GasGas:
Her’s the launch, if anyone is interested:ttnews.com/articles/tesla-el … semi-truck
No one seems to know what the payload is.
And Tesla’s expensive, over-fussy engineering is the last thing most truck operators want: remember how nervous they were of Euro 6?
I am not a fan, but I don’t like many concept cars! I have to ask, how do I get me ARSE into that seat?
I struggle to see how this is ‘the future’
I reckon it’ll go somewhere along the lines of how the extra long (can’t remember exact size - 53ft?)
artic trailers have. Big companies like Royal Mail/Asda have a few for trunking runs(or specific runs) and that’s it.
What about all the ‘subbies’? They make up a fairly big percentage of hauliers and there’s no danger someone with a few trucks is going to be able to afford one of these. So just get a job with a smaller firm once DHL etc have went ‘full autonomous’ 
muckles:
Yep I think the lack of details, such as price of the vehicle, payload, how the running costs were priced up and then the launch of the sportscar (which did have more details) conveniently diverted attention from the truck might mean this was far more about showmanship than actual substance.And as Switchlogic commented on his facebook page Commercial Motor were refused entry to the launch, despite offering to pay all costs involved and none of the google searches I’ve done seem to include anything from an American trucking magazine.
There are other, more mainstream, truck companies working on electric trucks, but they’re making, what seems, far more realistic claims than Tesla, so maybe it was an attempt to get in there first and say we can make something better than the mainstream truck companies.
Will this be another TSR2 ?
All that can be achieved within present knowledge? Not achieving it`s targets, but providing valuable lessons on how to get there soon? It may not be the answer in itself, but could be a forward step?
GasGas:
lancpudn:
Those “Megachargers” Tesla are installing in the USA will be run on Solar power, Elon Musk states they will not draw from the electricity grid and Tesla owners will pay the cheapest rates for recharging.
The drivetrain (4 electric motors) on that Tesla Semi are warranted for 1 million miles guaranteed.Refuel at night■■?
I should imagine Tesla battery battery storage units by the side of these Megachargers which will have been charged up through the day for night recharging !!!
I’ve just come across a picture of the charging port on these Tesla semi trucks.
I thought they wolud have gone for something like the Proterra electric bus charging system, It’s huge & can handle the voltages needed to charge these packs up quickly.
They seem to be selling well with Walmart (15) pre-ordered. JB Hunt multiple orders, Meijer Michigan-based grocery chain (4)
“And Tesla’s expensive, over-fussy engineering is the last thing most truck operators want: remember how nervous they were of Euro 6?”
As I said nobody likes change.
“I reckon it’ll go somewhere along the lines of how the extra long (can’t remember exact size - 53ft?
artic trailers have. Big companies like Royal Mail/Asda have a few for trunking runs(or specific runs) and that’s it.”
Its all about the enviroment
“What about all the ‘subbies’? They make up a fairly big percentage of hauliers and there’s no danger someone with a few trucks is going to be able to afford one of these. So just get a job with a smaller firm once DHL etc have went 'full autonomous.”
Subbies days are numbered anyway. As you say affordability is one thing and I can’t see subbies happy in convoys either as that takes all the independence out of the work.
YARDDOG:
"Subbies days are numbered anyway. As you say affordability is one thing and I can’t see subbies happy in convoys either as that takes all the independence out of the work.
There’ll always be a place for subbies, thats one thing that’ll be here to stay…
Would love to know how Tesla would cope with flat batteries somewhere remote like the Vosges mountains (St marie aux mines) for example. Send out another truck with a diesel gen set maybe??
AndrewG:
Would love to know how Tesla would cope with flat batteries somewhere remote like the Vosges mountains (St marie aux mines) for example. Send out another truck with a diesel gen set maybe??
The same way Volvo would treat a driver who runs out of diesel?
How would you treat a driver of your`s (apart from your good lady wife) who ran out of “go” in a remote place?
Franglais:
AndrewG:
Would love to know how Tesla would cope with flat batteries somewhere remote like the Vosges mountains (St marie aux mines) for example. Send out another truck with a diesel gen set maybe??The same way Volvo would treat a driver who runs out of diesel?
How would you treat a driver of your`s (apart from your good lady wife) who ran out of “go” in a remote place?
It wouldnt happen but…20 litres of diesel in the jerry can. With electric propulsion its either a charge set or battery change which would take far longer.
BTW- shes volunteered for malaga to calais next week, another week off… 
lancpudn:
GasGas:
lancpudn:
Those “Megachargers” Tesla are installing in the USA will be run on Solar power, Elon Musk states they will not draw from the electricity grid and Tesla owners will pay the cheapest rates for recharging.
The drivetrain (4 electric motors) on that Tesla Semi are warranted for 1 million miles guaranteed.Refuel at night■■?
I should imagine Tesla battery battery storage units by the side of these Megachargers which will have been charged up through the day for night recharging !!!
I’ve just come across a picture of the charging port on these Tesla semi trucks.
I thought they wolud have gone for something like the Proterra electric bus charging system, It’s huge & can handle the voltages needed to charge these packs up quickly.
They seem to be selling well with Walmart (15) pre-ordered. JB Hunt multiple orders, Meijer Michigan-based grocery chain (4)
An ‘order’ entails putting down $5k.
Think how many companies ‘ordered’ the last great electric world-beater the Modec/Navistar electric truck.
(After it failed in the UK, Navistar trousered a load of US Government cash to ‘develop’ it in the USA)
Companies order loads of electric vehicles, take delivery of 1, use it in a corporate video to show how trendy they are, then park it.
IMHO, electric trucks will come, eventually, into the urban delivery market when some cities go zero-emissions…Fuso has one already. I would think that the batteries for a long-haul heavy-duty truck are going to make the upfront cost unattainable and absorb most of the potential payload.
The Tesla business model appears to be to continually launch new products to boost the shares price. They are already struggling to get their ‘affordable’ (not to me it’s not) car to market, and have loads of quality control and labour relations issues.
If electric long-haul trucks are a practical possibility, I suspect they will come first in China…battery buses are no longer unusual in China.
AndrewG:
Would love to know how Tesla would cope with flat batteries somewhere remote like the Vosges mountains (St marie aux mines) for example. Send out another truck with a diesel gen set maybe??
You can put up hypothetical barriers to its use till the cows come home but it won’t change the fact its happening. Go on Google Maps and search for Tesla Superchargers, that they installed for their cars. You’ll be surprised how many there are. Won’t be any different for the Megacharger. Just like diesel it’ll have to be managed, you wouldn’t drive into a remote mountainous region with empty tanks so why would you with a low battery?
AndrewG:
Franglais:
AndrewG:
Would love to know how Tesla would cope with flat batteries somewhere remote like the Vosges mountains (St marie aux mines) for example. Send out another truck with a diesel gen set maybe??The same way Volvo would treat a driver who runs out of diesel?
How would you treat a driver of your`s (apart from your good lady wife) who ran out of “go” in a remote place?It wouldnt happen but…20 litres of diesel in the jerry can. With electric propulsion its either a charge set or battery change which would take far longer.
BTW- shes volunteered for malaga to calais next week, another week off…
What about a breakdown truck with a super booster pack, maybe a 5 or 10 minute charge and it would be enough to get you moving again with enough charge to get to a proper charger, pretty much the same as sticking 20 litres of diesel in.
YARDDOG:
“I reckon it’ll go somewhere along the lines of how the extra long (can’t remember exact size - 53ft?
artic trailers have. Big companies like Royal Mail/Asda have a few for trunking runs(or specific runs) and that’s it.”Its all about the enviroment
No it’s about cooperate image and running costs.
YARDDOG:
“What about all the ‘subbies’? They make up a fairly big percentage of hauliers and there’s no danger someone with a few trucks is going to be able to afford one of these. So just get a job with a smaller firm once DHL etc have went 'full autonomous.”
Subbies days are numbered anyway. As you say affordability is one thing
As the technology improves and the costs come down it’s will become into the range of the smaller operators and owner drivers.
YARDDOG:
and I can’t see subbies happy in convoys either as that takes all the independence out of the work.
I don’t think you understand how platooning is supposed to work, it’s not for x number of truck from one fleet to follow each other, but for individual trucks to join and leave various platoons as the find them on route.
switchlogic:
AndrewG:
Would love to know how Tesla would cope with flat batteries somewhere remote like the Vosges mountains (St marie aux mines) for example. Send out another truck with a diesel gen set maybe??You can put up hypothetical barriers to its use till the cows come home but it won’t change the fact its happening. Go on Google Maps and search for Tesla Superchargers, that they installed for their cars. You’ll be surprised how many there are. Won’t be any different for the Megacharger. Just like diesel it’ll have to be managed, you wouldn’t drive into a remote mountainous region with empty tanks so why would you with a low battery?
It was a hypothetical example of running out of fuel versus running the batteries flat but you missed that .
Driving in Europe i know exactly how many Tesla chargers there are. It may be happening and you very obviously are all for it and short distance/local work there may be a market for it but with massive battery weight for long haul heavy weight trucks it’ll never happen…‘till the cows come home’. Long haul you could actually add hours onto a journey time, i can do 3000km without refuelling, Thats around another 4hrs charging time possibly going into another days driving or…possibly going into another week if running hrs to the max.
GasGas:
lancpudn:
GasGas:
lancpudn:
Those “Megachargers” Tesla are installing in the USA will be run on Solar power, Elon Musk states they will not draw from the electricity grid and Tesla owners will pay the cheapest rates for recharging.
The drivetrain (4 electric motors) on that Tesla Semi are warranted for 1 million miles guaranteed.Refuel at night■■?
I should imagine Tesla battery battery storage units by the side of these Megachargers which will have been charged up through the day for night recharging !!!
I’ve just come across a picture of the charging port on these Tesla semi trucks.
I thought they wolud have gone for something like the Proterra electric bus charging system, It’s huge & can handle the voltages needed to charge these packs up quickly.
They seem to be selling well with Walmart (15) pre-ordered. JB Hunt multiple orders, Meijer Michigan-based grocery chain (4)
An ‘order’ entails putting down $5k.
Deposits for 15 trucks from a company with over 6500 in the US alone is hardly a ringing endorsement, the money they’ve spent on deposits has probably been made back in the PR they’ve got for ordering them.
GasGas:
IMHO, electric trucks will come, eventually, into the urban delivery market when some cities go zero-emissions…Fuso has one already. I would think that the batteries for a long-haul heavy-duty truck are going to make the upfront cost unattainable and absorb most of the potential payload.
More like this you mean,
https://www.daimler.com/products/trucks/mercedes-benz/mercedes-benz-electric-truck.html
Seems a far more realistic proposition and no doubt as the technology moves on the range will improve and the price and weight will drop.
GasGas:
The Tesla business model appears to be to continually launch new products to boost the shares price. They are already struggling to get their ‘affordable’ (not to me it’s not) car to market, and have loads of quality control and labour relations issues.
Tesla good publicists, but Renault/Nissan sell far more electric vehicles.
AndrewG:
switchlogic:
AndrewG:
Would love to know how Tesla would cope with flat batteries somewhere remote like the Vosges mountains (St marie aux mines) for example. Send out another truck with a diesel gen set maybe??You can put up hypothetical barriers to its use till the cows come home but it won’t change the fact its happening. Go on Google Maps and search for Tesla Superchargers, that they installed for their cars. You’ll be surprised how many there are. Won’t be any different for the Megacharger. Just like diesel it’ll have to be managed, you wouldn’t drive into a remote mountainous region with empty tanks so why would you with a low battery?
It was a hypothetical example of running out of fuel versus running the batteries flat but you missed that .
Driving in Europe i know exactly how many Tesla chargers there are. It may be happening and you very obviously are all for it and short distance/local work there may be a market for it but with massive battery weight for long haul heavy weight trucks it’ll never happen…‘till the cows come home’. Long haul you could actually add hours onto a journey time, i can do 3000km without refuelling, Thats around another 4hrs charging time possibly going into another days driving or…possibly going into another week if running hrs to the max.
But you can’t do 3000kms in a day, so you have to stop somewhere either for daily rest or for a break or while your truck is being loaded and unloaded, it quite likely with the correct infrastructure in place at one of these points you’ll be able to recharge your truck each day without adding time to your day.
AndrewG:
switchlogic:
AndrewG:
Would love to know how Tesla would cope with flat batteries somewhere remote like the Vosges mountains (St marie aux mines) for example. Send out another truck with a diesel gen set maybe??You can put up hypothetical barriers to its use till the cows come home but it won’t change the fact its happening. Go on Google Maps and search for Tesla Superchargers, that they installed for their cars. You’ll be surprised how many there are. Won’t be any different for the Megacharger. Just like diesel it’ll have to be managed, you wouldn’t drive into a remote mountainous region with empty tanks so why would you with a low battery?
It was a hypothetical example of running out of fuel versus running the batteries flat but you missed that .
Driving in Europe i know exactly how many Tesla chargers there are. It may be happening and you very obviously are all for it and short distance/local work there may be a market for it but with massive battery weight for long haul heavy weight trucks it’ll never happen…‘till the cows come home’. Long haul you could actually add hours onto a journey time, i can do 3000km without refuelling, Thats around another 4hrs charging time possibly going into another days driving or…possibly going into another week if running hrs to the max.
Your problem is you see the work you do and nothing else. I’ll say again the vast vast majority of trucks never leave their home country let alone run across Europe. I’d even wager that the sizable number of trucks never even get slept in in UK. Long haul is a very small and shrinking part of the transport industry. Neither of the trucks launched are even sleepers so I’m not sure why you think they are aimed at the long haul market. I’m neither for or against it, I just think people writing them off with silly hypothetical scenarios that the trucks will never be in and weren’t designed for is a bit daft. As for ‘never happen’…look how far we have come in 50 to 100 years, saying it’ll never happen looks a bit daft when you consider history 
You’ve been in Spain too long, you completely misused ‘till the cows come home’
muckles:
AndrewG:
It was a hypothetical example of running out of fuel versus running the batteries flat but you missed that .
Driving in Europe i know exactly how many Tesla chargers there are. It may be happening and you very obviously are all for it and short distance/local work there may be a market for it but with massive battery weight for long haul heavy weight trucks it’ll never happen…‘till the cows come home’. Long haul you could actually add hours onto a journey time, i can do 3000km without refuelling, Thats around another 4hrs charging time possibly going into another days driving or…possibly going into another week if running hrs to the max.But you can’t do 3000kms in a day, so you have to stop somewhere either for daily rest or for a break or while your truck is being loaded and unloaded, it quite likely with the correct infrastructure in place at one of these points you’ll be able to recharge your truck each day without adding time to your day.
He clearly does 3,000km in one hit without stopping…
So, on the subject of electric trucks, if I may draw your attention to another subject I am passionate about, dirtbikes.
These are available right now.
dirtrider.com/2017-ktm-free … impression
In short, they are not powerful enough,expensive, heavy and don’t have enough range.
I am not suggesting they will not get better, human nature demands improvement but right now.
It’s not a thing.
switchlogic:
muckles:
AndrewG:
It was a hypothetical example of running out of fuel versus running the batteries flat but you missed that .
Driving in Europe i know exactly how many Tesla chargers there are. It may be happening and you very obviously are all for it and short distance/local work there may be a market for it but with massive battery weight for long haul heavy weight trucks it’ll never happen…‘till the cows come home’. Long haul you could actually add hours onto a journey time, i can do 3000km without refuelling, Thats around another 4hrs charging time possibly going into another days driving or…possibly going into another week if running hrs to the max.But you can’t do 3000kms in a day, so you have to stop somewhere either for daily rest or for a break or while your truck is being loaded and unloaded, it quite likely with the correct infrastructure in place at one of these points you’ll be able to recharge your truck each day without adding time to your day.
He clearly does 3,000km in one hit without stopping…
Youve missed my point again Of course i have to stop, but for breaks only! I dont have to recharge/ refuel which is very obviously something thats going to crop up many times with electric. As for the infrastructure, which RDC’s for instance do you actually know that has the drivers welfare/ his haulage company close to their heart? Do you honestly believe these RDC’s and various other tipping points are going to allow truck charging on their premises while they wait/tip?? Of course not, they want the goods and for the driver to get out of their yard as soon as.
As for long haul, company i sub for is expanding and Norway will soon be on the list, beats me where you get this idea that trucks will only go as far as their own border?? Maybe on the relative little island that is the UK but certainly not the rest of Europe. Long haul across the continent is still a massive industry and its not shrinking anytime soon.
I have the feeling you have the impression im a sort of tech dinosaur, far from it. My Villa is virtually self powered, 26 solar roof panels and another 36 ground floor panels in its own compound charge big capacity li ion batteries that power everything from the blinds/ garage door/ car turntable/ LED lighting plus heat all the hot water you’ll ever need. Most of the time everythings up to capacity and its throwing it back into the grid. Everythings energy A+++ rated and as green as is possible with the current technology, im all for saving the planet/whale and for ever else needs rescuing but my own view on electric trucks isnt a positive one thats all…
Oh… nearly forgot…