Tesla Semi truck stands to shake up the trucking industry

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Welcome to The Beast. This is the Tesla Semi, the company's long-awaited (and oft-teased) entry into the commercial trucking market. It's an all-electric semi-trailer truck that burns no gas, will in theory never need its brakes replaced, can cover 500 miles on a charge while carrying a load and only has a few moving parts. That, plus an advanced version of Tesla's Autopilot, means this will easily be the smartest semi on the road.

Still, that'll leave a simple question on the minds of many: why? And, more specifically: why now? With Tesla struggling to meet its own production benchmarks for the Model 3, it seems like an odd time to step into an almost entirely different industry like this. Take a look at the numbers, however, and things start to make sense.

According to the American Trucking Association, the trucking industry generated $726 billion in revenue in 2015, employing 3.5 million drivers. So it's a big industry, and one ripe for innovation, but despite a shortage of drivers those innovations and efficiencies have been slow in arriving. According to Allen Smith at AskTheTrucker entry-level semis cost upwards of $100,000 -- but that's just the beginning. Annual diesel costs alone can run up another $70,000, with total operating costs coming in at around $180,000 per year!

Those figures have actually come down somewhat thanks to reduced fuel costs, but even so it's easy to get excited about the potential of the Tesla Semi. Though the truck will presumably be more expensive to start, with the drastically reduced cost of "fuel" (electrons in this case, rather than diesel) that differential should be quickly negated. Factor in reduced service and maintenance thanks to the relative simplicity of an EV vs. a traditional, internal combustion engine, and this all makes a lot of sense.

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/tesla-semi-stands-poised-to-shake-up-the-trucking-industry/?ftag=CAD1acfa04&bhid=24447454298893839703959737945916

A couple of interesting videos at the link.

[msongs]

1. waiting for tesla equivalent to my nissan nv 2000 van. perfect for honolulu. its

an island not so many miles to go

[TreasonousBastard]

2. I've seen the videos, and the ones about their little pocket rocket...

which will cost about $250,000 to go 0-60 in under 2 seconds. 50 grand down just to get on the list for delivery "eventually".

But, will they be able to actually produce these things? Production of existing models been a bit of a problem lately.

GM's been working on an electric semi, and the Germans and Chinese are ahead of GM so far. Koreans and Japanese are a little ahead of the Germans. Somebody's going to put one on the road.

But, none of them have the cache of that winged T. Why buy a downscale, but available, Bolt when you can pay more for a promised Tesla?

[longship]

3. Try a Tesla Semi on Autopilot on SoCal's Grapevine (Tejon pass)

Eight lanes of scary assed Interstate highway (I-5) through a mountain pass. Semis everywhere, mostly in the right lane. Emergency run out lanes everywhere on the downgrades. And everybody driving like assholes.

Scariest drive I've ever made.

You put a semi on autopilot on that road, there'd be mayhem and mass destruction.

Oh! Almost forgot. Try it in fucking winter just before the highway patrol closes the whole thing down. Snow up to your keester. That's when you want a real driver behind the wheel. Oh lord, let me get my rig to the closest truck stop. The autopilot just plows through... and off a thousand foot cliff.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. I went over that pass. Once.

In daylight.
In good weather.
The scary drivers scared me.

I am concerned with all these driverless vehicles that they are not allowing for the insanity of what I saw on Cal. roads and highways.
The widespread red light running alone will impact safety issues, I should think.

[hunter]

4. I'm looking for a 40 mile electric pickup truck...

... but I'll probably have to build it myself.