Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/835233
20 commercial carrier journal | june 2017 surprisingly, you probably can expect some aggressive aerodynamic lines on the real-world model. • It's not street-legal, because it doesn't have mirrors. About 20 minutes into the TED talk, host Chris Anderson noted the rendering doesn't look like a "little friendly neighborhood truck. It looks kind of badass." Other than dropping a few keywords such as "heavy-duty" and "long range" and noting the truck would be one that drivers would want to drive, Musk was de- tail-light on the Tesla Semi. "It's meant to alleviate the heavy-duty trucking loads," he said. "is is something which people do not today think is possible. ey think the truck doesn't have enough power or it doesn't have enough range. With the Tesla Semi, we want to show than an electric truck actually can out-torque any diesel semi." Musk previously disclosed the Tesla Semi would share "a lot" of common parts with the Tesla Model 3 sedan, including its motors. Now, let's circle back to one of Musk's key terms: long range. Tesla anticipates the Model 3 will deliver an all-electric range of at least 215 miles. at's not exactly long. Recharge estimates for the Model 3 aren't available yet, but according to Tesla's website, a Model S that has been driven 300 miles needs eight hours and 42 minutes E lectricity is a sexy idea in trucking, and you can blame that on Elon Musk, a guy who aims to send normal people into space just for fun. In April, the serial entrepreneur tweeted that his engineering team "has done an amazing job" on the devel- opment of the Tesla Semi, which he called "seriously next level" and teased a September 2017 debut. Last month, the Tesla Semi was thrust back into the spotlight when Musk showed the first rendering of the tractor during a talk at the 2017 TED Confer- ence in Vancouver. e rendering is somewhat indis- criminate. ose are definitely LED lights I see in the tweeted photo. Other than that, the artwork doesn't provide much more than a tease, but we can deconstruct a few things: • e high roof appears to be trail- er-height, and there is probably a solar panel in it. • e windshield looks to wrap around the front of the truck. Not PRODUCT REVIEWS, OEM & SUPPLIER NEWS AND EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT TRENDS BY JASON CANNON TESLA SEMI: Elon Musk called it "seriously next level" and teased a September 2017 debut. BATTERY-EXCLUSIVE: The level of power needed for a viable electric Class 8 is unprecedented. GOING THE DISTANCE?: The use of a range extender is almost a certainty on the Tesla Semi. Electric company Is the Tesla Semi a game-changer? Tesla boss Elon Musk tweeted this rendering of the company's in-the-works Class 8 tractor.