[Oldsmobile stopped]

Elon Musk has confirmed that Tesla Semi has completed its first 500-mile trip with a full load – quite a feat for a battery-electric truck.

Tesla Semi is an all-electric class 8 commercial truck that Tesla first unveiled in 2017, and it was supposed to be in production in 2019. However, it was delayed several times.
At the time, it was quite revolutionary to have a purely battery-powered truck with a full 80,000-lb. class 8 capacity capable of traveling between 300 and 500 miles, depending on the model.
Since then, several other companies have managed to beat Tesla to market with class 8 electric semi-trucks, such as Volvo, Freightliner, and Nikola, but they have only managed to come close to the lower end of the range.

Now Tesla is finally bringing its electric truck to market with deliveries expected to start this week, and it’s a 500-mile version of the electric truck.

Last night, Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed that a Tesla Semi has now completed a 500-mile trip with a full load:

It seems a bit last minute to complete the first 500-mile drive, considering Tesla is expected to deliver production versions of the truck to customers this week. But Tesla has presumably previously completed many shorter trips that confirmed the full range could reach 500 miles on a single charge.
Five hundred miles with a full load between charges is the sweet spot for a commercial long-haul semi-truck, because after about eight hours of driving, a break for the driver is mandatory.

With that capacity and a much lower cost of operation per mile than diesel trucks, Tesla Semi is expected to have a major impact on the trucking industry.
Tesla is going to hold an event for the first Tesla Semi deliveries on Thursday, December 1.

Electrek’s Take
I am really excited about this. If the price point is good, which could be confirmed at the event this week, it could truly be a game changer.
The 500-mile range on a full charge is going to be good to convince people that battery-electric trucks can take over the whole class-8 market. However, I think the best use cases at first are going to be for companies, like Tesla, that often need to move a lot of cargo between two locations that they control, like a factory and delivery centers.

That way, it can have charging stations at each location that charges the trucks while they are loaded, and then you get an all-electric and emission-free trip between the locations while massively reducing your fuel costs.

What company will not want that? When it’s going to be time to update their fleets, companies will fight to get those trucks as production ramps up.

LINK

Diesel supply seems to drying up at the moment, it diesel that normally lube the movement of all goods around the country, in Europe its heading for $12 a gallon by April, as the UK Government that's supposed to doubling the down on inflation as rising interest rates start to increase, the UK Government add 12p a litre to diesel to bring in more fuel duty revenue from the motorists to help balance the books to pay down covid/furlough debts adding 12p to diesel will add fuel the inflation fire not reduce it.

Big goods transportation companies will turn to the big Tesla lorries to save money long term, only big downer a lot of European countries have failed to invest much in electrical power generation just as EV's arrive ban ICE cars from 2030, and warmonger Putin has cut off gas and oil supplies after Europe applied sanctions. Only France is heavily invested in nuclear power will do well, a lot of Europe will need nuclear power that takes 10 years to deliver from conception to to the fist delivery of electric power, can see a lot of power cuts blackouts coming in the future but food delivery will be given first priority. UK has loads of blackouts at the moments up and down the whole country it's not being reported in the mainstream media maybe there is Government blackout on the news as well.

There will be no food delivery in blackouts? With European gas/electric utility bills set to jump from $2,000 a year to $8,000 a year in April because of European Governments sanctions on Russia, can't see Musk selling a lot in Europe, other than Denmark, France and maybe the UK, places like Germany might want them as well but they will be powered mostly by dirty brown coal fired produced electricity which defeats the clean air advantage a bit.

UK Electric Power Networks only shows 3 blackouts in South East England at the moment it's going to get worse as the cold weather arrives, it's been a very mild start to Winter this year
LINK

 

[09W]

80,000 lbs is the Federal limit for GVWR... that's cargo weight plus truck weight.

A PACCAR MX-11 10.8L inline 6 Diesel engine + trans weighs 2,200 lbs. I've seen calculations that the Tesla battery pack for the 500-mile semi will weigh about 16,000 lbs (not including the electric motors, etc) - that weight comes straight off of the cargo capacity. You've just lost at least 15,000 lbs of cargo.

Also- the 500-mile range is about half that of the 900-mile range a diesel truck has. So; less profit with more downtime. These are declines from the industry standard and will cost companies money.

 

[RamJet502]

Beyond impressive. But if it can take 24 hours to fully charge the Hummer EV's monster battery pack, how long does it take to charge one of these trucks? A week?

 

[CaptainDan]

Beyond impressive. But if it can take 24 hours to fully charge the Hummer EV's monster battery pack, how long does it take to charge one of these trucks? A week?

A Hummer EV can be fully charged in one hour at 440 Volts, 10 hours at 220 Volts, or 55 hours at 110 Volts.

You could take 24 hours to fill up your ICE vehicle's gas tank if you choose to fill it that slowly.

 

[RamJet502]

A Hummer EV can be fully charged in one hour at 440 Volts, 10 hours at 220 Volts, or 55 hours at 110 Volts.

You could take 24 hours to fill up your ICE vehicle's gas tank if you choose to fill it that slowly.

That's cute and all, but here is from the guys who actually own and drive the truck:

"Of course, with such a huge battery, you need a ton of energy to replenish the Hummer EV’s reserves. That means it takes an incredibly long time to charge, even on a Level 2 AC charger. Andre pointed out that it would take more than 20 hours to recharge the truck on a 30-amp charging box…not exactly practical, to say nothing of how much that much juice will add to your electricity bill." - TFL Truck

 

[BlackGTP]

Not much in the way of details. Where was the 500-mile test loop? The flat south or in the mountainous and cold Rockies? And as noted above, how long to recharge? And even with the mandatory rest time needed after eight hours, when the driver is resting in his sleeper cab with the heater or AC on, tv, lights, etc, how will that impact recharge times? Probably not much vs. the driving related electricity needed, but still a thought.

I am really interested in this - my guess is this is like the 1st gen eSilverado - will work for some trucking needs, but not everyone.

 

[CaptainDan]

Not much in the way of details. Where was the 500-mile test loop? The flat south or in the mountainous and cold Rockies? And as noted above, how long to recharge? And even with the mandatory rest time needed after eight hours, when the driver is resting in his sleeper cab with the heater or AC on, tv, lights, etc, how will that impact recharge times? Probably not much vs. the driving related electricity needed, but still a thought.

Flat or mountainous shouldn't make a big difference. An EV may need to use more juice to go uphill, but with regenerative braking it regains a lot of that coming back down. The cold would likely cause a reduction in range.

I am really interested in this - my guess is this is like the 1st gen eSilverado - will work for some trucking needs, but not everyone.

Certainly, no single vehicle is going to be perfect for everyone, ICEV or EV.

 

[BlackGTP]

Flat or mountainous shouldn't make a big difference. An EV may need to use more juice to go uphill, but with regenerative braking it regains a lot of that coming back down. The cold would likely cause a reduction in range.

Certainly, no single vehicle is going to be perfect for everyone, ICEV or EV.

Certainly will get a lot of juice from regenerative braking, but I tend to think a truck will burn more electrons going uphill than it will generate going downhill - but I don't know the math behind that, anyone have any deeper knowledge?

 

[09W]

...no single vehicle is going to be perfect for everyone, ICEV or EV.

It's not about 'perfection', it's about what works better.

 

[09W]

Certainly will get a lot of juice from regenerative braking, but I tend to think a truck will burn more electrons going uphill than it will generate going downhill - but I don't know the math behind that, anyone have any deeper knowledge?

TFL.com did a road test [ I think it was this one:

]
and it touches on the regen percentage going downhill. It's not much.

 

[CaptainDan]

It's not about 'perfection', it's about what works better.

Excuse me.

No single vehicle is going to work better for everyone, ICEV or EV.

 

[CaptainDan]

Certainly will get a lot of juice from regenerative braking, but I tend to think a truck will burn more electrons going uphill than it will generate going downhill - but I don't know the math behind that, anyone have any deeper knowledge?

I would agree, there will always be some loss between up and down, and different vehicles' regen capabilities (and settings) will vary.

 

[BlackGTP]

TFL.com did a road test [ I think it was this one:

]
and it touches on the regen percentage going downhill. It's not much.

I would agree, there will always be some loss between up and down, and different vehicles' regen capabilities (and settings) will vary.

Interesting results for the cars, though I can see big, heavy trucks potentially being a different ballgame in regard to regenerative braking. Eventually this data will have to come out - can't wait to see it.

 

[AWHoden]

Methinks Tesla's push is pushing too far with this thing. Personal transportation? Sure, go electric. Commercial? No, not so much. Far, far too impractical, can you imagine trucking fleets stopping for 72 hours to recharge every 250-500 miles (depending on terrain and weather)? EV's are perfect for a commuter car or for some people as their only car (not everyone drives as much as most of us, I get it), but EV's for trucking? No thanks. Can you imagine one of those things losing braking/regen ability coming down Donner Pass? Woohoo! Move b.....get out 'da way!

 

[CaptainDan]

Methinks Tesla's push is pushing too far with this thing. Personal transportation? Sure, go electric. Commercial? No, not so much. Far, far too impractical, can you imagine trucking fleets stopping for 72 hours to recharge every 250-500 miles (depending on terrain and weather)? EV's are perfect for a commuter car or for some people as their only car (not everyone drives as much as most of us, I get it), but EV's for trucking? No thanks. Can you imagine one of those things losing braking/regen ability coming down Donner Pass? Woohoo! Move b.....get out 'da way!

72 hours?

 

[AWHoden]

72 hours?

Hyperbole.

 

[wallus13]

Something like this will definitely have its' uses in transportation. To think this will takeover trucking immediately is not going to happen.

 

[Extreme4x4]

Interesting results for the cars, though I can see big, heavy trucks potentially being a different ballgame in regard to regenerative braking. Eventually this data will have to come out - can't wait to see it.

A couple of things. First, truck drivers only have to take a 30 minute break at 8 hours (more flexible than it used to be). In CA they have to take 2 30 minute breaks during their shift. They can work 14 hours on duty, with 11 of that driving. Then they have to take their 10 hour reset. The thing is, if you have to plan to be in a certain location for your reset, so you have a charger accessible, then you will be losing a lot of driving time. For instance, when my husband is in CA, he not only drives a lot slower (average) due to traffic, but also has to often cut his days short due to lack of places to layover.

Also, when coming off a big hill, you need to use engine brakes to keep from overheating the tractor / trailer brakes. If you do that, you can start a fire. Fire not good. How will there be engine brakes when there is no engine?? Just throwing that out there. Also, don't know how downhill speed affects the regenerative braking. Will be interesting to see.

 

[CaptainDan]

.... Also, when coming off a big hill, you need to use engine brakes to keep from overheating the tractor / trailer brakes. If you do that, you can start a fire. Fire not good. How will there be engine brakes when there is no engine?? Just throwing that out there. Also, don't know how downhill speed affects the regenerative braking. Will be interesting to see.

An EV does have regular friction brakes (which use friction between the brake pads and the rotors/discs) converting the motion (kinetic energy) into heat energy.

But an EV's regenerative braking doesn't actually use the brakes. It uses the electric motor, but instead of using electricity to spin the motor (and thus the wheels) you use the spinning wheels to spin the motor, generating electricity which is put back into the battery.

EVs with regenerative braking typically have MUCH less brake pad wear (due to less use).

 

[BlackGTP]

A couple of things. First, truck drivers only have to take a 30 minute break at 8 hours (more flexible than it used to be). In CA they have to take 2 30 minute breaks during their shift. They can work 14 hours on duty, with 11 of that driving. Then they have to take their 10 hour reset. The thing is, if you have to plan to be in a certain location for your reset, so you have a charger accessible, then you will be losing a lot of driving time. For instance, when my husband is in CA, he not only drives a lot slower (average) due to traffic, but also has to often cut his days short due to lack of places to layover.

Also, when coming off a big hill, you need to use engine brakes to keep from overheating the tractor / trailer brakes. If you do that, you can start a fire. Fire not good. How will there be engine brakes when there is no engine?? Just throwing that out there. Also, don't know how downhill speed affects the regenerative braking. Will be interesting to see.

So right there it means that the Tesla will not be suitable for long haul trucking if the battery is depleted at 8 hours, I can't see that a truck could recharge in a half hour with today's tech. But, I can see a lot of use for shorter distances. They'll definitely need a nationwide charging grid for these, my assumption is a big truck will need a different charging setup vs. a normal car charger.