage trucks moving containers and freight out of port to staging areas local distribution centers local area urban and suburban delivery vehicles large push in California to make all port vehicles including container-moving trucks zero-emissions good news for battery-electric truck makers USDOT, about half of all shipments by value moved less than 250 miles weight being moved around the country bad news segment less is paid per ton freight to be moved American Transportation Research Institute segment 25 percent trucks on the road equipment age higher in this category trucks being used for more years fewer miles compared to long-haul trucks cost maintenance most expensive items tractor-trailer short or long-haul fuel driver wages benefits truck-trailer lease payments insurance most conventional operations short haul or long haul maintenance six percent higher in short-haul operations compared to long-haul insurance usually a bit higher assume battery-electric semi-truck higher price tag diesel-powered counterpart averages about $150,000 new up-front costs will be at least 50 percent higher expense of the batteries Morgan Stanley report on electric and autonomous trucking $75,000 for 500 kWh of battery storage roughly 150 miles range fully loaded 80,000 pound semi-truck current lithium crunch economies of scale more than half the Tesla Semi’s cost would be in batteries larger up-front price tag returned with fuel savings long term view /