The new electric Supertruck arrives

Well, after their recent surprising announcement that such a thing even existed, Elon Musk and Tesla have announced and demonstrated their new “heavy rig” electric truck.

What does this mean for transport and removal companies?

the original ad

A few months ago, Musk made one of his famous “oh, by the way… “type announcements. This delivered the news, with all the fuss and drama you’d expect from someone saying “oh i think it will rain tomorrow“, which would soon show off a high-tech, all-electric transportation platform.

Virtually every industry insider was shocked and excited. Some were highly skeptical that this was possible in the few months between Musk’s announcement and the deadline for the truck’s unveiling to the world.

As usual, Tesla proved the latter wrong, including what was pure theatrics when, at the same time as the truck was unveiled, a new Tesla electric supercar appeared from inside it, again to the surprise of almost everyone.

However, let’s not talk about the car anymore here!

At the time of this writing (November 2017), the truck has exceeded expectations in many ways.

Appearance

Externally, the tractor and trailer don’t look THAT different. Sure, there is some aerodynamics and that not only improves the aerodynamics but also makes it look much nicer than most.

It’s really in the cabin where the huge visual differences become noticeable. Of course, unsurprisingly, it’s packed with technology including cameras, computers, and display screens, including radar. It also comes with armored glass that apparently won’t break or shatter.

The most obvious difference, however, is that the driver’s seat is in the middle of the cabin, not to the side. It is also unique in that both driver and passenger can stand in the cabin.

All that said, if you include the internal appearance of the cabin, this truck looks a lot different.

Performance

The figures cited by Tesla have yet to be independently verified, but they do include some pretty staggering claims:

  • 500 miles (805k) between top-ups
  • Fast charging technology
  • 0-60mph (96kph) in 5 seconds (without a trailer). This goes to 20 seconds when you get a loan of £80,000 (around £36,000k).

Of course, all of this comes with zero or near zero emissions.

It seems like an attractive proposition.

Practic sense

As with all things Tesla, its innovation is second to none, but sometimes application and practicality can be challenges.

For example, Tesla admits that, to put it bluntly, it got into a mess with some of its car production. They’ve more than figured out the technology and the marketing (people want their cars), but what they’re fighting is the sleazy and perhaps for them somewhat boring, namely mass production.

Therefore, production delays and aimlessness have become something for which they are almost as famous as their revolutionary approaches.

As some point out, the truck is supposed to go into production in late 2019, but so far there’s little to say about numbers or even pricing. So, there is a big unknown there.

Others point out that, perhaps a bit like the original Nikola Tesla, they may be risking a dilution of their focus on too many radically different lines of R&D. The risk is that their overall business impact is degraded, as they are essentially trying to do too much at once.

Right now, Musk appears to be driving major innovations in domestic electricity production, electric cars, electric road transportation, aviation, transcontinental high-speed tube transportation schemes, orbital travel, and even deep space. . Clearly, there are synergies between some of these efforts, but some people wonder if this is too much for any one company or one man to keep track of.

conclusion

The world is already a better place for Tesla and Elon Musk. This new truck appears to be part of that, but it will have to make a real impact on the road and in numbers if the company and its concepts are to achieve credibility in this area.

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