The concept of electric trucks is far from new. These GMCs date from 1914. In those years Whitbread had a fleet of GN electric powered lorries for deliveries in London.
That strange looking Bird, Caroline Lucas, leader of the green party was on Tele this morning and she said she had no problem with electric vehicles just as long as the power for re-charge was from sustainable resources ! Great ! Cheers Bewick.
Bewick:
That strange looking Bird, Caroline Lucas, leader of the green party was on Tele this morning and she said she had no problem with electric vehicles just as long as the power for re-charge was from sustainable resources ! Great ! Cheers Bewick.
She means like a Chinese nuclear power station. 
She’ll also have no problem with a Hydrogen fuelled N14 either in that case nor leaving the EU so I can start importing them.Although Sturgeon and British airways won’t like it when we cap the North Sea oil fields beyond use. 
Launch Video on Facebook: Woah, Tesla unveiled the new Semi! | Check out the new Tesla semi.. I'm not even a trucker, and if half of this is possible then it's incredible! | By Street FX Motorsport & Graphics | Facebook
Bewick:
That strange looking Bird, Caroline Lucas, leader of the green party was on Tele this morning and she said she had no problem with electric vehicles just as long as the power for re-charge was from sustainable resources ! Great ! Cheers Bewick.
It amazes me how some of these politicians manage to dress themselves when they get up in a morning, they are so out of touch with how the real world functions.
I dont think they can gingerfold. I think they have people to do it for them.
But here’s a thought that seems to have passed our ‘leaders’ by. Its all very well and good to say that we must all have electric cars but how shall we charge them? Never mind renewable energy but most people in this Country, not readers of this forum of course, live in houses with on street parking or in flats. Its going to need a good long extension lead to get them plugged in at night.
And with regard to household electric without VAT anyone who thinks that any Government will not be looking to replace the millions and millions that they currently draw from fuel tax needs to get real. No chance.
All in all its another load of political ■■■■. But fortunately, according to our wonderful Chancellor, there are no unemployed. Thats good then.
David.
Hi all, I have been following Tesla since they first started. In all fairness their products do exactly what they promise.
Their main problem is Elon Musk’s over enthusiastic production dead lines. The model S is currently way behind on delivery dead lines, and now they want to build a roadster and semi truck (artic).
Elon owns 20.5% of a company that I believe is over extending itself. If you look at their employment vacancy page their expectations of growth are spectacular.
A few weeks ago I was doing a live chat with Tesla about the launch of the semi, but failed to get anywhere when asking transport related questions, it was all high tech jargon. If the figures of 20% savings over the current diesel are true all well and good, but no hard figures about purchase price/lease cost or length of contracts etc. Is he just quoting operating costs?
They have to set up a production facility, along with dealerships and support for this truck, so it will be a while before we are all driving them!
Personally, I would not want Wal- Mart or J.B.Hunt to have seed vehicles and they should really control who gets them and put them through their paces before putting them on the market. Do they really understand what is expected of these trucks?, do they understand anything about road transport period.
I would like to see them succeed, but its going to take time.
It reminds me of Modec. They had a great launch in the U.K. had a factory in Coventry and great potential but ran out of cash. They had a bigger presence in the U.K. than here in the States, mainly due to the grants and incentives for electric vehicles.
About 10 years ago I spoke regularly with the main man for Modec here and he just didn’t understand what was expected of the vehicle. Its one thing to design a vehicle or concept, another to build it and another to market it and provide support!
I spoke to him about a week before it was announced with President Obama being present that International Harvester/Navistar were going to buy Modec.
When I saw it on TV I was so disappointed as I new it was a bad choice as was proven when the deal failed to materialise.
The intention was to have access to a production facility, sales and service outlets, he just choose the wrong partner!
Basically, Navistar were just looking for good press after its major problems with their MASS,EGR engine. A total failure.
Ollie Dixon done a number of negative articles on Navistar at that time.
Paul
I certainly share Bewick’s view as on the same day the Government were announcing the end of Diesel & Petrol cars the Electricity generators were saying how they proposed switching off freezers at times of maximum demand to try to cope& that’s before they start electric use in any volume and look at how many years they say it will take to build one new Nuklear power station.
But for everyone’s peace of nind I am certain before they even think of building one extra Power Station I am certain the financial Experts will be working out how to measure the units of electricity to power cars or commercial vehicles so they can apply fuel duty & VAT at the highest rate
Paul John:
Hi all, I have been following Tesla since they first started. In all fairness their products do exactly what they promise.
Their main problem is Elon Musk’s over enthusiastic production dead lines. The model S is currently way behind on delivery dead lines, and now they want to build a roadster and semi truck (artic).
Elon owns 20.5% of a company that I believe is over extending itself. If you look at their employment vacancy page their expectations of growth are spectacular.
A few weeks ago I was doing a live chat with Tesla about the launch of the semi, but failed to get anywhere when asking transport related questions, it was all high tech jargon. If the figures of 20% savings over the current diesel are true all well and good, but no hard figures about purchase price/lease cost or length of contracts etc. Is he just quoting operating costs?
They have to set up a production facility, along with dealerships and support for this truck, so it will be a while before we are all driving them!
Personally, I would not want Wal- Mart or J.B.Hunt to have seed vehicles and they should really control who gets them and put them through their paces before putting them on the market. Do they really understand what is expected of these trucks?, do they understand anything about road transport period.
I would like to see them succeed, but its going to take time.It reminds me of Modec. They had a great launch in the U.K. had a factory in Coventry and great potential but ran out of cash. They had a bigger presence in the U.K. than here in the States, mainly due to the grants and incentives for electric vehicles.
About 10 years ago I spoke regularly with the main man for Modec here and he just didn’t understand what was expected of the vehicle. Its one thing to design a vehicle or concept, another to build it and another to market it and provide support!
I spoke to him about a week before it was announced with President Obama being present that International Harvester/Navistar were going to buy Modec.
When I saw it on TV I was so disappointed as I new it was a bad choice as was proven when the deal failed to materialise.
The intention was to have access to a production facility, sales and service outlets, he just choose the wrong partner!
Basically, Navistar were just looking for good press after its major problems with their MASS,EGR engine. A total failure.
Ollie Dixon done a number of negative articles on Navistar at that time.Paul
hi paul,
I hope your well mate.its interesting to hear your views on this from an american perspective.A good mate of mine works for FORD in bridgend.He told me that he had read in their in house employee FORD newspaper,that FORD had bought TESLA? If thats right? surely,they’d have no shortage of funding and manpower.
regards Andrew.
Hi Andrew. I’m well mate, hope you are too.
Funny enough I read the other day that Ford were looking to extend their presence in the electric vehicle field. They did build good trucks not to long ago.
Here in Florida a lot of their old heavy dealers stayed with them and sell the lighter range of Ford Trucks. It would be cheaper to upgrade them through out e North America than build a dealer/sales/support system from scratch! It would make sense, but no announcement here yet!
Operating Tesla’s car and truck business independently would make sense also!
There is a Tesla dealership here in Orlando, but not to many cars on the road. I was in San Diego back in May and there were far more there. Jaguars and Range Rovers seem to be in fashion here. We parked in a multi-story north of the city and every floor had multiple charging stations. I must admit it was strange to see.
When I get some time, I am hoping to test drive a Tesla as they do have driving events regularly. Everyone talks about the acceleration, foot to the boards lets go.
There are currently no incentives for electric, hy-bred, lpg or cng.
Regards Paul
Hi all. I just realised I probably should of said running costs in my question earlier instead of operating costs.
As they don’t have any vehicles on the road actually working and no purchase price to work with it may well all be pie in the sky figures!
This weeks diesel price at regular stores was $2.79 a U.S. gallon 3.4litres. If my math is correct the equivalent would about 2 pounds 75 pence an imperial gallon, probably half the price payed in the U.K. Bulk rates are obviously cheaper.
On comparison diesel is not expensive here.
It will be interesting to find out the real costs after trials in service.
I thought Dennis may of caught that mistake. and the fact we still have gallons here.
I recently had a discussion with some friends who have a rental home here in Florida, and they tell me the cost of electricity here compared to what they pay in U.K. is a lot more expensive. So there will be a substancial cost to all those battery packs being recharged each day, twice a day if they are running double shifted, or double manned (team).
Time will tell, but its going to be a long and windy road.
Paul
And, correcting my own ‘history lesson’ above, I’ve now found reference to an electric ‘car’ built in 1837 by a Robert Davidson of Aberdeen, powered by galvanic cells (batteries).
As the article goes on to describe the first practical examples of electric vehicles, suggesting that Davidson’s contraption was not practical.
Thomas Parker, who I mentioned above, was responsible for the first production electric vehicle in 1884.
Caffeine:
Most major motor manufacturers are concentrating their research on electric vehicles now. We’re probably approaching the end stage for development of combustion engines for automotive use because of the move to electric vehicles. A bit like it was with steam locomotives in the 1950’s or indeed large piston engines for aviation applications in the same period. Hydrogen combustion engines, which are very similar to petrol engines, have been under development for years. The problem with these is that hydrogen apparently takes as much energy to extract* as you get back when you burn it. So unless you can tap into a source of hydrogen that’s an unwanted by-product of another industrial process, it’s not economic. Anyway, the current thinking with hydrogen is that it’s more economical to use it in a fuel cell that produces electricity, as used on the Nikola 1 semi-truck.
The inefficiency of hydrogen production would probably be compensated for by not having to lug around loads of heavy and crippingly expensive batteries.Nor would the refuelling requirement be tied to the vehicle supplier as in the case of the Tesla with all the implications of that monopoly situation. 
While it’s clear that there’s nothing wrong with alternative fuelled ICE the only issue being the biased bs of the anti ICE lobby and EV fan boys who are all about removing the freedom of choice which sunk their pathetic EV toys from the start.No surprise that Hydrogen fuel cell EV’s are conveniently supposedly more viable than hydrogen fuelled ICE in that regard.When the fact is hydrogen ICE already exists and is proven.Unlike the bs EV project.Also bearing in mind that the proposed ending of petrol and diesel fuelled vehicles doesn’t mean alternatively fuelled ICE powered vehicles.
In either case reliance on expensive and inefficient electricity use being the main downside v directly burnt fossil fuel.Which is why we don’t see the government and the same turkeys voting for Christmas in wanting to rip out gas domestic heating systems to be replaced by electric.Because they know that the end result would be unnaffordable for the end user,let alone with road fuel taxation being applied to those electricity costs.So why the big difference in the case of their transport needs when it’s clear that LPG fuelled ICE is the way to go in being the best all round compromise of supply,eco,affordability and practicality.
The only disadvantages of electric vehicles compared to petrol/diesel/LPG are battery range and initial cost. Battery ranges are improving all the time and costs are coming down. If the Tesla Semi can consistently achieve 500 miles on a charge and show lower running costs than a diesel, a lot of operators will be interested in running one or two alongside their diesels.
In the end it’s all about what works best for transport operators and their customers. Whether or not it goes broom-broom and has gears to play with is neither here nor there in the great scheme of things!
Caffeine:
The only disadvantages of electric vehicles compared to petrol/diesel/LPG are battery range and initial cost. Battery ranges are improving all the time and costs are coming down. If the Tesla Semi can consistently achieve 500 miles on a charge and show lower running costs than a diesel, a lot of operators will be interested in running one or two alongside their diesels.In the end it’s all about what works best for transport operators and their customers. Whether or not it goes broom-broom and has gears to play with is neither here nor there in the great scheme of things!
Surely if they are going to compare operating costs then knowing whether it’s based on an equivalent payload factor,bearing in mind battery weight,would be the first question to answer.As for running costs that again seeming to be based on an apples v oranges comparison of non KERS equipped ICE v regenerative EV.In addition to an unbelievable 2 kwh per mile fuel consumption figure for a max weight truck.Let alone the unarguable fact of around 15p per kwh + road fuel duty price of electricity at the meter.Compared with around 10p per kwh for Diesel including road fuel tax and similar for LPG.Which also explains why no one with any sense will be ripping out their gas domestic heating and replacing it with electric any time soon.
While the end sentence seems to show the real agenda in it being all about a biased irrational dislike of ICE technology regardless of how good it is or how cleanly it can be made to run.Preferring instead the potential of the Chernobyl scenario v LPG fuelled ICE and happily paying ( a lot ) more for the privilege.
Caffeine:
The only disadvantages of electric vehicles compared to petrol/diesel/LPG are battery range and initial cost. Battery ranges are improving all the time and costs are coming down. If the Tesla Semi can consistently achieve 500 miles on a charge and show lower running costs than a diesel, a lot of operators will be interested in running one or two alongside their diesels.In the end it’s all about what works best for transport operators and their customers. Whether or not it goes broom-broom and has gears to play with is neither here nor there in the great scheme of things!
Caffeine, that is true. Looking at the side view of Tesla’s truck it reminds me of a mobile butcher shop my father had in the late 60s.
It was an Austin L2 perhaps, similar to the J4 van square as opposed to the J2 which was rounder. It was coach built with a high roof angled up over the seats pretty high. The door was similar but not a suicide door as shown in the video. It was a single wheeled rear axle and had a cover blended in with the body.
Painted cream and blue with a cows head logo above the windscreen and large pains of glass down the side it was pretty sharp.
Wish I had photo’s.
Paul
How long do these Tesla batteries take to re-charge ?
Does anyone have any idea ?
500 miles (and allowing a margin for safety) isn’t much of a journey out here in Australia.
Mind you, I was very pleased with the Crown electric fork lifts that I used to have in UK but the recharge was around 8 hours. To keep them working I had a spare set of batteries on charge at all times but they were large and very heavy needing another forklift to remove and replace them. Not the sort of thing you can do at a service station when trunking.
OzzyHugh:
How long do these Tesla batteries take to re-charge ?Does anyone have any idea ?
500 miles (and allowing a margin for safety) isn’t much of a journey out here in Australia.
Mind you, I was very pleased with the Crown electric fork lifts that I used to have in UK but the recharge was around 8 hours. To keep them working I had a spare set of batteries on charge at all times but they were large and very heavy needing another forklift to remove and replace them. Not the sort of thing you can do at a service station when trunking.
Hi OzzyHUgh,
Tesla say,that after a 30 minute charge,you then have another 500 miles of battery range.
Regards Andreas.
One estimate I’ve seen for the weight of a 700 kWh battery pack for the Tesla Semi is 10,000 lb. The same source gives the weight of a diesel engine, gearbox and full tank of fuel as about 5000 lb. So from that the Tesla Semi loses 5,000 lb of payload. But an electric vehicle doesn’t have an exhaust system or a large capacity cooling system, which is a bit more weight saved. Although the Tesla Semi doesn’t have differentials, it does have 4 electric motors, so probably no weight saving in that department.
Presumably there will be a shorter range option for the Tesla, with a smaller battery. That could have a similar tare weight to a diesel, even if its range is considerably less.
Having a lower payload capacity might rule the Tesla out from some applications, but in others it might still be cheaper to run per ton/mile than a diesel truck even with slightly less payload.
Pete
Thanks for that information - electric cars seem to take much longer.
Trucks must have a " fast charge " facility available at re-charge stops I suppose.
Still, will my Maserati go all electric ?
Cheers