DC megachargers can add 400 miles of range in 30 minutes.
Khodrocar - With the various teasers and talk surrounding Tesla’s foray into the trucking world, we were expecting something fairly big. When Elon Musk presented the Semi’s performance with the curiously unexplained acronym BAMF at the truck's unveiling in Los Angeles, we were slightly amused. But when he listed the truck’s 0-60 time of five seconds, we were pretty much gobsmacked. Granted that’s running bobtail – which for the non-truckers is out there slang for not pulling a trailer. But still, that’s faster than an Alfa Romeo Giuila for crying out loud, never mind every other diesel truck on the road.
That’s neat enough, but how does it get along when saddled with a loaded trailer? Tesla says the Semi will reach the same mark pulling an 80,000-pound trailer in 20 seconds, which is an absolutely phenomenal number for that kind of mass. More importantly for the trucking industry, however, is that the Semi can climb a 5 percent grade – the kind you might find on a fairly steep hill – at a constant 65 mph. Anyone who’s driven a semi through the mountains, or been stuck behind one trying to make the grade will seriously appreciate this.
It gets better. The Semi is said to have a range of 500 miles operating at GVW and highway speeds, which is generally further than a diesel-powered rig can go on a single tank. That’s aided by efficient aerodynamic designs for the rig, including a flat bottom and side flaps to all but close off the gap between truck and trailer. All combined, Tesla says its Semi has a drag coefficient better than that of the the Bugatti Chiron.
Of course, the big issue is recharge time, but Tesla has a high-speed DC megacharger that can fill the batteries back up to a 400-mile range in 30 minutes. With a network of megachargers installed at truck stops and other locations, suddenly the prospect of long-distance all-electric trucking seems very close indeed.
On the driver side of the equation, Tesla gives the Semi a central seating position, with a pair of touch screens flanking the steering wheel. Cameras all over the truck help monitor blind spots, and of course it comes with a suite of driver safety and assist systems. For long-hauling in a convoy, the truck can engage an autonomous mode to follow the lead rig.
As far as price, Tesla makes no mention of total cost but does claim owners can realize a $200,000 savings in fuel over the course of a million miles. That sounds like a ton of driving to mere mortals, but racking up that kind of mileage is par for the course in the trucking world.
Tesla says the Semi will enter production in 2019 and is already taking reservations at $5,000 per truck. If this goes forward as-advertised, we aren’t shy in saying this machine could be a bona-fide game changer in the automotive world – trucking or otherwise.
Source: Tesla
Latest News
