What’s Been Reported So Far on Tesla’s Electric Truck
Tesla has been developing an electric semitruck for two years now, the details of which are still largely under wraps.
On Thursday night, the company will unveil a prototype, which CEO and big-rig hype man Elon Musk has been eagerly teasing on his Twitter feed.
Tesla Semi Truck unveil to be webcast live on Thursday at 8pm! This will blow your mind clear out of your skull and into an alternate dimension. Just need to find my portal gun ...
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 12, 2017
So what’s so mind-boggling about this new vehicle that merits the hyperbolic Rick and Morty reference? In advance of the main event, let’s take stock of what’s been reported so far.
Tesla’s newest vehicle looks to be a Class 8 semi, which has the highest weight limit among heavy-duty commercial trucks. According Musk’s remarks during a sales call in May, the torque for this goliath will come from “a bunch” of Model 3 motors that will sit in line with the wheels’ axles. The Model 3, Tesla’s attempt at mass producing an affordable electric sedan, has of late been beset with production snafus and delays in fulfilling orders. According to Bloomberg, this trucking venture could exacerbate issues with the Model 3, though sharing similar components could also lower the production prices for both vehicles in the long run. Musk may have been hinting at this when he said trucks are “just a very compelling product that has a low unit cost” for Tesla.
The distance that the truck will be able to travel is obviously a crucial spec if the company wants to break into the market for shipping vehicles. Tesla’s smaller and more aerodynamic cars, as Wired notes, can run for around 315 miles at most on a single charge.
Yet Reuters reported in August that Tesla’s goal was for the truck to run for 200 to 300 miles. Ever the showman, Musk then tweeted in October, “Semi specs are better than anything I've seen reported so far.” He’ll hopefully explain during the unveiling how Tesla plans to maintain this sort of endurance with something as big and blocky as a truck. (The Nikola Motor Co. unveiled the Nikola One electric semi in 2016, which promises a running distance of 1,200 miles through the use of a hydrogen fuel cell generator. Toyota has also been working on a hydrogen-fueled electric semi that can run for 200 miles.)
Another mystery that’s been swirling around Thursday’s event is whether Musk will reveal any autonomous driving technology for the truck. Reuters reported in August that Tesla had been conferring with the departments of motor vehicles for California and Nevada concerning test runs for a self-driving prototype to travel across the border between the two states.
And what will this possibly-autonomous, high-endurance, mind-blowing electric truck look like?
Musk on Wednesday released a darkened image of the truck reminiscent of a movie poster at Comic Con:
It can transform into a robot, fight aliens and make one hell of a latte pic.twitter.com/8h9vvWu4f5
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 15, 2017
Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University.