Tesla Semi Truck To Soon Be A Reality; Production Begins

• The EV truck is claimed to offer up to 800km of range per charge.  

• Can recover 70%of the range in 30 minutes using special Tesla Semi Chargers. 

• Fuel savings of Rs 1.64 crore claimed over three years of each truck’s operation. 

• Can climb up to 5% gradient at the highway speed limit (around 100-120kmph). 

• Official unveiling on November 16 alongside Tesla Roadster. 

In an exciting new development, the Tesla Semi Truck has gone into production, with the first deliveries set for December 1 to Pepsi Co. The all-electric semi truck will have a gross weight carrying capacity of 37 metric tonnes and claims to save over Rs 1.64 crore in fuel costs over three years of operation. 

Excited to announce start of production of Tesla Semi Truck with deliveries to @Pepsi on Dec 1st! pic.twitter.com/gq0l73iGRW

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 6, 2022

Tesla Semi Specs and Features 

Think of a Model 3 sedan, but in truck form – that’s what the Tesla Semi looks like. It has a sleek, aerodynamic front-end with double LED-projector headlights and a single-seater cab with a large, wraparound windshield. There is no front grille, and the truck looks like nothing else out there on the road.

Inside, the truck has two large free-standing screens that display a wide-angle view of each side of the truck, alongside navigation and driver’s instrumentation info. There’s no proper dashboard with gauges, and there’s a similar multi-function steering wheel with scroll wheels on both sides to operate different functions. And the cool part is that the driver sits bang in the middle of these screens. 

The Tesla truck claims to offer an electric efficiency of under 2kWh per mile or around 1.25kWh per kilometre. That’s about one-tenth of the efficiency offered by a conventional electric car, such as the Tata Nexon EV Max; but remember that the truck carries a gross weight of over 37 tonnes. 

The Semi offers excellent performance and can reach a cruising speed of 100kmph in 20 seconds with a full load. It can even maintain these speeds on a steep slope at up to a 5% gradient. 

Tesla hasn’t revealed its battery size, but it has said that the truck offers a range of up to 800km while fully loaded. Moreover, it can recover 70% of that range with just 30 minutes of charging at special Tesla Semi Chargers. While electric cars can be charged at home using an AC wall box or different public chargers of varying DC wattage, the Tesla Semi’s massive battery will certainly need the specialised fast chargers to juice up efficiently. 

How can we benefit from Tesla Semi Trucks?

All over the world, trucks account for a significant chunk of overall emissions. Tesla’s Semi offers a zero-emissions alternative to conventional transport trucks without compromising on range and power. 

The Tesla truck also has fewer moving parts and is capable of over-the-air (OTA) software updates which could result in lower maintenance costs over the operational span of the vehicle.

Also read: 

• Tesla Robot Optimus Will Soon Start Helping Out At Production Facilities

• Tesla Cybertruck Electric Pickup Spotted With Production-spec Parts, Production Likely To Commence Soon

It’s likely that the cutting-edge Tesla Semi Trucks will be more expensive than even high-end conventional ICE trucks. Nevertheless, with companies such as Pepsi willing to invest in the novel tech, and Tesla’s promising claims of fuel cost savings, the semi-truck could be the way forward for mass transportation in the future.