Photo: Screen capture
Tesla advertised last evening's event as the Semi truck official unveil, but it turned out to be three products squeeze into a rather short presentation.
Its brief duration was probably what made it much more enjoyable than Musk's previous efforts as an MC, though some of the credit has to go to the products themselves. With the risk of boring you, let's touch briefly on the other two until we dig into the Tesla pickup truck.
The supposed star of the evening was the Semi, with its mountains of torque, four motors, and a 500-mile range. The electric semi truck also has a unique cabin that sits the driver dead-centered and surrounds them with acres of thermonuclear explosion-proof glass. Driving the Semi is said to be a very Tesla-like experience, and apart from sitting way higher, we can't see why that wouldn't be true.
Ast the truck pulled away, it stopped just short of leaving the stage. The doors on its trailer opened and a red sports car descended to take its place under the spotlights. You immediately realized that was the next-gen Roadster, but even so, you couldn't have been prepared for what followed.
Let's just say the sports car beats everyone's expectations by a fair margin and invite you to read our two dedicated articles if you want to know more (this is one and that's two). One new piece of information - and a very important one - is that the Founders Series will cost $250,000, which after you read what it can do will seem like a more than fair price.
Alright, so back to why we're here. When Elon Musk first revealed that there was something else coming during this event, we speculated that it couldn't have been anything else than the pickup. We said the Model Y and the Roadster II would be too important as a simple add-on, and while we still believe that, we sure are glad we were wrong.
It turns out Musk did touch on the pickup subject, but only briefly. As he suggested in reply to a Twitter message, the Tesla Pickup is actually a mini-Semi. Or, as Musk put it in yesterday's presentation, "a pickup truck that can carry a pickup truck." The pictures show what he meant, and while it's definitely not what everyone was expecting, it sure looks interesting.
The Palo Alto company would be crazy not to take advantage of this new vehicle it has created, and turning it into a smaller, unarticulated truck would make sense. Calling it a pickup might be a bit too far, but Musk said you could drive that thing with your regular driver's license. He admitted it was "kind of wrong," but that's the law.
As it stands now, it looks more like an extended-cab monster truck. We're not entirely sure how many seats the Semi's cabin has, but by its size and shape, we'd be surprised if there isn't room for at least three behind the driver. However, Tesla could extend the cabin even further back for more seats. Hell, it could even turn it into a very mean-looking off-road bus if there was a market for such vehicles.
The supposed star of the evening was the Semi, with its mountains of torque, four motors, and a 500-mile range. The electric semi truck also has a unique cabin that sits the driver dead-centered and surrounds them with acres of thermonuclear explosion-proof glass. Driving the Semi is said to be a very Tesla-like experience, and apart from sitting way higher, we can't see why that wouldn't be true.
Ast the truck pulled away, it stopped just short of leaving the stage. The doors on its trailer opened and a red sports car descended to take its place under the spotlights. You immediately realized that was the next-gen Roadster, but even so, you couldn't have been prepared for what followed.
Let's just say the sports car beats everyone's expectations by a fair margin and invite you to read our two dedicated articles if you want to know more (this is one and that's two). One new piece of information - and a very important one - is that the Founders Series will cost $250,000, which after you read what it can do will seem like a more than fair price.
Alright, so back to why we're here. When Elon Musk first revealed that there was something else coming during this event, we speculated that it couldn't have been anything else than the pickup. We said the Model Y and the Roadster II would be too important as a simple add-on, and while we still believe that, we sure are glad we were wrong.
It turns out Musk did touch on the pickup subject, but only briefly. As he suggested in reply to a Twitter message, the Tesla Pickup is actually a mini-Semi. Or, as Musk put it in yesterday's presentation, "a pickup truck that can carry a pickup truck." The pictures show what he meant, and while it's definitely not what everyone was expecting, it sure looks interesting.
The Palo Alto company would be crazy not to take advantage of this new vehicle it has created, and turning it into a smaller, unarticulated truck would make sense. Calling it a pickup might be a bit too far, but Musk said you could drive that thing with your regular driver's license. He admitted it was "kind of wrong," but that's the law.
As it stands now, it looks more like an extended-cab monster truck. We're not entirely sure how many seats the Semi's cabin has, but by its size and shape, we'd be surprised if there isn't room for at least three behind the driver. However, Tesla could extend the cabin even further back for more seats. Hell, it could even turn it into a very mean-looking off-road bus if there was a market for such vehicles.
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