First Look: Tesla’s All-Electric Semi Truck
Screen shot from Tesla’s live feed unveiling its electric semi.
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Screen shot from Tesla’s live feed unveiling its electric semi.
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LOS ANGELES – The highly anticipated Tesla electric semi has finally arrived. And, as hinted, teased and promised these many past months, it is a potential game-changer — and quite possibly a disruptive vehicle for trucking in many ways.
Tesla chose to launch the truck at its SpaceX facility in the Los Angeles suburb of Hawthorne, with more than 1,000 journalists in attendance from around the globe. Security was incredibly tight as journalists were taken in small groups to a small hanger, where two Class 8, all-electric daycab models were on display with engineers on hand to explain various vehicle systems and features.
While the initial vehicle walk-around focused on a very high-level view of the truck, there’s still a lot of information available.
For starters, the unveiled truck very closely resembles the now-familiar blacked-out teaser photos that Tesla released months ago. This includes a highly aggressive aerodynamic design dominated by a Corvette-like front end and a steeply sloped hood. Remember, there is no internal combustion engine at the front of this truck, which allowed Tesla engineers to completely rethink its configuration with an emphasis on safety and visibility. One particularly slick feature is the LED marker lights at the top of the cab, which are located behind the windshield and shine through a darkened strip at the top, keeping them completely protected from the elements.
The massive batteries that power the truck are located directly underneath the cab, while the electric motors they power are arranged between the frame rails behind the cab and running under and aft of the fifth wheel. Tesla says these are the same electric motors found in Tesla Model 3 cars. One electric motor powers each drive wheel-end. The motors are computer controlled and can deliver electrical power individually …Read the rest of this story
