Photo: Tesla Motors
Part of what makes getting up every morning a little more interesting is to see what has Elon Musk come up with while you were sleeping.
We are, of course, joking, but after the deals with the vertical take-off and landing reusable space rocket, Hyperloop, and now that mole copycat thing, you really do get the feeling that you can never know what the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX is up to next.
With those in mind, the prospect of an electric semi truck seems absolutely mundane, but if it were to come true, it would be anything but. Being the first of its kind, the so-called Tesla Semi would sail into uncharted waters, but if previous experiences with Tesla vehicles are any indication, it would definitely do it at great speed.
We got our first taste of the battery-powered Semi last week when a teaser image was released. All we can say based on that picture is that it will be reasonably streamlined and it will have headlights, but not much else.
The really important bit, however, is that it shows the design process has gone pretty far, making the planned September unveil a very likely possibility. In fact, Musk even said that there is a working prototype and that he has test driven it around a car park and it felt "like a sports car."
The secret behind the speed with which the Tesla Semi was developed is called sharing parts with other models. Given the limited resemblances between the truck and any of the three existing Tesla vehicles (including the Model 3 which will predate it), you wouldn't expect there to be much these four could share. It's like two brothers who are 4- and 14-years-old wanting to use the same wardrobe.
And yet, according to Electrek, Musk has revealed that the Semi is using "a bunch" of Model 3 electric motors to spin its wheels. Furthermore, JB Straubel, the Tesla CTO, casually said designing the Semi wasn't exactly a complicated process from a technical point of view, even though you would expect it to be for a company that's new to this type of vehicles.
As novel as the fact it uses Model 3 motors might be, the real question surrounding the Semi is linked to its battery pack. A semi truck this size needs to be able to cover long distances, something electric vehicles aren't exactly known for. But Elon Musk seems confident the Semi will win freight companies over with its low cost per mile, so if he's not worrying, neither should we.
With those in mind, the prospect of an electric semi truck seems absolutely mundane, but if it were to come true, it would be anything but. Being the first of its kind, the so-called Tesla Semi would sail into uncharted waters, but if previous experiences with Tesla vehicles are any indication, it would definitely do it at great speed.
We got our first taste of the battery-powered Semi last week when a teaser image was released. All we can say based on that picture is that it will be reasonably streamlined and it will have headlights, but not much else.
The really important bit, however, is that it shows the design process has gone pretty far, making the planned September unveil a very likely possibility. In fact, Musk even said that there is a working prototype and that he has test driven it around a car park and it felt "like a sports car."
The secret behind the speed with which the Tesla Semi was developed is called sharing parts with other models. Given the limited resemblances between the truck and any of the three existing Tesla vehicles (including the Model 3 which will predate it), you wouldn't expect there to be much these four could share. It's like two brothers who are 4- and 14-years-old wanting to use the same wardrobe.
And yet, according to Electrek, Musk has revealed that the Semi is using "a bunch" of Model 3 electric motors to spin its wheels. Furthermore, JB Straubel, the Tesla CTO, casually said designing the Semi wasn't exactly a complicated process from a technical point of view, even though you would expect it to be for a company that's new to this type of vehicles.
As novel as the fact it uses Model 3 motors might be, the real question surrounding the Semi is linked to its battery pack. A semi truck this size needs to be able to cover long distances, something electric vehicles aren't exactly known for. But Elon Musk seems confident the Semi will win freight companies over with its low cost per mile, so if he's not worrying, neither should we.
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