Tesla Motors has delivered its first Semi trucks just hours ago, and the company has also published a video of one of its vehicles as it drives 500 miles (ca. 805 km) on a single charge. The video in question is just two minutes long, but it claims to show a fully-loaded Semi that drives the mentioned distance without having to charge.
We are writing about a class-8 semi-truck that was carrying 81,000 pounds (about 36,740 kg) of cargo in its trailer. The trip was done from the company's factory in Fremont, California, to somewhere in San Diego. Elon Musk had previously explained during the reveal event that the vehicle in question accomplished the trip without having to recharge.
According to Google Maps, driving from Tesla's factory in Fremont to San Diego takes between seven hours and 22 minutes to eight hours and eight minutes, depending on the selected route, as well as on traffic.
The route's length varies from an estimated 471 miles to 513 miles (ca. 758 to 825 km), but it all depends on the precise destination in San Diego, as well, which was not mentioned by the American marque, but let us stick with 500 miles for good measure.
If you watch the video below, you will observe a rather uneventful drive, from what we can discern, and it involves the same driver for the entire route. The video does not feature the audio that was recorded while the trip as being done, but it comes with a soundtrack instead.
What can be observed is that the two screens that sit to the left and the right of the driver are showing images from the side-view mirrors to counter potential blind spots, as well as what appears to be a generous array of information that may or may not be useful during the drive.
Since the video is sped up to such a certain degree that it shows an eight-hour drive in under two minutes, complete with closing the doors of the trailer, walking alongside it, and getting inside the Tesla Semi, it is difficult to judge if the screens are too bright, and it is nearly impossible to distinguish details shown on those screens.
If we were doing the drive, we would have placed a lock on the trailer's door mechanism, or at least a seal, just to be sure that nobody could enter it when the Semi is stopped.
We cannot wait to learn more about what this is like to drive, but that information should come from someone who is not hired by Tesla, so we will have to wait a bit more for that.
Since the Semi was about three years late, a couple of months of extra waiting for independent feedback should be a reasonable wait.
Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland. Full profile
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