Photo: Tesla
Tesla has revealed very little information about its electric Class-8 truck, but secrets cannot be kept for long. A closer look at the Tesla Semi trucks in Frito-Lay’s yard revealed that an FSD computer is present onboard, although it is not active yet.
Tesla took a long time before finally delivering the first Semis to its launch customer, PepsiCo. The food giant ordered 100 electric trucks from Tesla and has received 36 so far, with 15 of them assigned to the Frito-Lay plant in Modesto, California. The plant operator has been very open about the electric trucks and even organized an open-day event to show them off to the public. No wonder our colleagues at Motortrend did the first in-depth review of the truck at the same facility.
After talking to Frito-Lay representatives, truck drivers, and Tesla representatives, they found out many things Tesla has kept under wraps officially. We already know from previous leaks that the tri-motor configuration on the Semi has some interesting technical details. Now, a Tesla representative confirmed and offered even more information. The Tesla Semi has roughly “three times the power of a diesel semi,” which points to around 1,000 horsepower.
The Semi uses a modified Model S Plaid drivetrain to drive the two rear axles, with the Model S’s front motor driving the rearmost one and the other two mounted on the middle axle. As previously revealed, the rearmost motor acts as a highway drive unit, driving the Semi once at speed after decoupling the two traction motors on the middle axle. Although it sounds similar, don’t forget that the Semi uses a 1,000-volt electrical system versus the 400-volt of the Model S.
This is one reason why the batteries on the Semi are nothing like the ones in the Model S, although Motortrend assumes they are. We know that Tesla uses a modular battery, with each module acting independently. This means each module outputs 1,000 volts, and they are all connected in parallel. Nine modules are installed on the 500-mile (805-km) version of the truck, but Tesla can be flexible with the layout. It would probably only use six modules on the 300-mile (483-km) version.
The most impressive thing about the Tesla Semi is, no doubt, its charging cable. The truck uses a unique plug incompatible with any other Tesla model. The huge plug allows a 750-kW charge power, which we found is enough to charge the Semi from near zero to 70% in half an hour for around 400 miles (644 km) of range. A full charge takes 90 minutes.
The Motortrend crew couldn’t drive the truck, but had access to the driving post and used this opportunity to sift through the truck’s menus. This revealed an interesting detail: The Semi features a Full Self-Driving computer. More than that, it runs V11 software, which is quite intriguing considering that this FSD version is still yet to deploy to the larger Tesla fleet. Nevertheless, the Semi doesn’t have an Autopilot section in settings, which means the FSD software has not been activated yet.
Based on the high-quality images from the external cameras displayed on the cabin screens, we believe the Semi features the HW sensor suite. This makes sense, considering the Cybertruck would also feature the improved sensors. Another interesting take is that the Semi doesn’t have an Auto setting for wipers. Considering how badly this works on other Tesla cars, maybe this is for the better.
After talking to Frito-Lay representatives, truck drivers, and Tesla representatives, they found out many things Tesla has kept under wraps officially. We already know from previous leaks that the tri-motor configuration on the Semi has some interesting technical details. Now, a Tesla representative confirmed and offered even more information. The Tesla Semi has roughly “three times the power of a diesel semi,” which points to around 1,000 horsepower.
The Semi uses a modified Model S Plaid drivetrain to drive the two rear axles, with the Model S’s front motor driving the rearmost one and the other two mounted on the middle axle. As previously revealed, the rearmost motor acts as a highway drive unit, driving the Semi once at speed after decoupling the two traction motors on the middle axle. Although it sounds similar, don’t forget that the Semi uses a 1,000-volt electrical system versus the 400-volt of the Model S.
This is one reason why the batteries on the Semi are nothing like the ones in the Model S, although Motortrend assumes they are. We know that Tesla uses a modular battery, with each module acting independently. This means each module outputs 1,000 volts, and they are all connected in parallel. Nine modules are installed on the 500-mile (805-km) version of the truck, but Tesla can be flexible with the layout. It would probably only use six modules on the 300-mile (483-km) version.
The most impressive thing about the Tesla Semi is, no doubt, its charging cable. The truck uses a unique plug incompatible with any other Tesla model. The huge plug allows a 750-kW charge power, which we found is enough to charge the Semi from near zero to 70% in half an hour for around 400 miles (644 km) of range. A full charge takes 90 minutes.
The Motortrend crew couldn’t drive the truck, but had access to the driving post and used this opportunity to sift through the truck’s menus. This revealed an interesting detail: The Semi features a Full Self-Driving computer. More than that, it runs V11 software, which is quite intriguing considering that this FSD version is still yet to deploy to the larger Tesla fleet. Nevertheless, the Semi doesn’t have an Autopilot section in settings, which means the FSD software has not been activated yet.
Based on the high-quality images from the external cameras displayed on the cabin screens, we believe the Semi features the HW sensor suite. This makes sense, considering the Cybertruck would also feature the improved sensors. Another interesting take is that the Semi doesn’t have an Auto setting for wipers. Considering how badly this works on other Tesla cars, maybe this is for the better.
Good question. Here are some photos from Motortrend showing the interior camera, the exterior cameras on the mirrors and the screen saying full self-driving computer. However, there is no autopilot section in settings so it may not be activated yet. https://t.co/OZcyrpbFFP pic.twitter.com/fkKYBg9xbZ
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) January 26, 2023
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